Move from Protractor to Gearboxly

This is what Protractor's own help describes, as read in October 2026. Where it describes nothing, the line says to ask Protractor support. Products change, so check with Protractor before you plan around an export.

Customers

No single export of everything. Run a customer report and save it as CSV from the report toolbar, using a flat layout.

Vehicles

Run a report that lists vehicles and save it as CSV from the report toolbar, using a flat layout.

Repair order history

Run an invoice or sales detail report for a date range and save it as CSV. Line item detail depends on the report you pick.

Inventory

Inventory can be exported to Excel. Open it and use Save As, CSV.

1. 1Customers, vehicles and invoices: in Protractor, run the report that has what you need, then save it as CSV from the report toolbar. Choose a flat layout, because CSV ignores report groupings.
2. 2For repair order history, run an invoice or sales detail report for a date range. The line item detail you get depends on the report you pick.
3. 3Inventory: export it to Excel, open the file and choose Save As, CSV.

Protractor has no single export of everything, so you may need a few reports. Anything a report does not contain cannot be imported.

1. 1In Gearboxly, open Settings, then Import data. Only owners and managers can see it.
2. 2Choose Protractor, then what you are bringing over. Customers first, then vehicles, then repair order history.
3. 3Upload the CSV file. If your file is an Excel workbook, open it, choose File, Save As, CSV (Comma delimited), and upload that. The limit is 25 MB, so split a large export by year.
4. 4Check the column matching, then run the dry run. Nothing is written yet.
5. 5If the dry run looks right, choose Confirm and import. Then read the report.

The full walkthrough, with screenshots, is in Import your customers, vehicles and repair history.

Protractor does not publish the column headers of its exports that we could find, so the matching is a best guess. The Match columns screen shows each field we need next to the column from your file that we picked, and a sample of what is in it. Change anything that is wrong, and set what you do not need to Do not import.

For Protractor, the wizard looks for these headers first. They are our guesses, not headers Protractor has confirmed, and any column with a different name can be matched by hand.

Repair orders

"Invoice #", "Invoice Number" or "Invoice" for RO number, and "Invoice Date" for Closed date.

Inventory

"Part Number" or "Part #" for Part number, and "On Hand" or "Qty On Hand" for Quantity on hand.

What each type needs before it can run:

Customers

At least one name column: First name, Last name, Full name or Company.

Vehicles

At least a VIN, or make and model (or plate), and one column that says who owns the vehicle: Customer ID, Customer phone, Customer email or Customer name.

Repair order history

An RO number (or invoice number), at least one date (opened, closed or paid), and a Total or line totals so the money comes across.

Inventory

A part number or a description.

• Protractor has no single "export everything" button. Its help says reports can be saved as PDF, Excel or CSV from the report toolbar. CSV ignores report groupings, so choose a flat layout.
• How much detail you get depends on which report you run. Anything a report does not contain cannot be imported.
• Repair orders come in numbered with the prefix PR-, closed, paid and read-only, marked "Imported from Protractor". They show on customer and vehicle history and in reports under their original dates, so this month's numbers do not change.
• Nothing is sent to your customers: no texts, emails, review requests or reminders.
• Open orders are skipped by default. If you tick the option they come in as read-only history shown as unpaid invoices, not as live orders.
• Duplicates are skipped, not overwritten. Uploading the same file twice imports nothing twice.
• Every import can be undone.
• From any system, we do not import inspections and photos, appointments, labor guides and canned jobs, text message history, declined work, loyalty balances, QuickBooks links or staff accounts.

• Export everything you can from Protractor first, while you still have access, and keep the files somewhere safe.
• Keep Protractor read-only for a month after you switch, so you can look things up.
• Run a small file first, such as the last month of repair orders, and check a customer you know on screen.
• Handle parts orders in progress by hand. Parts orders are not imported.
• Finish open repair orders in the old system, or re-create them as new orders in Gearboxly.
• Plan your go-live for a slow week. The switching checklist for a shop manager covers staff training, texting, your card terminal and your booking link.

We would rather say so than guess. We could not confirm: which Protractor reports include customers, vehicles and line items together; Protractor's exact column headers; API access.

Stuck? Email support@gearboxly.com with the name of the report or export you have, and a person will tell you what we can bring over. Protractor is a trademark of its owner. Gearboxly is not affiliated with it.