Dextrous Import
Dextrous is a companion design tool many designers use to manage their component data in a spreadsheet-like grid. If that's where your cards and tokens already live, you don't want to retype them here, so Designer Den can read a Dextrous JSON feed and turn it into components, on demand or automatically.
Prefer to watch first? Here's a video walkthrough of Dextrous:
Note
This is for designers who already use Dextrous. If you don't, the Component Wizard and CSV import cover building components from scratch.
Connecting Your Feed
You set this up once, on the project:
- On the project page, open the Third-Party Sync panel and find Sync with Dextrous.
- Paste your Dextrous JSON URL (it must be a public
http(s)link). - Save.
Syncing Manually
With a URL saved, run a sync to pull the feed and apply it. Designer Den reads your Dextrous data and creates or updates components from it. Existing components are matched and updated in place rather than duplicated, and anything new is created.
Sync Options
Three options sit with the sync controls, and they're remembered per project:
- Remove items missing from this sync — deletes components the feed no longer sends. Only turn this on when you export all your components from Dextrous; with a partial export it removes things that still exist.
- Overwrite cards with the same name — matches an existing card by name as well as by its Dextrous ID, so a re-import updates it instead of adding a duplicate.
- Use Dextrous's card order for decks — on by default; see below.
Decks & Card Order
Dextrous puts each card in a deck and records the order of the cards within it, and Designer Den uses both. Your decks arrive in the order you set up, and re-syncing keeps them that way instead of shuffling them around.
If you'd rather arrange a deck here in Designer Den, turn Use Dextrous's card order for decks off. Your arrangement is then left alone on every future sync. Cards are still added, removed and updated normally either way, only the ordering is skipped.
Note
The first sync after this option arrived will put your Dextrous-managed decks into the order Dextrous specifies. If you had arranged one of those decks by hand, turn the option off before syncing.
Important
Dextrous puts a card in one deck. If you need a card in several decks, build those decks in the Deck & Stack Builder instead, where a card can belong to as many as you like.
Syncing From a Playtest Room
You can also trigger a Dextrous sync from inside a live playtest room. After it pulls the latest data, the host can push the updates onto the matching pieces already on the table, so a typo you fix in Dextrous can appear in an open session without a reload.
Related: Components · The Game Crafter Import · Exports & Bulk Import · Tabletop Simulator Import