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Import from a file
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Import from a file

Bring in a supplier's CSV or Excel file, with or without variants.

Overview

An import brings a supplier's CSV or Excel file into a catalogue, one row per variant.

Prepare the file

Importing is the fastest way to fill a catalogue. Start from one of the sample files so your columns are laid out the way O2M expects.

  • CSV or XLSX, up to 10 MB and 25,000 rows. For an Excel file with several sheets, you choose the sheet.
  • One row per variant. All rows of a product share its Product ID. A simple product is a single row.
  • Required columns: Product ID, Product title and Category. In a catalogue created with its own category, Category is optional.
  • Optional columns: Product type, Brand, Description, Image URLs, Child product ID, Original source SKU, Variant flag (yes / no) and any attributes.
  • Add a key features column (the sample files have one). A cell can hold several features separated by |, such as `100% cotton | Crew neck`. Key features are required before export.
  • With variants: set `variant` to yes and add one `variant_axes_` column per axis, such as `variant_axes_colour`.
  • Without variants: leave `variant` blank or no; plain columns such as colour and size become attributes.
Figure 5.1  Import file, with the two sample files.

Import

  1. 1Click Import file, choose your file and click Upload and inspect.
  2. 2If the file has several sheets, choose the Worksheet.
  3. 3Match your columns (see below). To reuse matching from an earlier file, pick a Saved import profile.
  4. 4Choose what happens to products already in the catalogue: Skip existing or Update existing.
  5. 5Read the Dry-run preview: how many products are new, which existing ones change and how, and any problems per row.
  6. 6Confirm the import. When it finishes you can download a results file listing every product and its outcome.

Tip  Click Save profile after matching columns. The next file from the same supplier is matched in one click. Profiles belong to this catalogue only.

Match your columns

After Upload and inspect, O2M reads your file's headings and shows the column matching screen. Columns with a familiar name, such as Description, Category or Brand, are matched for you; the rest show Not mapped.

Figure 5.2  Matching file columns to catalogue fields.
SectionWhat to do
Core product informationPick the file column for Product ID, Product title and Category (required), and for Product type, Description, Brand, Variant flag, Child product ID, Original source SKU and Image URLs if your file has them.
Variation axesColumns named `variant_axes_` followed by a name become the axes of products with variant = yes. Nothing to pick: O2M lists what it found.
Additional attribute columnsEvery other column is kept as a product attribute under its own name. Change it only to save the column into an existing catalogue field instead.

This screen only decides how your file fills the catalogue. How catalogue fields fill Master Products is a separate step: Catalogue mapping.

What O2M checks

  • Rows of one product that disagree on title, category, product type or brand are flagged instead of guessed.
  • If the file has more new products than the catalogue has room for, you choose which ones to bring in. Nothing is cut off silently.
  • A product missing from a new file is not deleted.
  • Barcodes and codes are kept as text, so leading zeros are never lost.
  • Duplicate column headings are told apart, and formulas without a value are read as blank.
  • To update existing variants from a file, export the catalogue first so your file carries O2M's child IDs.