Picture of Product Import Overview | Time-Saving Toolbox

Product Import Overview | Time-Saving Toolbox

This tutorial demonstrates how to save time by managing your entire product catalogue in a single spreadsheet. You’ll see how to export the current product list to Excel, make bulk edits (prices, descriptions, attributes), append new rows for brand-new items, and add extra columns for images, downloadable files, or sample assets. After tweaking the sheet you simply re-import it—keeping existing product IDs intact for updates or leaving them blank to create new products—so the storefront instantly reflects every change.

Tutorial Video Transcript

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0:02 So product CSV and import. So this one is a little bit more robust, I'd say, than the customers. So if you actually export this, if I just go to catalog products and product management, I have the ability up here to export this to Excel.
0:26 And this isn't just an empty template. This is my complete product database. So this makes it very, very effective if I want to either edit products or add new products.
0:38 So if we've got our existing products in that database already. If I open that up, all of our existing products are in there.
0:54 If we want to make some sweeping changes to those products, like a general update to pricing, a general update to descriptions or something like that, we can just modify the existing roads.
1:06 And as long as you don't change the main identifier, which is over here, the product ID, then once you re-upload it again, it will just update the product that you are working on or that you've modified.
1:17 Equally, you can add new rows to here as well. So if you want to create new products, leave the product ID blank because it will create one of those automatically when it creates the new product and then just fill in all the other elements of the product that you wish to complete.
1:34 Now another thing that you can do within here, I've got my example. So I've just got one row in this one as an example.
1:51 If I scroll right to the end of this template that we've downloaded, we've got some columns in here which are surplus to what you would find on the default that you download.
2:02 But these are an amazing way to save loads of time. So a few examples of the things that you can do in here are if you're uploading or utilizing additional resources, which are somewhere in your storefront.
2:15 So for example, you can automatically specify attributes to your products. You can specify product imagery, which can be one image, you can be multiple images.
2:25 You can specify whether there's a downloadable asset with the product, a sample download, and a few other bits and pieces you might be able to utilize as well.
2:35 Now, as I mentioned, these aren't in the default template that you download. You just add these columns in manually, and there's stuff on the academy showing you exactly how to do this.
2:46 I'm actually going to try and import this into my storefront, but as we all know, demonstrations rarely go to plan.
2:56 So if I just go to import from Excel, I'll choose my associated file. We're going to link it to a particular upload folder which is where a lot of my imagery is stored that's associated with it.
3:19 And again, more information on that is in the in the tutorials. And then I'm just going to go ahead and import that.
3:27 Now, I have already tried this one before on this storefront, so I'm hoping this does work and it doesn't get confused because I've done it twice.
3:44 There we go. So that's the product which are just created. So it's my batch upload product resource. And what we can see is that I've pre-specified loads of information on that particular product.
3:56 From basic things like what type of product it is, the name of it, various descriptions, but also some of these more advanced features that we were talking about.
4:05 So things like the ability to upload multiple images as part of that upload process. things like, if it is a static PDF, you can specify what the PDF is that's attached to it.
4:17 So it just speeds up the entire process if you can mass-specify all of these capabilities. 

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Step by Step Guide

Guide to Importing and Managing Products via CSV

 

1. Export Product Database 0:02

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  • Navigate to the product management section.

  • Use the export feature to download the complete product database in Excel format.

 

2. Edit Existing Products 0:26

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  • Open the exported Excel file to view all existing products.

  • Make sweeping changes (e.g., pricing, descriptions) by modifying the relevant rows.

  • Ensure the product ID remains unchanged to update the correct product upon re-upload.

 

3. Add New Products 1:17

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  • To create new products, leave the product ID column blank in the Excel file.

  • Fill in all other necessary product details.

 

4. Utilize Additional Columns 1:51

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  • Scroll to the end of the downloaded template to find additional columns not included in the default template.

  • Manually add columns for:

    • Product attributes

    • Product imagery (single or multiple images)

    • Downloadable assets (e.g., PDFs)

  • Refer to academy resources for guidance on adding these columns.

 

5. Import the Edited File 2:46

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  • Go to the import section and select the edited Excel file.

  • Link the file to the appropriate upload folder for associated imagery.

 

6. Execute the Import 3:27

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  • Click the import button to upload the file.

  • Monitor for any errors or issues during the import process.

 

7. Verify Imported Products 3:44

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  • Check the storefront to confirm that the products have been successfully created or updated.

  • Review the details of the imported products, including any advanced features specified.

Link to Loom

https://loom.com/share/bfbfd6da4c384905a754c96219dbaf2d

Alternate Search Terms

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