Transcript
Bringing products in from CSV and checking the preview before anything is saved.
0:00 Introduction
In this episode we bring a whole list of products into the catalogue at once, from a spreadsheet.
0:07 The Import page
If you already have your products in a spreadsheet, you do not have to type them in one by one. Open Import in the Catalog group.
The page has two tabs. Import CSV brings products in, and Export CSV takes your whole catalogue out as a file, which is handy for editing prices in bulk. A CSV file is just a spreadsheet saved in the simplest format.
The first row of the file must be a header, naming each column. The Download template button gives you a file with every column the system understands. Load example fills the box with a small sample, so you can see how it looks.
0:45 Pasting your data
You can choose a file, or just paste into the box. We will paste a short list of camping drinkware. The columns are name, SKU, price, cost, category, quantity and outlet, which is the store code that gets the opening stock.
1:01 Checking the preview
As soon as there is data, a preview appears underneath. Nothing has been saved yet. The preview is your chance to check.
Look at the orange warning. It says row three has a price of A B C, which is not a number. That row is highlighted in red in the table. The preview just caught a typo that would have been a problem later.
1:22 Fixing a mistake
We fix the text in the box. The Camp Towel should cost nine dollars.
The warning is gone, and all three rows look right. The category column can be a path, with missing categories created for you, so Drinkware is made if it does not exist. An SKU that already exists updates that variant's price and cost instead of making a duplicate.
1:48 Importing
Now press the Import button. It says how many rows it will bring in.
One last question. It asks you to confirm, and reminds you that a row whose SKU already exists updates that product, while other rows create new ones. Press Import.
The products are created. Now let's check.
2:10 Checking the result
To check, open Products and search for camp. All of them are there, with the prices from the file.
The stock quantities came in too. Switch the store at the top right to Main Street, and the stock column shows the opening quantities from the file.
That is how you load a catalogue in minutes. In the next episode, we print shelf and price labels with barcodes.