3.18. Import Products

Sub-pages listing:

Expression Editor

fmProductImportExport

The Store Manager Import Wizard will greatly facilitate the updating of your Store database via a simplified and efficient set of routines and applications.

Be sure to pay careful attention to each Wizard's page, to ensure the correct import of products into Prestashop. Prestashop import, depending upon the extent and number of operations to be performed, can be a rather complicated procedure, and it may be destructive if performed incorrectly. Be sure to create a database backup before importing products, especially if this is the first time that you are performing this task. The first step is:

Prepare a File

The import wizard of Store Manager for Prestashop supports the following file formats as CSV, XML, XLS, XLSX, ODS. Make sure that all necessary fields, and all data that you are going to import, are listed in the table.

Here's a list of fields that your file may include, along with a detailed description of those fields:

Reference - is a field required by Prestashop for all products. It is composed of a standard, alphanumeric string, that uniquely identifies the product, and is typically assigned to the product by the manufacturer. This procedure is used internationally. You should be able to obtain the standard code for all your products, if not already included, by requesting the information from your supplier. This field must have unique values and may be used for identifying products during the Prestashop import. See step 6, for more about product identification.

Product ID - this is an internal database field, it should be of numeric type only and must have unique values across the entire table. The value from the selected file will not be imported from the file or changed at your store as it should be assigned automatically by the shopping cart itself (other database tables can have references to this field pointing to specific products).

Price - should be the cost of the product before tax or shipping. Do not include any rebates, coupons, or bulk discounts. Prices should be whole numbers with a maximum of two decimal places. Price fields are numeric; no text is permitted - do not include “$” or any other symbols.

Status - this field acquires "1" or "0" value only. It states the availability of the product. For example, value " 1 " means that the product is available in stock. In case it has "0 " value then the product is not available for purchasing and will not be displayed at your Store. In case you skip this column, your products will be not updated. Products that are not listed in .csv file can be set as "Out of Stock" if you enable the appropriate option at the last step of the import. To set the value as in stock for all products you can specify 1 value for the first product in your file and spread it for all products.

Quantity - you can set product quantity here. Please note that if you indicate "0 " or leave this field blank the product will be displayed at your store's front end as "Out of Stock".

Category - specify the category your product belongs to. If the product should be imported into a subcategory use pipe character "|" to separate parent and subcategory, for example: "Root|Phones|" - the product will be assigned to Phones category.

If you need to assign the same product to multiple categories, use a double delimiter, in your .csv file. Here is the example: "Root|Phones||Root|Phones|Smartphones". After that, the product will be assigned both to Phones and to Smartphones while Prestashop import.

In our case Pipe is used as a category delimiter. The category delimiter character should be specified on the 5-th step. It is used to separate category names and specify the full category tree path for a given category. Category path is very similar to directory path and is used to specify full file name in Windows, where every directory separated by backslash (\) character, like in the following example: C:\Program Files (x86)\eMagicOne\Store Manager for PrestaShop

In case your supplier provides you with a file that has categories in separate columns, you can merge them to get the appropriate format using the Expressions field or you can merge them using Excel manually. Please follow these steps to merge categories using Expression field (is recommended to use with Automated Product Import for Prestashop):

At the seventh step “Assign .csv Columns to Database Fields" of Import Wizard find the “Category Name” field.

Set the following expressions for this fiel

CONCAT([CSV_COL(1)], '|', [CSV_COL(2)], '|' , ... , [CSV_COL(N)])

where:

[CSV_COL(N)] is the separate column of .csv file with the category name (N is the column number or sort order)

| - is category delimiter (which has been chosen at the previous step)

Complete the Prestashop Import and check categories.

In order to merge category columns in Excel use the following formula:

=B2&"|"&C2

where

| - is category delimiter

B2 - is your parent category column in file and

C2 - is subcategory column in the file.

Product Images

"Import images" option allows importing one or more images for the product.

You may upload pictures from your local computer or external web URLs. Please note that in order to import images you have to set-up a proper FTP connection. Please check these articles on how to upload images from local pc and how to upload images if you have external image URLs if you need help.

In case you need to import multiple images within one product, in the file to import should be specified the image gallery column with the delimiter ';' between each image positions. For example, the one product with two local images assigned should have the next record in the appropriate column of a file:

The first image's name is 3518.jpg and the second one 3519.jpg are separated with a ';' character.

Following this method, you can specify as many pictures as you want to the specific product.

The images will be appointed in accordance with the specified positions after the import process:

If your vendor provides you product list in Excel, you can convert your Excel files to the CSV format within the Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice application by using the Save As option.

To do this you need to use File -> Save As dialog box which contains a list of alternative file formats. Among the file extensions offered, you can find Text CSV file format. By saving your file into CSV format, Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice will export the first active worksheet with the correct delimiters.

If you want to synchronize Prestashop products with your supplier automatically on a schedule, you may be interested in the Automated Product Import addon.

We also offer additional features of the import procedure - click here and find out more about it.

This Wizard will help you to make an update of your database with modified PrestaShop products data by selecting the appropriate action.

When you import products to PrestaShop pay attention to each Wizard's page. PrestaShop Import is a rather complicated procedure and it may be destructive if performed incorrectly.

Create database backup before importing products especially if you do it for the first time.

PrestaShop Import Steps

To start the PrestaShop Import Products procedure you need to click on the Import/Export button in the top toolbar of Store Manager or under Import/Export section:

Launch Import wizard

Welcome page

The first window offers you two operations - Export and Import.

Import procedure in Store Manager allows downloading necessary data from a file of csv, xml, xls, xlsx, ods, txt and xml formats to your store.

Click the [Import] button to move to the second stage of the process - the choice of a file to import.

Select file

At this point please remember some important conditions:

If you choose a local file to import - check whether the file is readable and openable.
If you import a file from HTTP URL - this file should be opened in the web-browser.
If you choose a file from FTP URL - you should have the correct FTP settings.
If you select Google Spreadsheets - make sure that you specify correct access to your Google account

Button [Load Settings] allows using a previously saved import configuration to simplify the import process. Click the [Next] button to proceed.

To proceed with import data from the Google spreadsheet, select the relevant checkbox and the Cloud storage account. You can also add, change, or delete the account using the corresponding buttons on the right side of the account selector. You have to follow these steps to proceed with import from Google Spreadsheets:

add your account
grant the application permissions to access your account
grant permissions to manage the files under your account
grant permissions to see, edit, create and delete spreadsheets under your account
check all granted permissions

Next, find the Cloud file with the help of the browse [...] button or type the file name manually. This will open Drive Explorer where you should find the necessary file:

If you can not find the file in the list, please type the full name to find it. Please note, that this may happen if the file is shared with you or file permissions are limited (only read)

Select the file and press [OK] to process. Then press [Next] to go to the next step.

Select Sheet for Import

In this step, you should choose the sheet you want to import data from. To do so, press the arrow sign and choose the sheet from the drop-down list. After that you will be able to preview sheet data in the table:

Press [Next] to go to the next step of the Import Wizard.

Select fields delimiter and quote character

The current step contains some important settings. If you specify wrong values, PrestaShop products import may not work.

The first option is delimiter character. Most popular delimiters are comma (,), semicolon (;) and tab character ( ) however other symbols can be used as well.

Note: csv file contains data in row-column format and delimiter character is used to separate one column from another. If you specify an incorrect delimiter, the file will not be parsed properly and products will not be imported.

Take into account the following positions on this page.

Select delimiter character which will be used to separate fields data – here, specify the character that separates columns in your CSV file. A preview box below lets you instantly check the result and change the delimiter if necessary.
Quote string values with – specify the character used to separate strings within your CSV file. The delimiter may be disabled if none of the values are used.
First row in .csv file contains field names but not values – this option should be unselected if the first row of the CSV file contains data. Otherwise, unchecked this option.
This delimiter is used to separate multiple values in one column (e.g. multiple values of Customized Fields) – if some of the columns in your file have multiple values in one cell (e.g customized fields, images), specify the characters they are enclosed with.
This delimiter is used to separate subvalues of one value (e.g. a Customized Fields value consists of a label and is_required sub-values) – this option is used in case your file contains values and sub-values
Select delimiter character which will be used to separate categories in category tree – if your products are assigned to specific categories, the file should include the Category Path. So, this delimiter is used to separate different categories in the category tree.
This character repeated twice will be used to separate categories if current product assigned to more than one category – if your products are assigned to different categories, the file should include full category path to each of it.
Use ID as Category path – this option is used in case you have categories IDs specified in your file (note, that if the file is provided by your supplier, category IDs may be different than at your store.)
Keep current categories association(s) – if you do not want to unassign products from the categories in your database during import, leave the option checked.

Look at the example of this file below for using ID as Category path:

The path of item replacement represents by IDs instead of categoriy names. Please note, the multiple assignment product to the several categories should be indicated by a double delimiter in the path as you can see in our illustration - example above.

In this case, check the option field and proceed with the following import steps:

Use the guide about the particular option for detailed information:

Assign Prestashop Products to Categories Having Their IDs in Import File

"Keep current categories associations". Select this check-box if you need to leave products, which are transferring, in the existing categories positions at your store and add them to the new one, specified in the import file as well.

There are three sections in the bottom (simply scroll down to be able to fill them):

"Images" - default images path is the place where the Store Manager will look for images when importing products - image names specified in .csv file whereas image files stored here.

When the Store Manager is unable to find an image it will not import image information to a product and will remove existing image information if any.

"Product image" allows you to import images for the product. You can choose where you would like to upload pictures from - your local computer (in this case you need to have only image names in your .csv file like product_image_1.jpg) or external web URLs (in case you have image URLs from your supplier like http://supplierstore.com/bulkimages/image.jpg).

Please note that in order to import images you have to set-up a proper FTP connection. Please check these articles how to upload images from local pc and how to upload images if you have external image URLs if you need help.

"Skip images..." field allows to skip those products which have already specified the appropriate images and add images to the items which are not assigned to any media files:

"Downloadable Files" serves for downloadable items during importing. Check the checkbox and specify the path where the downloadable files are placed.

Use the browse button to find the necessary location.

"Attachments". If the products, which are importing, contain any attachments (as the additional information on the product(s)), check the field and specify the path, where the attachments are located, in the following tab.

Check the following article for a better understanding of how to add the attachments during products import:

How to import Prestashop Product Attachmnets

Base Formats and Separators

The next PrestaShop Import Wizard page includes base formats of date values and numbers and separators between them. They can be set by default (button [Set Default])

Assign .csv Columns to Database Fields

The next page allows you to Link columns from file to appropriate database fields. The left pane "Database Fields" shows the list of fields in your database that can receive import data.

To assign .csv column to the database field you should select a field at the left pane and then click a column at the right pane.

Note, if you leave the field with quantity not assigned, the default quantity value equals 0 will be created by the Store Manager as an import result for new products.

[Auto Fill...] button - try to set correspondence automatically for all fields. Will work only if the file's column name is the same as a database field name ("translated").

[Clear] button - clear all "csv col" values at the left pane.

The topmost option on this page is the First row in the file contains field names but not values. Obviously, it should be checked if the first row of the file contains data, otherwise uncheck this option.

The next option is "Identify products by", PrestaShop Import will search for a product using the selected identify method. The product will be modified if found, if not - a new product will be added.

"Identify combinations by". If you have combinations of data to be imported, you should notice the required method depending on the available combinations. You can choose one of the five options on your own or select the recommended one or just skip it, checking the "Skip combination import" variant.

Please note, if you select the "Regenerate Product Combinations" checkbox you get the newly-created product combinations with overwritten prices, quantities, and other combination data.

If items in a file have the additional related positions - i.e. accessories (like a handbag-clutch for the evening dress or coulomb to the chain) choose the identifier for such positions as well by opening the drop-down list.

There are two available identifiers - EAN or Reference - check which one is used in your import file.

Do not forget to assign columns with accessories to the appropriate field of your store database and indicate the correct identifier by which the program will recognize the product's accessories during importing (as you can see in the illustration below).

Identify Specific price combinations by - this option allows you to select combinations identifier if you ant to import Specific price for each product combination separately. There are four available identifiers - Combination ID, Reference, EAN13, and UPC. Simply select the one that your products use to be able to import specific prices correctly

For more extended display data in certain fields or to summarize values in these fields (for example calculation of product price, available quantity, etc.) you can use the expression editor.

In the Expression column opposite the selected database field in the left pane press the [Editor] button to call the "Expression Editor" form.

To verify the correctness of entered expressions using the [Execute Expression] button or press the [ F9] key.

Click [Next] if you're done.

Supplier Reference in Importing

If the products of the store have the Supplier References specified, you can use an identifier during importing. It can be possible in the latest updated version of Store Manager for Prestashop (from v.2.45.0.1999 and higher).

Make sure all necessary data is properly selected in the file before the running import process. Go through the Import Wizard steps to the assignment stage.

The "Identification Methods" area is in the upper side of the current window:

Choose "Supplier Reference" and allow Store Manager to recognize import data by this parameter.

Move ahead to the final step of the import process, where you can check the supplier/suppliers to which the particular changes will be applied.

Preview import data

On the "PrestaShop Import Preview Data" page you can see how .csv file was processed using import settings, which you specified in the previous steps.

Check whether all columns that you want to be imported are filled with data: some of them may be blank. This means that either you haven't assigned .csv column or it is empty in a source (.csv) file.

Columns that were not assigned will not be imported whereas empty values will overwrite existing.

You can also specify the number of rows to be imported

Import Options

PrestaShop Import options page settings may affect Import results. Please read and check your selection carefully. There are six sections at this step, check carefully each option to complete the import correctly

Choose the method you want to perform via importing:

"Add and Modify". Add new positions and update the existing ones.
"Only Add". Create new products, search for the existing ones but do not modify them.
"Modify Only". Only update the existing products and do not add new ones.
"Just Add". Add new items without searching for the existing ones.

Choose an action you want to be applied to the data that is not in the source (import) file from the variants listed below:

Attention!

The products' association to the particular supplier during importing can be indicated on the current page of import wizard starting from the last update of Store Manager (version 2.39.0:1861).

So, by choosing one of the conditions in the fields for data, which are not related to the source file, you can choose also a supplier where this condition will be applied to (see the illustration below):

Product Option area – this section contains options that allow the application to create new attributes/features/feature values if the appropriate option is checked during import, re-index imported products, delete products data before import (images, specific prices, customized fields, accessories, or unlink products attachments).

"Shop associations" area. Check the store(s) in which the data will be modified after importing.

"Category option" area.

You can indicate which exact category the data will be placed to by using the browse button and expanding the category tree :

You can ignore the category path specified in a file and use the most relevant way for placing data (by the category name) by selecting the following checkbox:

You should pay attention to the column "Product Name". If it is absent in the import file and therefore was not assigned at the appropriate step of the import process,

choosing the following import option - "Just Add" - you will get the error message:

Action cannot be performed due to the missing required column "Product Name" in your source file.

Using "Save Import Settings" button you can save current import configurations to a .cfg file and apply them during the next import procedure.

In the 'Category Options' section you can assign a category in which the data will be imported or check the box below and the data will be placed into the most appropriate category of your store.

Attention! The Import process will start when you press [Import] button! If all settings are made correct then continue the procedure, otherwise, press the [Back] button and check settings once more!

Summary results

The last window of Prestashop Import/Export Wizard displays results and errors if any emerged in the course of the import process.

The most frequent import errors are date, time, and number conversion issues, caused by proper format settings (specified at previous page) or improperly assigned column (i.e. if you assign column containing category ID to parent_category database field). Date/time conversion errors might be ignored whereas other errors like this one (Could not find image:image_name.gif) has to be fixed.