Managing your Product Import Sheet (CSV)

Managing your Product Import Sheet (CSV)

Data Import is one of the mechanisms through which Vendor products can be onboarded onto your marketplace.  Omnyfy supports a product import mechanism using a formatted CSV import. 

The import sheet used for products has a variety of fields which need to be populated correctly to have the data mapped correctly. It is very important to ensure that the data being input into your sheet is accurate and follows the specified syntax in order to be imported successfully. The Usage Guide below provides detailed instructions on each column in the import sheet and the data formatting related to the column. 



Import Worksheet Usage Guide - General Instructions

The import worksheet has several tabs.
  1. Category Generator : This will allow you to add multiple Categories to be in a specific format that can be selected in the INPUT Tab.
  2. INPUT Tab : Use this tab to input all of your data.
  3. Upload Sheet : Once all items are created, check the upload sheet to ensure that the rows match that number of products input into the INPUT sheet. If not, simply select one row across all cells and drag down to fill up the missing data. Once verified, save only this upload worksheet as a CSV. Ignore the other tabs.

    To export the tab as CSV (in excel for example), ensure that you have the tab selected first. Then choose File > Save As. From the file types dropdown, select CSV UTF-8.


    Once saved, you can close the workbook, and when it asks you to re-save the CSV, select No

Troubleshooting issues 

What do I do if #REF data appears in the Upload Sheet

The most common issue occurs when deleting rows from the INPUT sheet. This affects the relationship across the other processing worksheets. If you need to delete rows in the INPUT sheet, you will need to ensure the mapping on the Processing Sheets aren't affected. To check this, follow these steps:
1. Right Click on any of the tabs, and select Unhide.
2. You will then see the Data Processing worksheet in the list. Select to Unhide.
3. In the Data Processing worksheet, simply select the entire first row of cells and drag them down. They will immediately pick up any missing #REF cells and will update the data.

Handling Images

Images can be imported in two main methods:
  1. Domain Path : Fully qualified domain path to the image on a cloud address ( https://domainname.com/....../imagename.png)
  2. FTP : If the images are required to be uploaded to FTP, first log in to your marketplace FTP as supplied by Omnyfy. In the Images Folder, create the directory for your vendor and upload the images to this directory. Example: images/vendorname
    (NOTE:When importing the products through the importer, in the Images File Directory field enter the path as: vendorname)

Column Explanations

Here you can see what the column names are and the type of data you need for them.

Column Name
Required?
Description

product_type
Required
Select the type of product that you are creating. In most cases you will input  Simple . Only input  Configurable when creating a product that requires children selections (eg a shirt with multiple colours and sizes), or Virtual if the product has no weight.

Below are the options available.
  1. simple — Tangible items that are generally sold as single units or in fixed quantities.
  2. grouped — A group of separate products that is sold as a set.
  3. configurable — A product with multiple options that the customer must select before making a purchase. Inventory can be managed for each set of variations because they represent a separate product with a distinct SKU. For example, a combination of colour and size for a configurable product is associated with a specific SKU in the catalog.
  4. virtual — A non-tangible product that does not require shipping and is not kept in inventory. Examples include services, memberships, and subscriptions.
  5. bundle — A customizable product set of simple products that are sold together.

One important thing to remember to verify on the "IMPORT SHEET" is when creating Simple Products, note the "visibility" column.
Simple products that should be displayed on their own should be set to "Catalog, Search". All Configurable Products must always be set to "Catalog, Search"
Simple products that are child products of a Configurable product should be set to "Not visible individually"

sku
Required
Product SKU - Must be Unique. Generally you should include a 3-4 letter unique code (A representation of the vendor name - eg Microtech = MCRT ) at the beginning of the SKU. So an example of a SKU would be MCRT-12345678

If two products have the same SKU, this will fail the import.

Updating data on the sheet will update the SKU in the marketplace.

Check all SKU's to ensure there is no leading or training spaces. You can use the Excel "TRIM" function to remove all leading and trailing spaces
Product Name
Required
Input the Name of your Product

NOTE: If there are multiple products in the import sheet with the SAME NAME, you must add a URL KEY value in the url_key column, this is to ensure that the same URL is not created on multiple products. The Import Check will throw an error if there are multiple products with the same name and there is no corresponding unique URL KEY. Use the SKU in the URL Key



attribute_set_code
Required
This will determine the attributes that this product will have, depending on what attribute sets you have created.  Choose the attribute set of product you are adding from dropdown.

This attribute set dropdown can be managed from the hidden Dropdown Select field on the spreadsheet. To populate these attribute sets, you will need to have the names obtained from the back end under Stores > Product > Attribute Sets .



Copy all attribute set names from here



NOTE: The Attribute Set Code must match exactly as per the name of the Attribute Set in the system. Also ensure that all options that are being used for the product are assigned to the nominated Attribute Set.

Category
Required
Choose the category for the product. See the Category Generator sheet below on how to populate this.

Category 1
Automatic
The first level category for your product. This will auto populate based on the Category Generator , and your selection from the Category field so you will not need to populate this.

If there is any issue with this cell, check that the categories are correct in the Category Generator for the appropriate level. 

Category 2
Automatic
The Second level category for your product (based on First Level).  This will auto populate based on the   Category Generator , and your selection from the   Category  field so you will not need to populate this.

If there is any issue with this cell, check that the categories are correct in the Category Generator for the appropriate level. 

Category 3
Automatic
The Third level category for your product (based on Second Level). This will auto populate based on the Category Generator , and your selection from the Category  field so you will not need to populate this.

If there are any issues with this cell, check that the categories are correct in the Category Generator for the appropriate level.

short_description
Required
A Short Description of your product. Supports HTML tags such as <p>, <ul>, <li>, <strong>, etc.
MAX 200 Characters

description
Required
Description of product. Supports HTML tags such as <p>, <ul>, <li>, <strong>, etc.

Inventory
Required
Add the inventory for when the products are created. If the inventory is not controlled, just add 99999

brand
Required
The Brand Name of the product. Ensure all brands are consistent in their naming.

price
Required
The Price of the item. This is the price that will be paid by the customer. Numbers only.
Check to ensure the price field is shown as 2 Decimal Places

Dimension - Height (cm)
Required
Height of the product in cm - used for shipping

Dimension - Length (cm)
Required
Length of the product in cm - used for shipping

Dimension - Width (cm)
Required
Width of the product in cm - used for shipping

weight
Required
Weight of the product (in the local weight measurement unit - either kgs or lbs)

Main Image
Required
Format: SKU.jpg
The image file name needs to be the SKU.

Additional Images
Optional
Format: SKU_1.jpg,SKU_2.jpg
No extra spaces between the images name

vendor_id
Required
The ID of the Vendor the product belongs to - can be found in the Vendor Profile

NOTE: It is mandatory to have a Vendor_Id, to associate the products to the Vendor. If the Vendor_id is missing an error message will be shown when checking import data. The error message will state that there is no data to import, because all rows without vendor_id will be skipped.


source_code
Required
The source code for which this product is to be bought from. You can get this source code from the admin under Stores >Inventory > Sources .



Find the necessary source and check it's source code.



NOTE: In the import, the product can only be assigned to 1 source code.

configurable_variations
Optional - only required when using Product Type Configurable
Defines the one-to-many relationship between the configurable product record and each variation.

NOTE: When using Flatfile Import, you will only need to set the different SKU. The Variations will be set on using the term (USE) on the column of the attribute. EG, in the case of 

SKU = MCRT-123456
Attribute1 = Colour, options include Black and Blue
Attribute2 = Size, options include S, M, and L

The field will look like the following:
MCRT-123456-Black-S,MCRT-123456-Black-M,MCRT-123456-Black-L,MCRT-123456-Blue-S,MCRT-123456-Blue-M,MCRT-123456-Blue-L.

In the Attribute1 and Attribute2 columns of the import, for the configurable product, you will need to input (USE) - including brackets. 



See highlighted example


If using the Default Import, please follow the format below to add/link the simple products:

sku={{SKU_VALUE}},attribute1={{VALUE}},attribute2={{VALUE}}| sku={{SKU_VALUE}},attribute1={{VALUE}},attribute2={{VALUE}}

For example, if you had a shirt that has colour and size, it could be rendered as so:

SKU = MCRT-123456
Attribute1 = Colour, options include Black and Blue
Attribute2 = Size, options include S, M, and L

IMPORTANT
The Attributes used in a Configurable Product MUST be set to  "Global"



The attributes are referenced as their attribute codes. You can get this from the attributes list in Stores > Attributes > Product



Each version of the product with the options are separated by a |


sku=MCRT-123456-Black-S,color=Black,size=S|  sku=MCRT-123456-Black-M,color=Black,size=M| sku=MCRT-123456-Black-L,color=Black,size=L| sku=MCRT-123456-Blue-S,color=Blue,size=S| sku=MCRT-123456-Blue-M,color=Blue,size=M| sku=MCRT-123456-Blue-L,color=Blue,size=L

This is only used for the configurable parent product.

When creating configurable products please keep the following rules in mind:
1) Ensure that the Syntax for the configurable variant is correct
2) Only use attributes that are "Global"
3) When combining attributes, ensure that all used Attributes are included in the Variation Cell.
4) Ensure that the attribute OPTION used already exists in the system otherwise, the import check will throw an error
5) Check spaces etc in the name of the Option as variances in spaces are treated as a new Option

configurable_variation_labels
Optional - only required when using Product Type  Configurable
Defines the label that identifies each variation by the an attribute name. You will need to know the attribute code

meta_title
Optional
For SEO - set the meta title for the product

meta_keywords
Optional
For SEO - set the meta keywords for the product

meta_description
Optional
For SEO - set the meta description for the product

associated_skus
Optional
The SKU of a product that is associated with a grouped or bundled product. Leave blank if not applicable.

Custom Attributes
Optional
Additional attributes created for the product. For example:
has_options=0,required_options=0color=Black,has_options=0,required_options=0,size_general=XS

These are used for custom fields that the customer can choose to modify the product. Only add if required.






Using the Category Generator

You can input the individual tiered categories. To see your tier of categories, log in as an admin, and go to Catalog > Categories .





To paste values (in Excel) without the formula:
1. Copy the original data from the cell
2. Right click on the cell you wish to paste to
3. Select Paste Values.


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