How to Import and Export Product Reviews

For WooCommerce, Product Import Export Plugin facilitates online store Admin to export and import product reviews and star ratings of the products. The data migration is done using either a CSV or XML file. Admin can also customize the product reviews and ratings according to their needs. 

The plugin maps each field of a CSV/XML file to the field of a particular Product Review that otherwise is done by the  Admin manually.

For example, the Comments Id field gets mapped to the Comment Id of CSV file and the Comment Author Name field gets mapped to the comment_author of your product review. If you want the plugin to work correctly, you must map headers of all of the columns correctly and you must ensure that all of the fields you enter must be in the correct format.

You must enter the product review details in CSV file in the structured format as given below:

• The first row must contain the column headers which are used for mapping the fields. The details about WooCommerce mapping field is given as below:

  To export WooCommerce product reviews:

• Click on WebToffee Import/Export(Pro) > Export.

As a first step, you need to choose the post type as Product Review.

Choose from the below options to continue with your export:

•  Quick export from DB
•  Based on a pre-saved template 
•  Advanced export

Let us have a look at each of these export methods:

Quick Export

• exports the basic/standard fields of the respective post type.  
• To include fields from Meta(custom fields) select the respective group’s checkboxes.
• Click the Export button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 for advanced options.

Pre-saved template

• exports data as per the specifications(filters, selective column, mapping.. etc) from the previously saved file.
• By selecting this option, one can choose a previously saved template from the Export template drop-down.

• Click the Export button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 to filter data.

Advanced Export

• Takes you through a detailed process of filtering/column selection/advanced options that may be required for your export.

• Click on Step3 to filter data.

Filter data that needs to be exported as per the below criteria.

• Total number of reviews to export : The actual number of reviews you want to export. e.g. Entering 500 with a skip count of 10 will export reviews from 11th to 510th position.
• Skip first n subscriptions : Specify the number of reviews to be skipped from the beginning. e.g. Enter 10 to skip first 10 reviews from export.
• Date From : Date on which the review was received. Export products reviews received on and after the specified date.
• Date To: Date on which the review was received. Export products reviews received upto the specified date.
• Products: Input the product name to export respective reviews.
• Stars: Export reviews of a specific star rating.
• Customer/Guest Review : Export reviews by customer, guest or both.
• Review with replies : Includes the replies along with the respective reviews.
• Status
• Sort Columns: Sort the exported data based on the selected columns in the order specified. Defaulted to ascending order
• Sort By: Defaulted to ascending. Applicable to above-selected columns in the order specified.

The column names appearing in this section can be edited if required. The preferred names and choices that were last saved can be viewed on choosing a pre-saved template. One can also move the columns to reorder the arrangement.

• Here, one can map and reorder the export columns under the following 2 fields:
  1. Default fields
  2. Meta(custom fields)
• Click on Step 5 to proceed.

On reaching Step 5, the following window will appear, from where one can:

1. Export file name: To specify a filename for the exported file. If left blank the system generates a default name.
2. Export File Format: Both CSV and XML file formats are available.
3. Delimiter: Separator for differentiating the columns in the CSV file. Assumes ‘,’ by default.
4. Enable FTP export: On opting ‘Yes’, choose an FTP profile and specify the export path.

• Save the template file for future export as shown below(if needed).

• Click on Export and export or schedule the export to finish.

To import WooCommerce product reviews:

• Click on WebToffee Import/Export(Pro) > Import.

As a first step, you need to choose the post type as Product Reviews.

Choose from the below options to continue with your import:

•  Quick import 
•  Based on a pre-saved template 
•  Advanced import

Let us have a look at each of these export methods:

Quick Import

• imports the basic/standard fields of the respective post type.  
• primarily used when your input file was exported using the same plugin
• One can import file from:
  • Local
  • URL
  • FTP
    
• Click the Import button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 for advanced options.

Pre-saved template

• This method retains the previous filter criteria and other column specifications as per the chosen file and imports data accordingly.
• By selecting this option, one can choose a previously saved template from the Import template drop-down.

• Click the Import button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 to map and reorder columns.
• Navigate to Step 3 to know more about mapping and reordering import columns.

Advanced import

• This option will take you through a detailed process of filtering/column selection/advanced options that may be required for your import.

Here, one can map the import columns under the following 3 fields:

• Default fields: The column names appearing in this section can be edited if required. The preferred names and choices that were last saved can be viewed on choosing a pre-saved template. One can also move the columns to reorder the arrangement.
• Meta(custom fields)

Evaluate field can be used to append a value/expression to an existing item while importing. It basically selects/maps any column from the input file and compute the values with expressions and creates output.

• Expression: Any of the operators +*/-()&@ or string constants can be used along with the attributes to manipulate the respective value. 
• Input: Select the column from the drop down which has to be modified.
• Output: Sample value will be created based on the first record from input file.

• Click on Step 4 to proceed.

On reaching Step 4, the following window will appear, from where one can:

1. Update Only: On selecting “Yes”, the store is updated with the data from the input file only for matching/existing records from the file. On selecting “No”, the entire data from the input file is processed for an update or insert as the case maybe.
2. If the review exists in the store: One can either Skip or Update the entry.
3. Associate product reviews by SKU: Links with product reviews on the basis of SKU.

• Save the template file for future (if needed).
  

• Click on Import/Schedule to finish.

You can either import the product reviews directly into your store or schedule the import using FTP.

To schedule the import:

1. Hit the Schedule option, and you will be taken to the cron schedule window as shown below:

The plugin supports two different schedule types:

1. WordPress Cron: Upon a visit, WordPress Cron will check to see if the time/date is later than the scheduled event/s, and if it is– it will fire those events.
   1. schedules your job at the specified time. 
   2. is dependent on your website visitors.
2. Server Cron: You may need to trigger the URL every minute depending on the volume of data to be processed.You can use this option :
   1. to generate a unique URL that can be added to your system in order to trigger the events. 
   2. if you have a separate system to trigger the scheduled events.

You can also configure the time at which the import is to be scheduled.

To directly import:

1. Hit on the Import option

Once the import is completed, a pop-up will be displayed showing import status which contains the number of successful imports and failed imports (if any).