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ChangelogThe article you are viewing corresponds to our latest version. If you are using version ‘3.8.5’ and below, refer this article.
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.
WooCommerce Mapping Fields
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:
| Column Heading | Explanation | Accepted value or format |
| comment_ID | Identification Number of the review | Numerical |
| product_SKU | Stock Keeping Unit of Product | Alphanumeric. Eg: AD35 |
| comment_post_ID | Identification number of the Product | Numerical |
| comment_author | Name of the review’s author | Text. Eg:John |
| comment_author_email | Email ID of review’s author | Text e.g. test1@gmail.com |
| comment_author_url | Website URL of the user | URL. Eg: https://www.example.com/ |
| comment_author_IP | IP of the review’s author | Numerical. Eg: 201.73.89.201 |
| comment_date | Date on which the comment is posted | MM/DD/YYYY H:i:se.g 9/6/2016 6:29:00 |
| comment_date_gmt | Date on which the review is posted with Greenwich Mean Time | MM/DD/YYYY H:i e.g. 9/6/2016 6:29 |
| comment_content | Content of review | Text. Eg: Nice product. |
| comment_approved | Indicates whether the review is approved by the authorized person. 1 means the review is approved and 0 means the review is not approved. | 0, 1, yes, no, YES, NO |
| comment_parent | The parent review’s ID. And it will be empty for the normal review. | Numerical |
| user_id | The review author’s ID if he is registered (0 otherwise) | Numerical |
| rating | Indicates the star rating of the product. | Numerical Range is 1 to 5 |
| verified | Indicates whether a reviewer is a registered customer who has bought the product or not. 1 means verified user and 0 means not a verified user. | Numerical |
| title | Title of the review | Text |
| product_title | Name of the product | Text |
| comment_alter_id | During import, if id conflict arise, the review may get imported as a new item. In such cases, the comment_alter_id value is used to match the comment_id of that particular review. In case of reviews having replies, this column identifies the parent review. | Numerical |
Exporting Product Reviews
To export WooCommerce product reviews:
- Click on WebToffee Import/Export(Pro) > Export.
Step 1: Select a post type
As a first step, you need to choose the post type as Product Review.
Step 2: Select an export method
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.
Note: The template will be listed in the drop down only if you have saved it in previous exports, if you go through the Advanced export, at Step 5 you will get an option to save the template. Once you save that, next time when you want to export a pre-saved template, it will be populated within the 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.
Note: You can also save this file as a template for future use.
- Click on Step3 to filter data.
Step 3: 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.
Step 4: Map and reorder export columns
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:
- Default fields
- Meta(custom fields)
- Click on Step 5 to proceed.
Step 5: Advanced Options/Batch Export/Scheduling
On reaching Step 5, the following window will appear, from where one can:
- Export file name: To specify a filename for the exported file. If left blank the system generates a default name.
- Export File Format: Both CSV and XML file formats are available.
- Delimiter: Separator for differentiating the columns in the CSV file. Assumes ‘,’ by default.
- Enable FTP export: On opting ‘Yes’, choose an FTP profile and specify the export path.
Note: On expanding Advanced options, one can set the number of records that the server will process for every iteration within the configured timeout interval. If the export fails due to timeout you can lower this number accordingly and try again.
- Save the template file for future export as shown below(if needed).
- Click on Export and export or schedule the export to finish.
Importing Product Reviews
Download Sample Product Review CSV.
To import WooCommerce product reviews:
- Click on WebToffee Import/Export(Pro) > Import.
Step 1: Select post type
As a first step, you need to choose the post type as Product Reviews.
Step 2: Select import method
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.
Note: The template will be listed in the drop down only if you have saved it in previous imports, if you go through the Advanced import, at Step 4 you will get an option to save the template. Once you save that, next time when you want to import a pre-saved template, it will be populated within the 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.
Note: You can also save this file as a template for future use.
Step 3: Map import columns
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
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.
Note: Columns that have no values in the input file may cause syntax errors if used in an expression.
- Click on Step 4 to proceed.
Step 4: Advanced Options/Batch Export/Scheduling
On reaching Step 4, the following window will appear, from where one can:
- 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.
- If the review exists in the store: One can either Skip or Update the entry.
- Associate product reviews by SKU: Links with product reviews on the basis of SKU.
Note: On expanding Advanced options, one can set the number of records that the server will process for every iteration within the configured timeout interval. If the import fails due to timeout you can lower this number accordingly and try again.
- 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:
- Hit the Schedule option, and you will be taken to the cron schedule window as shown below:
The plugin supports two different schedule types:
- 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.
- schedules your job at the specified time.
- is dependent on your website visitors.
- 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 :
- to generate a unique URL that can be added to your system in order to trigger the events.
- 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:
- 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).
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Comments (28)
Piotr
May 5, 2021
what conditions must be met for the automatic import of goods stocks from ftp to work?
Import does not start automatically
running the import manually works fine
Alan
May 8, 2021
Hi,
Please make sure that you have provided import interval time(in minutes) and specified the correct file path in the cron import settings.
Zeal
July 9, 2020
How can we export and import review with images? Review images are part of Woocommerce by default without any plugins.
Alan
July 9, 2020
Hi,
We have checked it in our test environment and were unable to find an option to add an image to the review without using any third-party plugin. Please try deactivating all the plugins on your site except Woocommerce and check if you are still able to add images. If yes then please reach us via support.
Zeal
July 9, 2020
Hey Alan, thanks for replying. Yes, we found that it was a third-party plugin that allow us to add the image. Is there a way we can customize the plugin to include the image to be exported into the CSV?
Alan
August 7, 2020
Hi,
We are sorry to say that currently, the review import-export does not support images. Please tell us using which third party plugin you have added the option to add images to the review. You may please reach us via support.
Prince Williams
June 11, 2020
I followed the process word for word. there is a product i want to delete from my woocommerce website because of some settings issues and readd it. the product already has reviews. i downloaded the reviews which went well but when it came to reuploading it i had issues fixed the comment post id. still the same old shit
Sandy
March 19, 2020
I just tried out the plugin for the 1st time. The export and import went very smoothly. On this particular site there is no further need to import again. I’d like to remove the plugin before turning the new site over to the owner. After deleting the plugin, will the imported reviews/data remain? Thank you!
Alan
March 19, 2020
Hi,
Yes, the imported reviews/data will remain on the site after deleting the plugin. You can go ahead and delete the plugin after the import is completed.
J
March 7, 2020
Import always says success for every record. But no reviews show up. And when I export to see what the heck is might be in there – if anything – there are indeed new records – but all the fields are blank/null. How can an imported record be deemed successful when none of the data has been imported? So you CREATED a record, but you really haven’t. Not to mention, I’m on the latest version of the plugin, but the interface does not match the documentation. C’mon.
Alan
March 7, 2020
Hi,
Could you please reach us via support with the screenshot of the import screen & the importing CSV file so that we can check it.
Our support team will follow you up from there.
Tony Petruzzi
December 4, 2019
No matter what column heading I use, I cannot map the reviews to a product. I have tried using product_sku and product_SKU to no avail. Is there something I am missing
Tony Petruzzi
November 20, 2019
I am getting the same error as @allan. I entered in a product review manually, then exported it. I next tried to do the import and once I click the “Upload file and import” button, I go to a page that just says “Import” on it. This is the page “/wp-admin/admin.php?import=product_reviews_csv&step=1&merge=0”
In chrome dev tools I can see the following error:
admin.php?import=product_reviews_csv&step=1&merge=0
Uncaught TypeError: jQuery(…).datepicker is not a function
Alan
November 21, 2019
Hi,
The issue you are facing on your site seems to because of conflict with another third-party plugin on your site. Could you please reach us via support.
tony petruzzi
November 21, 2019
After hours… you are 1000% correct. The “WooCommerce Tax Exempt” plugin was conflicting.
https://ignitewoo.com/woocommerce-extensions-plugins-themes/woocommerce-tax-exempt/
allan
October 17, 2019
Hello I tried this but anytime i import review_title it doesn’t show up as a review title. (i get NO TITLE) I use Yith Advanced reviews
Alan
October 17, 2019
Hi,
The issue you are facing with the reviews might be because you are using a custom third party plugin to manage the reviews. Could you please reach us via support.
john burg
August 14, 2019
sorry but this doesn’t work. i did a very simple test: went to product, manually added a couple comments/ratings, ran the export, then back to the product and removed the ratings. and then imported the CSV file generated by the export process and.. no comment/rating showing in the product.
Alan
August 14, 2019
Hi,
We have tested the same in our test environments and were able to export & import the product reviews without any issues. Kindly make sure that the delimiter selected during import is the same as the one used in the CSV file.
If the issue still persists please reach us via support.
John J
August 1, 2019
The imported reviews showed up under comments and on the product page on WordPress admin panel, but not on the product page where visitors can see. What are the possible reasons? Thanks!
David Walker
July 26, 2019
Really good module for exporting and importing everything in woocommerce, recommend it to all of our clients. Thanks
Peter Schulz
July 10, 2019
I was wanderign if there are any performance differences bettween all the methods. Does it have any effect whether to use file upload, ftp or url?
Or does it fatches the data once and processes in the same way?
Alan
July 10, 2019
Hi,
In all the importing methods the plugin follows the same workflow so there won’t be much difference in the import process performance. The only difference will be in the time taken to upload the CSV/XML file.
Karen
March 19, 2019
I keep trying to download the CSV sample but it just comes up as a bunch of jibberish on the page it opens. It’s not a spreadsheet at all. How do I use it?
Alan
March 21, 2019
Hi,
By default plugin exports CSV file that is comma separated and UTF-8 encoded. The issue you are facing might be because the spreadsheet application you are using is not able to handle UTF-8 encoded CSV files properly. You may please try using spreadsheet applications like LibreOffice which has proven to be better in handling UTF-8 encoded files in our experience.
If the issue still persists please reach us via support.
jose3
March 6, 2019
How can I import reviews with images?
Alan
March 8, 2019
Hi,
By default in Woocommerce, there is no option/field to add images to the product reviews. Could you please tell us whether you are able to add images to the product reviews manually.
Allan
February 14, 2020
Hi I use a plugin to add images to the review