How to import WooCommerce products using google spreadsheet

Importing WooCommerce products into your store can be done in a few different ways. Webtoffee’s Product Import Export product plugin provides you with three different methods to import products into your WooCommerce store.

The three methods by which importing can be done are:

• By uploading a CSV/XML file
• Via FTP
• Using URL

In this article, let us explore how products can be imported into your WooCommerce store using a google spreadsheet.

To begin with, you will have to create a google sheet with required data in appropriate column headers. For an uninterrupted import of products, the column headers must be specified in a pre-defined format. However, you can even enter custom headers at this stage and then map it afterward while importing.

WooCommerce Product Export-Google spreadsheet

To use google spreadsheet URL for importing:

• Ensure that the importing URL is publically accessible
• Copy the sharing link
  

Importing steps

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Product Import Export and select Import.
2. From among the three methods listed for importing, choose the third method, that is, import using URL.
3. Paste the copied google spreadsheet URL into Method 3: Enter the URL of the file field.
   

   WooCommerce Product Import using google spreadsheet

4. Replace the trailing edge of the URL from “edit?usp=sharing” to “export?format=csv”
   

   Input google spreadsheet URL

5. Optionally you can choose the fields from the Advanced options section:
   • Update products if exists: Check the Update products if exists check-box to update details of existing products on your store. The existing products are identified by their SKUs/Product IDs.
   • Skip New Products: While updating existing products, tick this check-box to skip products which are not already present in the store. If a new SKU is encountered in the imported CSV file, it will be skipped, and only the existing products will be updated.
   • Delimiter: In a delimited text file that is used to store data, each line represents a single entity, and has fields separated by the delimiter. A delimiter is a character used to specify the boundary between separate entities in a text file. A popular example of a delimiter is the comma character, which acts as a field delimiter in a sequence of comma-separated values (CSV). Enter a delimiter to separate the mapping values. By default, a comma is taken as the delimiter. In place of a comma, you can also use other characters like /, ” “, |, @, etc. You can also use the letter ‘t‘ for parsing tab delimiter.
   • Delete Existing Products: Check this option to delete the existing products that are not present in the importing CSV.
   • Use SKU to link up-sells and cross-sells: Check this option to use SKU to link the up-sells and cross-sells of a product. If this option is not checked, up-sells and cross-sells of a product will be linked using the Product ID.
   • Disable thumbnail generation: Check this option to avoid the regeneration of thumbnails on import.
   • New product status: This section allows you to change the status of all the new products imported to draft, pending, or published, overriding the existing status in the CSV.
   • Use SKU to link grouped products: Check this option to link the grouped items using SKU. If this option is not checked, the grouped products will be linked using product IDs.
6. Finally, click the Upload File and Import button to proceed further towards Map Fields. Map Fields: This section allows you to map your imported columns to product data fields. You can select an existing mapping file or create a new one by naming the mapping file and clicking on the Save Import Mapping button.
7. After mapping all the required fields, save these mapping and evaluation fields in a file by specifying the filename in the Mapping file name field.
8. Click Submit to start importing.
9. You will receive an import successful message indicating successful import of products from the URL.

To know more about other importing methods and features, refer to the setup article.