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ChangelogWhile migrating to a new WooCommerce website, the absolute important thing that you need in your website are the products. Including all the products in your new website or adding each product’s information manually, can be dawdling!. Import Export Suite for WooCommerce Plugin helps you to export a CSV/XML file that includes all the WooCommerce product’s data and import the same to the website much quickly.
Download Sample Product CSV.
WooCommerce Mapping Fields
Before you get down to the product import & export operation, you should know some information about mapping fields.
For example, the post_title field gets mapped to the product name and the regular_price field gets mapped to the regular price of your product. If you want the plugin to work correctly, you must map all of the fields in the correct format. If there is any mistake in your import file, your product import may not work as expected.
The details of WooCommerce mapping fields are given below:
| Column/Tag Header | Explanation | Accepted value or format |
| post_title | Indicates the name of the product. | Text (ex. High Heel Shoe) |
| post_name | Indicates slug name of the product. | Text (ex. high-heel-shoe) |
| post_status | Indicates whether the product is in a draft or published mode. | draft/publish |
| post_excerpt | Indicates a short description of the product. | Text/HTML |
| post_content | Indicates description of the product. | Text/HTML |
| post_parent | Indicates parent of grouped and variable products. | Parent ID |
| post_password | For including a password for a private post. | Text |
| sku | SKU(stock keeping unit) is an identification, usually alphanumeric, of a particular product that allows it to be tracked for inventory purposes. | Alpha-numeric characters |
| menu_order | It decides the order of displaying the products in the shop. Items with menu order = 0 are displayed 1, 2, 3, etc. Products with the same menu order number are then listed alphabetically. When you create a new product it defaults to menu_order = 0. | Numeric characters |
| downloadable | After purchasing the product, whether the product can be downloaded or not. | yes/no |
| virtual | It is not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. | yes/no |
| visibility | Indicates whether a product is available for purchase or not. | visible/hidden |
| stock | Total number of products available in stock. You can use (+) or (-) signs with parenthesis to add or subtract the number of products to the stock. | Numeric characters |
| stock_status | It indicates whether the product is in stock or not. | instock/outofstock/onbackorder |
| backorders | Indicate orders for out-of-stock products that cannot be currently fulfilled or shipped, but is requested nonetheless for when the product becomes available again. | yes/no |
| manage_stock | It indicates whether the stock is managed by a store or not. | yes/no |
| regular_price | Indicates the original price of the product. | Numeric characters |
| sale_price | It is the price of the product that is being offered at a discounted rate. | Numeric characters |
| weight | Indicates the weight of the product. | Numeric characters |
| length | Indicates the length of the product. | Numeric characters |
| width | Indicates the width of the product. | Numeric characters |
| height | Indicates the height of the product. | Numeric characters |
| images | Indicate image URL or image name. Supports multiple image URLs separated by ‘|’. | URL Eg: http://url/filename1.png |
| tax_status | It indicates whether the product is taxable or not. | taxable/none |
| tax_class | It indicates the tax option for the product. | Standard rate/Reduced rate/Zero rate |
| tax:product_type | Indicates the type of product, such as simple, variable etc. | Simple, Variable |
| tax:product_cat | It is used during importing the product which indicates the category of product. Use the pipe symbol to import multiple categories and the greater than symbol (>) to import category hierarchy. | Text |
| tax:product_tag | It is used during importing the product which indicates tag(s) used for the product. Use the pipe symbol to add multiple tags | Text |
| tax:product_brand | It indicates the brand of the product. | Text |
| attribute:Color | It indicates the available color of the product. Ex: red|blue|orange etc | Text |
| meta:attribute_color | Ex: red or blue or orange | Text |
| attribute_data:Color | It indicates the metadata about the attribute color of the product. | position|visible|variation (ex. 0|1|1) |
| attribute:Size | It indicates the available size of the product. | Ex. US7|US8|US9 |
| meta:attribute_size | It specifies the attribute value of each variation. | Ex. US7 or US8 or US9 |
| attribute_data:Size | It indicates the metadata about the attribute size of the product. | position|visible|variation (ex. 1|1|1) |
| attribute:pa_unit | This lists out the unit options. | Ex. 10 kg | 20 kg | 30 kg |
| meta:attribute_pa_unit | It indicates the metadata about the product unit. | Ex. 10 kg |
| attribute_data:pa_unit | It defines the position, visibility and whether used for variation or not. | position|visible|variation (ex. 4|1|1) |
| attribute_default:pa_unit | This is the default value of a unit attribute. | Ex. 10 kg |
Note: Attribute names with pa are global attributes and the ones without pa are called local attributes.
Mapping fields supported by Yoast SEO:
- meta:_yoast_wpseo_focuskw
- meta:_yoast_wpseo_title
- meta:_yoast_wpseo_metadesc
- meta:_yoast_wpseo_metakeywords
Export Products
To export WooCommerce products:
- 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.
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 Taxonomies, Meta(custom fields), Attributes and Hidden meta select the respective group’s checkboxes.
- Click the Export button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 for advanced options.
- Navigate to Step 5 to know more about Advanced options/ Batch export/ Scheduling.
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 dropdown 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 dropdown.
- Click the Export button to complete the action or proceed to Step3 to filter data.
- Navigate to Step 3 to know more about filtering options.
Advanced Export
- This option will take 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.
Step 3: Filter data
- Click on Step 3, to view the following window where one can filter data on the basis of:
- Total number of products to export : The actual number of products you want to export. e.g. Entering 500 with a skip count of 10 will export products from 11th to 510th position.
- Skip first n products : Specify the number of products to be skipped from the beginning. e.g. Enter 10 to skip first 10 products from export.
- Product types : Filter products by their type. You can export multiple types together.
- Products : Export specific products. Key in the product names to export to export multiple products.
- Exclude Products : Use this if you need to exclude a specific or multiple products from your export list.
- Product categories : Export products belonging to a particular or from multiple categories. Just select the respective categories.
- Product tags : Enter the product tags to export only the respective products that have been tagged accordingly.
- Product Status: Filter products by their status private/draft/pending/future.
- Sort Columns: Defaulted to Ascending. Applicable to above selected columns in the order specified.
- Sort By: Sorts in Ascending/Descending order.
- Click on Step 4 to proceed further.
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 5 fields:
- Default fields
- Taxonomies
- Meta(Custom fields)
- Attributes
- Hidden meta
- 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 children SKU of grouped products: Exports children of grouped products by their SKU. Default is Product ID.
- Export file name: Filename for the exported file.
- Export File Format: Supports both CSV and XML.
- 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.
- On expanding Advanced options, one can:
- Convert shortcodes to HTML
- Export in batches of
- Export images as .zip file
- Save the template file for future export (if needed).
- Click on Export to finish and export or schedule the export to finish.
Import Products
To import WooCommerce products:
- 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.
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 import 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.
- Navigate to Step 4 to know more about Advanced options/ Batch import/ Scheduling.
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 5 fields:
- Default fields
- Taxonomies
- Meta(Custom fields)
- Attributes
- Hidden meta
Note: Columns are mapped automatically only if a matching header name is found in the input file. If not the value is left blank. If your input file header does not have exact names or if you need to edit the existing mapping you can simply click on the respective value fields corresponding to each row. Furthermore, you can also assign expressions based on the existing input file columns.
Evaluate field
This field is 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 dropdown 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.
- Match products by their: ID, SKU
- If product exists in the store: One can either Skip or Update the entry.
- If conflict with an existing Post ID: One can either Skip item or Import as new item.
- Use SKU to link up-sells, cross-sells and grouped products
- Delete non-matching products from store
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 export (if needed).
- Click on Import/Schedule to finish.
You can either import the products 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.
Also, the import/export can be scheduled on a daily, weekly, monthly, custom basis. One can also configure the time at which the import has 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 (20)
nick oldfield
August 22, 2022
How can I do a bulk delete of ALL products. I need to clean out my store and start again.
Mark
August 26, 2022
Hi Nick,
Provided that you are using the PREMIUM version of the Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce, you will have a tool to delete all products under WooCommerce > Status > Tools section of your site. This option will clear the entire product in your site.
Vish
June 3, 2022
Hello, I just installed the premium version of just the product import/export for woocommerce. However, the import option is missing from the menu, not sure why. Only export option is available
Mark
June 6, 2022
Hi Vish,
Greetings from Webtoffee!
Both the import and export options are included under the Webtoffee Import Export (Pro) menu in the WordPress admin dashboard of your site along with a few other submenus too. If this is not shown in your site, it needs to be checked from the site itself as it is not a generic issue. Kindly submit a ticket here.
Da Man
May 7, 2022
I do not see a way to SCHEDUAL an EXPORT…………… am I missing it or is that not available…
Alan
May 9, 2022
Hi,
You can schedule an export using the plugin. Refer to how to setup scheduled export for more details.
Tyrone
April 14, 2022
Hi, is there anywhere what I can find a list of the import/export fields and available options for each?
Alan
April 20, 2022
Hi Tyrone,
Refer to this section and get the details about import/export fields.
Carina Reshmi
April 7, 2022
Hi
I am looking for a proffessional to help creating a template for importing variable products into Woo commerce, anyone here or anyone who knows anyone that can do this for me?
kind regards
Carina
Nic Windley
October 28, 2021
Hello,
Is it possible to mass/bulk delete products using this plugin?
I saw an advanced option “Delete non-matching products from store” was available, however, this assumes that any products not found are to be removed. I would prefer an option to “Delete matching” so I can supply a list of products to be removed. Is this possible?
Mark
October 29, 2021
Hi,
You can move products that are in the CSV file to the trash by setting the post_status as “trash”. In the post_status field please provide the value “trash” and try updating the products.
Ibrahim Al-Banna
May 27, 2021
Can I import product variations?
Mark
May 28, 2021
Hi Ibrahim,
Using the premium version of the plugin, you can import and export variable products.
Birgit Ortner
March 24, 2021
Hello, I want to extend a variable product with another variable option (size was alreday defined – now I want to add an color option). I already adapted the csv file with all color attributes and uploadesd the file, but it does not update the product. How does this work?
thx
Alan
March 31, 2021
Hi,
Please share your importing file via support so that we can check it.
Syberea
February 11, 2021
Hi, how can i delete pre-saved template, I saved too many and can’t find any option to delete them.
Alan
March 16, 2021
Hi,
Sorry to say that currently there is no option to delete the pre-saved templates. We will include that feature in the plugin in the upcoming releases.
ask3
November 29, 2020
Hi. How can you owerwrite values or add value to empty field? Fo rinstance if i have no Product Category How do i add one? and If i have different categories but i want to overwrite with my default one.
Mark
November 30, 2020
You can add a new category or update the category of a product by just specifying the category name in the tax:product_cat column of the CSV file. For a better understanding please go through this article: https://www.webtoffee.com/woocommerce-import-product-categories/
ask3
November 30, 2020
Yeah, it doesnt work. In Product/Reviews Import/Exrpot plugin it works, i just choose “Import Data from Evaluation filed” and input any data i need it works. But in Suite if i input data in empty filed (that doesnt exist in CSV file, for instance my CSV feed doesnt have categories) it doesnt work. Only if i use combination with [{somedata} data] it works, but if i just input [data] or data it doesnt work.