If you’ve been keeping track of your product inventory in Google Sheets and are looking to transfer that data to your WooCommerce store, you’re in the right spot. This article will guide you through importing products from Google Sheets, simplifying your workflow and data management.
With over 900 million monthly users, Google Sheets is an excellent tool for organizing products. However, at some point, you’ll need to get that information into WooCommerce. Transferring products manually can be tedious and prone to mistakes. Fortunately, there’s a more efficient solution.
There are specialized plugins available that can handle the heavy lifting for you, allowing you to import all your products from Google Sheets without any hassle. This article will explore one such tool: the WooCommerce Product Import Export plugin. This plugin automates the import process, helping you save both time and effort.
Ready to simplify your workflow? Let’s go through the steps to import products from Google Sheets using the WooCommerce Product Import plugin!
Key Takeaways:
- Google Sheets is a highly popular spreadsheet solution used to organize and manage bulk amounts of data.
- Transferring product data from Sheets can sometimes be necessary, but doing it manually can take time and is often susceptible to errors or data loss.
- WebToffee’s Product Import Plugin lets store owners directly import product data stored in Google Sheets without hassles.
Importing WooCommerce products can be straightforward, particularly with the Product Import for WooCommerce plugin. Here’s the exciting part: you won’t have to download a Google Sheets CSV file to your computer and then upload it to WooCommerce.
Instead, we’ll guide you through directly linking Google Sheets to WooCommerce using a published link to retrieve your products automatically.
Let’s assume you already have all the required product data in Google Sheets, properly formatted in appropriate column headers. Here is a sample file for your reference.
Important note: Before using your Google Spreadsheet URL for importing, make sure the URL is set to publicly accessible.
Step 1: Publish Sheet URL to the Web for Importing
In your Google Sheet file,
- Go to File > Share and click Publish to web
- Select Entire document and Comma Separated Values (.csv) from the drop-downs.
- Publish the spreadsheet by clicking Publish and copy the URL on the Link tab.
Step 2: Install & Activate WooCommerce Product Import Plugin (Pro)
Next, you must install the pro version of the WooCommerce Product Import plugin to import the product in your Google Sheets file via URL.
From your WordPress dashboard,
- Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin
- Click on Upload Plugin, select the zip file, and click Install Now.
- Once done, proceed to Activate the plugin.
Note: When you purchase the Import Export (Pro) plugin, you’ll receive multiple ZIP files. Be sure to install and activate both the wrapper and the add-ons.
Refer to this installation guide for a more detailed walkthrough.
Step 3: Select Product as Post Type to Import
Now that the plugin is installed, let’s see how the import action is carried out. From your WordPress admin panel;
- Navigate to – WebToffee Import /Export (Pro) > Import.
- Choose the post type to import as Product and click Select import method.
Step 4: Select the URL for Importing Product Sheet
- Select the import method as Advanced import, which allows you to import data with filters, column selection, and other advanced options.
- Next, click the Import from the dropdown, select URL, and paste the Google Sheet link you copied in the Enter file URL field.
- Proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Map & Reorder Import Columns
Select the columns you want to import. You only need to configure this if you want to skip specific columns. Otherwise, you can skip this step and move on to the next one.
Step 6: Set Advanced Options for Importing Products
Here, you can configure many advanced options for importing products from Google Sheets. Let’s have a look at each of these options:
- If the product exists in the store: You can skip or update existing products.
- Match products by their: You can look up products using either their ID or SKU.
- Skip import of new products: Select whether to import new products from the spreadsheet or not.
- If product ID conflicts with an existing Post ID: If there’s a conflict with an existing Post ID, the import will skip that product. You can also choose to import the product with a new ID instead.
- Update even if empty values: The product data will be updated even if some columns in the input file have empty values.
- Use SKU to link up-sells, cross-sells and grouped products
- Delete non-matching products from store – Choose this option if you want to remove products from your store that aren’t listed in the input file.
In the Advanced options, you can specify the number of records the server will handle once within the timeout limit. If the import fails because of a timeout, consider reducing this number and trying the import again. Additionally, you can disable third-party plugin hooks during the import process.
- Once done, click Import.
Pro Tip: You can save your current import configurations as a template for future use. This way, you can quickly import your products without configuring these steps again.
Once the import is complete, a pop-up will appear indicating the status. It will show how many imports were successful and highlight any issues.
The WooCommerce Product Import Export plugin is a highly rated and widely used plugin for migrating WooCommerce store products and related data from one store to another. It is recommended if you have a larger WooCommerce store and want more control over the import process.
Need to import from a URL? This plugin has you covered. It makes it easy to sync with Google Sheets for easy product imports. You can also bulk import product images, reviews, categories, tags, and other attributes. Advanced filtering, automated column mapping, and scheduled import and export options make the process more efficient.
The advanced features offered by this plugin include:
- Import varying product types (simple, variable, grouped, external, subscription, and custom)
- Import products from multiple file formats – CSV, XML, TSV, and Excel files
- Import custom fields(meta), third-party plugin fields, and hidden meta
- Map and transform fields and bulk edit or evaluate data during the import
- Use FTP/SFTP for transferring files during import
- Schedule automated import processes using Server Cron
- Export different product types and images
Hope this article has helped you understand the process of importing products from Google Sheets to your WooCommerce store.
If you’ve been using Google Sheets to manage your product inventory and want to move it to your WooCommerce store, the Product Import plugin by WebToffee is the perfect solution.
You can effortlessly import your products with just a few clicks. The plugin manages data with great precision, reducing the chances of errors and ensuring that your product information is transferred correctly.
Did you find this article helpful? We’d love to hear your feedback. Share your thoughts by commenting below, and let us know how we can help you further!
Also Read: How to Bulk Update WooCommerce Products
