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Documentation/Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce/Importing WooCommerce Products with Attributes – WooCommerce Product Import Export Plugin

Importing WooCommerce Products with Attributes – WooCommerce Product Import Export Plugin

Last updated on April 13, 2022

An attribute defines the additional data related to a product. Product attributes are characteristics that include size, color and other features that make it distinct from other products. The WebToffee plugin, Product Import Export for WooCommerce helps import the WooCommerce products with attributes. From a consumer perspective, these attributes may even influence the ultimate purchase decision in the increasingly crowded e-commerce marketplace. Based on the defined product attributes, the store owners can create variable products.

Two types of product attributes in WooCommerce are:

  1. Global attributes: In a store, any product can use the global attributes and its respective terms. As created in the Attributes section of WooCommerce settings, global attributes are defined globally.
  2. Local attributes: We could apply local attributes only to a particular product and are custom attributes. They are created in the Attributes section of the respective product data meta-box.
New attributes can be added to an existing product by importing the CSV file and updating the existing product data. It is important to correctly map the column headers of the CSV file to the fields of WooCommerce so that all product attributes appear correctly.

Mandatory: The exported CSV should contain attributes that can be configured in the WooCommerce Product page, as shown in the screenshot below:

Attributes in WooCommerce product

Let us say you have a CSV file with a product containing attributes ‘Size’ and ‘Color’. Here, the attributes with the prefix “pa_” are global attributes.

The pipe symbol “|” is used to add multiple attributes.

Global and local attributes

Attribute Values

Value of attribute data is given in the format: position | visible | variation.

  • position: Defines the position of the attribute in the front-end.

    NOTE: Existing attribute will be moved down if you set a lower position value for the new attribute. Attributes with a low position value will be placed at the top and attribute with a bigger position value will be placed last.
  • visible: Displays 1, if the attribute is visible at the front end. Else, displays 0.
  • variation: Displays 1, If the attribute is used for variation. Else, displays 0.

Note: Download Sample CSV of Import Attributes.

Importing products with attributes

As a first step, install and activate the product import export plugin. Click on WebToffee Import Export (Pro) > Import menu from the WordPress admin panel.

  • Select Products under post type.
  • Select an import method: One can choose among: Quick import, Pre-saved template and Advanced import .
  • Map import columns: To map import columns. Here, you can map the commercial names to WooCommerce columns. Use Evaluation Field to fix/update the required value for a particular field.
    Mapping Product Attributes During Import
  • Advanced Options/Batch Import: Provides advanced options to import and scheduling import.
Product-Import-Step-4

Click on Import to import the WooCommerce products with attributes.

Details of import

Finally, head on to Products from WordPress dashboard to view the imported products as shown below:

Variable product in products page

To view its attributes, move to the Attributes section in the respective product page.

Attributes section for the products

Here is the view of the attributes in the product page.

View of attributes in product page.

To check Global attributes, go to Products > Attributes. 

Product global attributes
Added the global attribute ‘color’

Know more about import and export of products.

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This article posted in Documentation, Getting Started, Import, Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce, WooCommerce and tagged csv file, CSV file utf-8 encoded, import product attributes, Import products, import products with attributes, Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce, woocommerce

Written by

Vineetha

Vineetha is a technical content writer with a knack of simplifying complex information into readable content. She focuses on writing content in a conveyable and clear format.

Comments (46)

  1. nagymacko

    January 18, 2022

    Do I have to add the attribute slug to the csv or the attribute value. Let’s say the value is “Dark Brown” and the woocommerce generated slug is “dark-brown”. Which one should I add?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      January 20, 2022

      Hi,
      You just have to add the attribute name in the CSV file. The attribute slug will be automatically generated by Woocommerce when importing.

      Reply
  2. Anastasiia

    June 16, 2021

    Hello! Products now have 5 attributes. I want to change one attribute for all products (color). But when loading a csv file with data (SKU and color), the remaining 4 attributes are deleted and the goods only have the color attribute. How should the plugin be configured so that one attribute is updated and the rest are not deleted?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      June 17, 2021

      Hi,

      Can you please reach us via support and share your importing file so that we can check it.

      Reply
      • Markus Scho

        July 19, 2021

        I have exactly the same problem. It overrides all attributes.

        Reply
        • Alan

          Alan

          July 26, 2021

          If you are having the basic version plugin then please make sure that you have updated the plugin to the latest version(Ver 2.0.4).
          If the issue persists please reach us via support.

          Reply
  3. Dani

    April 26, 2021

    Hi! I made a CSV, UTF-8 format, upload sheet with just SKUs column and an attribute:pa_additional_features column in efforts to add additional features to about 500 SKUs that I wanted to assign additional features to. The upload was successful and I didn’t see any error on the initial import page. However, when I went into products > Attributes > Additional Features > I could see the new additional features categories under configure terms, but when I clicked on the number count for that new attribute, there were no products found. It is strange that I can see the product count per attribute, but after clicking on the count number, there are no products actually there. I often upload new color attributes or small updates like this to our SKUs successfully, so I am having a hard time troubleshooting this one. Wondering if this is happening as a result of the recent product CSV plugin updates?

    Please let me know if you have any tips for me to have products populate in my attributes under attributes > additional features. Thank you in advance!

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      May 8, 2021

      Hi,

      Can you please share your importing file via support so that we can check it.

      Reply
  4. Guillermo Dewey

    Guillermo Dewey

    October 5, 2020

    is there a way to delete attributes on woo via your plugin?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      October 5, 2020

      Hi,

      The plugin does not support deleting attributes. It can be exported and imported only.

      Reply
  5. Fanny

    August 18, 2020

    Hello, I imported my products with several attributes and now I’m trying to filter them using a plugin. When clicking on “attributes” in the “products” section, my attributes don’t show and therefore I can’t filter them. The connection between the imported attributes and the “attributes” section is missing. What can I do now?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      September 10, 2020

      Hi,

      Could you please tell us whether you are facing the issue only with the products/attributes that are imported using the plugin or not. If yes, then please reach us via support.

      Reply
  6. Nahuel Fiasche

    July 8, 2020

    Hi! On my site I sell some products per unit and others per box. I want to buy the premium version to be able to update my products in a variable way. I understand that I can put color and options, but in my case a different price would have to be applied to each variation. Is it possible to do this? I did not find an answer.

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      July 8, 2020

      Hi,

      Yes, using the premium version of the plugin you can import variable products with different price for each variation.

      Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      July 8, 2020

      Hi,

      Yes, using the premium version of the plugin you can import variable products with different prices for each variation.

      Reply
  7. Renier Lombard

    July 1, 2020

    Good day.
    When I try to import, the product ID seems to import correct but in the status message for all imports are: “Product with same ID already exists”
    Have a look at screenshot here: https://ibb.co/5RRT3r4
    Can you assist me please?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      July 2, 2020

      Hi,

      The error message “Product with same ID already exists” is displayed because there is already an existing product on your site with the same ID as in the CSV file. You can overcome this issue by deleting or unmapping the ID column during import. WordPress will automatically assign the next available ID to the imported products.

      Reply
      • Thank you very much

        July 6, 2020

        it works now

        Reply
  8. Emily Xu

    June 11, 2020

    If I want to import variable products with attributes, do I have to buy your products? Can free plugins import variable products?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      June 11, 2020

      Hi,

      Importing and exporting of variable products is one of our premium features. You may please purchase the premium version of the plugin to import variable products.

      Reply
      • Emily Xu

        June 13, 2020

        If I purchase the premium version of the plugin, can I import variables? Like shoe size? If I can’t successfully import these variables, can I return them back?

        Reply
  9. Kenneth Perry

    Kenneth Perry

    November 21, 2019

    i have tried to import the three key attributes for my products now several times. Some have updated correctly, others it is filling the attribute value again with the attribute name, “Brand”, instead of the correct value like “Office Depot”. For Package attribute, some it fills int he package like “EA” and others it puts the the word package in the value. This is quite frustrating. What is the solution?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      November 21, 2019

      Hi,

      Kindly make sure that the CSV file is formatted properly and the data present in the attribute columns are not shifted. If the issue still persists please reach us via support.

      Reply
  10. Matt Martin

    Matthew Martin

    October 29, 2019

    Hi. All my 2500 products are already uploaded – I just want a tool to assign them all to to categories. Will this do that easily? the documentation all talks about “importing products to categories”. I just want to make sure I can use this to assign categories to existing products, and that I don’t have to be importing new product to do that.

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      October 29, 2019

      Hi,

      Yes, using the Product import-export plugin you can assign categories to the existing products in your store.

      Reply
  11. Jarah de Jong

    Jarah de Jong

    August 16, 2019

    Hi there! I am using the Premium version of the import/export plugin, but when I import the example file (from this article: Sample_CSV_Variable_Product.csv) the product type isn’t Variable. It’s Simple, and when I click on variations, I don’t see them as well. Hopefully someone can help me with this issue!

    Kind Regards

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      August 16, 2019

      Hi,

      If you are importing products into a fresh site then there are chances that the issue you are facing during importing variable products is because WooCommerce not updating the post meta correctly in the new site. This issue can be overcome by creating a dummy variable product manually. Also make sure that the tax:product_type column is mapped while importing the CSV file.

      If the issue still persists please reach us via support.

      Reply
  12. Fabio

    June 5, 2019

    Hello!
    How can I manage products translations? I ‘m also using WMPL in my store.
    Is WooCommerce Product Import Export Plugin compatible with WMPL?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      June 6, 2019

      Hi,

      Yes, the Product import export plugin is compatible with WPML simple products. You may please add three additional columns to the CSV namely; wpml:language_code, wpml:original_product_id, wpml:original_product_sku for importing multilingual simple products. For better understanding, you can go through the documentation on how to import WPML products.

      Reply
  13. Nathan

    February 21, 2019

    Hi there! Can you please help me with my problem. Here’s how it goes, you see, I want to import a variation of a certain product, it has different sizes and colors. Everything would be easy if all colors are available to different sizes and vice-versa. Example, a product have 3 colors: black, white and red. Black and white colors have small, medium, and large sizes. but red is available only on medium and large. When I import my CSV with red attribute:color and with medium and large attribute:size on a different row . I still don’t get a separate dropdown menu for red with medium and large size options only, everything just goes there. What should I do to achieve this? thanks in advance for any helpful reply and tips.

    Reply
    • Mark

      Mark

      February 22, 2019

      Hi,

      You may please refer our guide to know how to import variable products and ensure to follow the instructions while preparing the CSV. If any further queries, please submit a support ticket here briefing the issue. Also, attach the CSV you tried to import when submitting the ticket.

      Reply
  14. Adam

    January 30, 2019

    Hey. I’d like to import a range of products, each with the same 2 variations. Full and mini. If I want to do this using attributes, but also want to include other attributes (for filtering purposes only, not for selecting / showing on front end to buy), how do I do this?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      January 31, 2019

      Hi,

      In order to import variations to a variable product you may please use the three columns meta:attribute_xxx, attribute:xxx, and attribute_data:xxx column and provide data in it. You may please specify attribute values in the attribute: columns, the value of each variable in the meta:attribute_xxx column. You can go through the documentation on how to import variable products.

      In the case of importing attributes to the products for filtering purpose, you may specify the values only in the attribute:xxx and attribute_data:xxx column. The value in the attribute_data column will define the position of the attribute, whether attribute will be visible at the front-end, and If the attribute is used for variation. For better understanding, you can go through the documentation on importing attributes.

      Reply
      • Adam

        January 31, 2019

        That’s not exactly what I want. I followed the guide and I got the products as they were, but with those attributes visible. I want the users to be able to select from a drop down one of these as a variable, so that when they purchase they are either purchasing the full or mini version of the product.

        My understanding of your documentation is that the attributes are displayed, but not selectable for this purpose. And so i cant change the price / details of order based on what one they choose.

        Reply
  15. Jarrod

    January 26, 2019

    Running into a snag I didn’t think would be very difficult. I have 100 products that each need a certain attribute assigned to them, for filtering sake. However, I do not want the attribute visible on the front-end. They are already in the database as 0|1|0 (position|visible|variation). When I change these fields to 0|0|0 in my spreadsheet and then import the csv, the plugin doesn’t seem to acknowledge the zeros and leaves them the same. What am I missing? How can I update these without doing it manually one at a time?

    Reply
    • Alan

      Alan

      January 28, 2019

      Hi,

      You can update the product attributes such that it will not be displayed on the product page using the attribute_data column. We have tested the same in our test environment and were unable to replicate the issue. Kindly make sure that the attribute data value(0|0|0) is specified under the correct column and is mapped during import. Eg: If the attribute name is size then you may specify attribute data value(0|0|0) under the column attribute_data:size. Hope this is clear.

      If you are still having the issue please reach us via support.

      Reply
  16. Gianluca Budroni

    October 10, 2018

    Hello. Is there a way to delete attributes from existing products using import?

    Reply
  17. Luis

    Luis

    February 14, 2018

    Is there anyway to create automatically the attribute if it not exists?

    Reply
  18. Andrea

    Andrea

    January 29, 2018

    Hello, the import plugin keeps adding attributes to a product instead of overwriting the old ones. Now my product has close to 20 and should only have about 8.

    And, the import mapping console provides two options for every attribute. E.g. attribute:pa_color and attribute:color How can I know which to use?

    Thank you

    Reply
    • WebToffee Team

      Mark

      January 31, 2018

      Hi Andrea,

      If you use the same name exactly for updating products, then it won’t duplicate. The pa_ before attribute name is used to define the attribute as global attribute as explained above section. To define the attribute as local, specify the attribute name without ‘pa_’ . Reach us via support if the issue persists.

      Reply
      • cara2

        cara2

        December 29, 2018

        Hi,
        How can I delete the attributes after they have been added via import? I’m having the same issue with increasing numbers of attributes even after using exact matches.

        Thanks

        Reply
        • Mark

          Mark

          December 31, 2018

          Hi,

          Currently, there is no option to delete existing attributes of a product using the plugin. The issue you are facing might be because of the wrong slug that you provided manually for the attributes. Attribute slugs will be automatically generated by Woocommerce from the attribute name. Please reach us via support.

          Reply
  19. Maxim

    Maxim

    April 24, 2017

    Hello,
    when doing Map Fields while importing products and uploading csv file, the plugin does not separate values of the headers. For example, instead of separate values “Parent”, “SKU”, “ID” as an option for Column Header, it merges values to “Parent;SKU;ID” or “Parent,SKU,ID” depending on the format of the csv file. What could be the problem?

    Reply
    • WebToffee Team

      Mark

      April 25, 2017

      Hi Maxim,

      If column headers are showing as merged values, surely it has to do something with the delimiter of CSV.
      Try changing the delimiter while importing as shown in the screenshot below.
      https://www.xadapter.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/product-import-export-delemiter.png

      Reply
  20. Jon

    October 31, 2016

    Nope. Import does not work. Not sure what the issue is. On submit, the system just sits and waits – as if it is unable to process the input file. Basically, plugin is broken.

    Reply
    • WebToffee Team

      Mark

      November 1, 2016

      Hi Jono,

      You were having special characters in your CSV header so it was failing to parse. Glad that you got it resolved.

      Reply

Got any query? Please leave a comment or reach out to our support

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