Hi. How can we help?

Editing products through import

This article will assist you with editing your products using the Import Tool. There are over 50 distinct pieces of product information that the import tool can modify. To see all the product information you can edit via the import tool, click here. Use this article to import any of these values.

This goes into detail on how to edit products via the Import tool. A summary of the process is: downloading a data file, creating a worksheet, importing the worksheet, and verifying the changes.

Manual product settings

The following product settings must be managed manually and cannot be imported. Click each option for more information:

Article navigation

This article is divided into two parts:

  • Instructions - Contains step-by-step instructions.
  • Reference - Contains reference material including specific information for importing

Instructions

To edit supported pieces of product information via import, follow these instructions.

A successful import depends on the quality of your data. That's why most of the steps you need to follow when importing to eCom revolve around your worksheet. For more information on why a worksheet is important, click here.

Use the following instructions to begin:

  1. Creating a data backup
  2. Preparing your worksheet
  3. Importing your data file
  4. Verifying your changes

1. Creating a data backup

In order to begin editing your product details and importing the changes, you need to create a data backup with the current product data you have in your eCom store.

  1. On the left menu of the Back Office, click Tools. Click_Tools.png
  2. Click Exports. Screen_Shot_2018-09-25_at_4.33.19_PM.png
  3. At the top right-hand side of the page, click New Export. Screen_Shot_2018-09-25_at_4.08.13_PM.png
  4. Next to Choose what you want to export, make sure Products is selected. Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_10.43.19_AM.png
  5. Click Export. Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_10.45.12_AM.png
  6. In the Status column see that the status is PROCESSING. When the status becomes FINISHED, processing is complete. On the right-hand side of the screen, click Download. Screen_Shot_2018-09-25_at_4.14.24_PM.png
  7. Save this product somewhere on your computer that is easy to locate. In this example, we are naming the file Backup Product Data File and will be saving it on the desktop. Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_11.12.05_AM.png

2. Preparing your worksheet

In order to edit products via import, these steps instruct you to create a blank table that will become your worksheet.

  1. Click here to login to your Google account and open Google Sheets.
  2. Create a new blank sheet by clicking +. This will be used as your worksheet. Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_11.16.11_AM.png
  3. Open your Backup Product Data File.
    In this image, we are opening the Backup Product Data File from our Desktop: OpenWorkingDataArtboard2.png
  4. Copy the following columns from the Backup Product Data File and paste them in your worksheet. Click here for more information regarding identifying columns.
    Internal_ID Internal_Variant_ID XX_Title_Short
    Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_12.01.44_PM.png
  5. Copy the columns you're intending on editing from the backup and paste them as new columns in your worksheet.
    In this image, we are editing the product weights: Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_12.06.47_PM.png
  6. Locate and remove any products from the worksheet that you're not planning on editing by deleting the entire row. Sort the table alphabetically according to your identifying column to make it easier to locate the products you will not be editing.
    In this image, we are removing the gift card products by deleting rows 29 to 32: Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_12.09.08_PM.png
  7. Make the edits to your data in the worksheet. This can be done one by one or using the features of Google Sheets by copying one change across multiple rows. To confirm the correct format for each column, click here.
    In this image, we have added the weights and units for each product: Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_12.14.36_PM.png
  8. Save your worksheet to your computer. This can be done by clicking File > Download AsComma separated values (.CSV). Screen_Shot_2018-09-26_at_12.17.10_PM.png

3. Import your data file

Now that you've completed your product edits and have your worksheet saved to your computer, you can now upload the file to eCom through the Import tool.

  1. In eCom store's Back Office, click Tools.

    Screen_Shot_2018-09-25_at_4.08.00_PM.png

  2. Click New Import.

    Click_New_import2.png

  3. Click Browse computer.

    Browse_Computer2.png

  4. Locate your worksheet and click Open.

    Click_Open2.png

  5. Click Choose what you want to import and select Products.

    Choose_what_you_want_to_export2.png

  6. The page will continue automatically. In the section ADDITIONAL SETTINGS:
    1.  Click Choose an option: and select Only update existing products.

      Choose_an_option2.png

    2. Click Select a column and select Product/Variant ID.

      Select_a_column2.png

  7. The fields in the section SET FIELD TYPES will be automatically mapped to the correct fields as long as the column headers were not modified in your worksheet. Find out which columns should be mapped to the correct fields by using the Column names table in this article to find the appropriate matches.

    Set_field_types2.png

  8. On the top right-hand side of the screen, click Continue.

    Click_continue2.png

  9. Click Start the import. The import tool will begin processing your import. You do not have to remain on page and may come back to it later.

    Start_the_import2.png

4. Verify your changes

It is necessary to verify if your edits were successful after starting an import. After checking if the import tool had no errors, it is important to test some products from your worksheet at random and confirm your edits took place.

Confirm no errors occurred during the import:

  1. Log in to your eCom store's Back Office and click Tools.

    E-APP-ClickTools.png

  2. Locate your import by the date or the filename and click View report next to the status.

    Click_View_Report.png

  3. If any errors are visible, make corrections to your worksheet and import your edits again. To see frequently asked questions and ask your own questions about errors, visit the Lightspeed Community article, here.

    Check_for_Issues.png

Confirm the edits took place

  1. In Google sheets, open the worksheet that you uploaded to Lightspeed eCom.

    Open_Working_data_file__For_3_articles_.png

  2. Select any row at random and copy the product's Internal ID.

    Screen_Shot_2018-10-11_at_3.18.58_PM.png

  3. Login to your eCom store's Back Office and select Products.

    E-APP-ClickProducts.png

  4. Select any product.

    Choose_any_product3.png

  5. In the web address bar, replace the number after /admin/products/ with the copied Internal ID, and on your keyboard press Enter.

    Screen_Shot_2018-10-11_at_3.24.45_PM.png

  6. Compare the product with your worksheet to ensure the changes you made are reflected correctly. 

    Compare_price.png

  7. Repeat steps 1-6 for a few products until you're certain all your changes have been correctly imported.

NOTES

  1. The recommended software to manage your data is Google Sheets. The recommended file format is .CSV format. For more information about this software and format, click here.
  2. Some system column names have a placeholder for a language abbreviation represented here as XX. When preparing your worksheet, use the Language table to add the correct abbreviation for your translated columns. For example, the title column is listed with the system column name beside it, followed by a description bullet points explaining the requirements for this column:
    • Title - XX_Title_Short- Description.
      • Requirement 1
      • Requirement 2

Reference

Identifying columns

Each worksheet needs columns that help identify what kind of contents are in each cell.

The Import tool uses the Internal_ID and the Internal_Variant_ID to identify contents. To help you identify which product is in each row, the XX_Title_Short column is added. You can also include any other identifying column to help you identify the product, like the product category or the article code.

NOTE: Although the internal_ID and Internal_Variant_ID columns are uneditable by the import tool, any other changes to identifying columns will update the products in eCom. Make sure you don't accidentally make changes to any of your identifying columns to avoid accidental updates in Lightspeed eCom.

Was this article helpful?

1 out of 3 found this helpful