Magento

I guess I’m missing the obvious, but I can’t find any documentation on importing products via a CSV file. I have some specific questions about this process but can’t even find the basics.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks…

This is some of what is available at this time:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/comments/announcing-magento-dataflow-a-flexible-data-exchange-engine/

Same question I asked.  It is very important that this topic should get some heavy detailed documentation and fast.  I’m on a deadline and need to get my store up and running.  I have over 13,000 products to sell.  It’s either get this thing rolling or jump to a ready made platform.  I find that many e commerce solutions share the same problem as far as documentation.

Thanks for the replies.

Are there any sample import CSVs for download? Or can I generate one by manually adding a couple of products, exporting that to a CSV, then using that output as my template?

Couple of other questions: 

- Can I put XHTML into an item’s description field in the CSV?

- Can I upload multiple image filenames for each product?

- Can I import custom field values through the CSV file?

Thanks....

We should have descriptive documentation for DataFlow by the end of this week. I’m sure this will make things much easier.

Great, thanks…

NathanJ - 30 June 2008 02:43 PM

Thanks for the replies.

Are there any sample import CSVs for download? Or can I generate one by manually adding a couple of products, exporting that to a CSV, then using that output as my template?

Yes you can set up a couple products and then export them to get a sample csv file.  There is a screencast that shows exporting - or you can simply use the preset for it under System > Import/Eport > Profiles

Thanks.

Any experience with my other questions?

- Can I put XHTML into an item’s description field in the CSV?

- Can I upload multiple image filenames for each product?

- Can I import custom field values through the CSV file?

Thanks again.

- Can I put XHTML into an item’s description field in the CSV?

I’m not sure, I haven’t tried this yet.

- Can I upload multiple image filenames for each product?

There are a few threads in this forum as to how to do that - I’ve only uploaded the Base Image, Small Image, and Thumbnail thus far.

- Can I import custom field values through the CSV file?

If you’re referring to product attributes then yes, if not - what are you referring to?

Thanks.

I think we’re on the same page re: custom fields/attributes. I’m talking about, for instance, creating a field name like “Partner Only”. The field won’t affect the price, and it won’t be an option they can select when adding to the cart or checking out, but it will be something they can search or filter by, and something that will be displayed on the item’s page.

Well, as long as we’re still talking 1.0 attributes and not 1.1 custom options, all you need to do is add them on the right in the csv file.  The best way to see how to do this is to add those attributes to your test products before exporting so you can see how it builds them in there.  I was able to do this for Size and Color for over 2000 products.

1.1? Is there a beta of that or something? I thought the current was 1.0.x…

It’s actually not even beta yet, it’s still alpha, but i have it installed on a test site - I just wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing.