Magento

I have tried dozens of searches for solutions and failed attempts over several months for uploading products in bulk to my store. I give up. Help!

I have 2 separate databases for 2 separate stores, one with ~900 products and ~ 60 images and another with ~4200 products and at least 1 image per product (4200+ images).

I need to be able to get all my products working and then pass off the front end development to a 3rd party but I’m stuck before I can get everything into the store and working properly on the stock template.

What I’ve tried

I can get products uploaded into the backend via a CSV file in the standard System > Import menu without using Data Flow. Magento handles the images correctly from the import folder into its own directories but the images do not show in the back end.

I tried a modified Import.php file based on this LexIT consulting article. The Import.php I replaced caused my upload to time out (even with just 1 product) and it would not complete, so I reverted to the stock Import.php file

Questions
1. Why won’t my products show up in the default template? All products are visible, searchable and catalog-able, plus the back end shows the correct number of products for each product category.
a. Products are enabled and visibility = 4, or set for Catalog, Search
b. When I load sample data all the samples show up

2. Do I need to create a directory just for the first two letters of each image?
a. The image I was able to upload had the name “wwe-canned-text-image1.jpg). Magento created directories w > w to store the image
b. Magento seems to handle this correctly from System > Import but does not display images in back end

3. Which bulk upload plugin do you recommend? Requirements
a. One license purchase for multiple domains
b. Bulk upload images
c. Upload of categories / attributes files a plus but not requirement

4. Has anyone used Unirgy’s RapidFlow? It seems powerful and they have a $120 / 1 week license. Is this sufficient for my needs?

If anyone else has any general info, it would be greatly appreciated. I have a good understanding of database design and how this thing is supposed to work but I am lacking the Magento knowledge to put it all together.

1. Why won’t my products show up in the default template? All products are visible, searchable and catalog-able, plus the back end shows the correct number of products for each product category.
a. Products are enabled and visibility = 4, or set for Catalog, Search
b. When I load sample data all the samples show up

There are few more options you have to check. Here’s the whole list so you could check them once again one by one:
- Set status as Enabled, see open product for editing -> General -> Status field
- Set Visibility (if nowhere is set, your product won’t be shown on your store), see in the edit product -> General -> Visibility field
- Set at least one category for product - see Categories section of the product edit section
- Enable product for websites
- Design -> Display product option in field - set option as: Block after Info Column or Product Info Column
- Enable inventory control and set “In Stock” in Inventory section as enabled (1) - this step seems to be missed as per your explannations

2. Do I need to create a directory just for the first two letters of each image?
a. The image I was able to upload had the name “wwe-canned-text-image1.jpg). Magento created directories w > w to store the image
b. Magento seems to handle this correctly from System > Import but does not display images in back end

Import should upload images to correct directories and specify the correct name with path in database, you do not have to create those folders manually and upload images one by one.

3. Which bulk upload plugin do you recommend? Requirements
a. One license purchase for multiple domains
b. Bulk upload images
c. Upload of categories / attributes files a plus but not requirement

I’d recommend you Store Manager for Magento
magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/store-manager-for-magento.html
It is a complex product that allows you to manage as many domains as you wish with one PRO license and has a lot of mass operations including bulk import images, and mass upload of categories and attributes. There’s free trial available, so you’re welcome to check it for free.

Note that it is a desktop application, so it has advantages to work offline that speed-up the work greatly.

Thanks Store_Manager, but now I have a thumbnail problem

I forgot to include the _product_websites attribute for which the value was ‘base’

Does this refer to the theme or front end being ‘base’? I ask because it isn’t a Boolean value and I don’t know what ‘base’ refers to.

I dropped thumbnails in the import directory and assigned the thumbnail attribute a relative url of /thumbnail.jpg with a 135x135px size just like on the default template.

Required fields for Magento .csv upload for those watching at home . . .
sku
_root_category
_category
_attribute_set
_ type (product type)
_product_website (base to show up on default template)
name
description
short_description
status (1 = enabled)
visibility (4 = catalog, search)
tax_class_id (0 = none)
Stock availability don’t know this attribute name??? - I changed all in back end
qty

I will definitely try the free trial of your product and I appreciate your help. I have multiple stores to do so I will probably use your product for managing the secondary stores but I like knowing how my products work and want to understand what each variable does, etc.

Sorry, missed your replies and thank you for your kind words.

I forgot to include the _product_websites attribute for which the value was ‘base’
Does this refer to the theme or front end being ‘base’? I ask because it isn’t a Boolean value and I don’t know what ‘base’ refers to.

As I know base means that products data are assigned to the Default values, so you are assigning products to the values that are used by default (in most cases default values are used for all views and websites).

I dropped thumbnails in the import directory and assigned the thumbnail attribute a relative url of /thumbnail.jpg with a 135x135px size just like on the default template.

In case you’re using Admin, it should work this way. In case it is not working correctly, I’d recommend you to try the solution provided earlier. If anyone know another solution, please help us

Stock availability don’t know this attribute name??? - I changed all in back end

Stock Availability database field is called “is_in_stock”

I spent many hours combing internet posts and experimenting to resolve the image upload problems. In the end, it’s really quite simple. Besides the standard import.csv required fields and image fields, you need to include these four fields in your import.csv file:

_media_attribute_id: “88” (Value might be different for you, depending on your store setup. Do an inventory export first and check the value placed in this field.)

_media_position: “1”

_media_is_disabled: “0”

_media_image: (same value image field)

This creates entries in the product_media_gallery sql database files to correspond with your product entries, thus creating all the necessary entries to show your images in the backend.

If you have already done an import without those fields such that your images show in the frontend but not the backend, you can import your products again with an import.csv that has just sku plus the four media fields above. This will get the images to show in the backend as well. However, the images will show in the backend without the radio buttons for base image, small image and thumbnail being selected - I still haven’t figured that one out. Note that anytime you do a product import to update those products where the radio buttons are not selected, do not include the image, small_image and thumbnail fields (but do include the four media fields) or those products will end up with two images (identical) instead of one.

A couple reminders:

Put your images in the /media/import folder before importing products.You can have them organized into a subfolder structure as long as you include the subfolder paths in your image fields. 

Use a backslash (/) as the first character for your image, small_image, thumbnail and _media_image fields.

You will need to reindex some of your database indexes (Admin/System/Index Management) after doing product imports.

vintagepostcard - 23 November 2012 04:56 PM

Put your images in the /media/import folder before importing products.You can have them organized into a subfolder structure as long as you include the subfolder paths in your image fields.

I do not have a import folder within the media folder.  In fact I’ve checked my entire 1.7.0.2 installation of Magento and there is no “import” folder.

Is there some other folder in 1.7.0.2 that I can put the images in get them to import?

Just create the /media/import folder if you don’t have it and put your images there. The Store Manager program mentioned earlier in this thread works pretty well, so that’s another option.