Importing Data

Learn about using Zentail's import tool to make bulk edits, SKU creation, custom reports and more.

Michael Goldmeier avatar
Written by Michael Goldmeier
Updated over a week ago

Overview

Zentail's Import tool is a powerful and flexible way to manage your catalog more efficiently. You can use this tool to import data into Zentail, to make bulk changes to your catalog, as well as to view and download previous imports.

Preparing a CSV for Import

This section will explain the basics of setting up a CSV to import into Zentail. If you are already familiar with this process, feel free to skip to the next section.

There are a few rules to remember when preparing a CSV before you import it into Zentail. In general, the first column should be ‘SKU’. Files must be saved in CSV format, attempting to import a .xls or .xlsx will likely fail.

An example of a sample CSV file ready to be imported into Zentail:

This example includes the SKUs, as well as the Title, Color and Size for each SKU.

If you were to import this into your Zentail Catalog and the SKUs did not yet exist, by default the SKUs will be created in Zentail (There is a setting for this which we will cover further in this article) and each of the three attributes would have the proper Title, Color and Size data attached.

If you import a file like this when the SKUs already exist, then the Title, Color and Size previously stored in Zentail will be overwritten with the new values, or if the values were identical to what already exists in Zentail, the attributes would be left alone.

Import Data into Zentail

Import can be found at the top right of your Catalog page:

The popup menu lets you navigate quickly to some of the more commonly used import templates. Importing data allows you to make bulk edits to your catalog!

  1. Select the Import Data tab on the Import page.

  1. Select the template you want to import into from the list on the left, or simply use the: “Templateless Product Data Import”.

  2. Using the Advanced Options link you can access additional options for your upload, including Insert Only, Overwrite with Blank Data, and Create New SKUs. Each of these options is explained further below.

Import Advanced Options

Insert Only: Insert only mode allows you to upload a file to Zentail that will only fill in blank data on Zentail. Any data that already exists on Zentail will not be overwritten by data in the file.

You can use this to safely add new data to Zentail in bulk without compromising any existing, high quality data already on Zentail.

Overwrite data in Zentail with blank data in the import: This option will take all values from your imported file, including blanks, and overwrite what you had in Zentail before the import. If this option is disabled, blank attributes in the import will just be ignored.

Create new SKUs in Zentail if they don’t already exist: This determines whether you want the import to add a new SKU for each SKU in the first column that doesn't already exist in Zentail. If you’re creating new SKUs, this should be on. If you are just updating existing products, it can be ignored or disabled.

  1. Click Upload File, select the CSV you would like to upload and click NEXT STEP.

  2. You will see the Validation phase begin, this is checking the CSV to make sure everything within it is valid before performing the import, as well as allowing you to preview of the first few lines of the imported CSV.

  1. Verify that the information displayed looks correct and that you do not have any validation errors that need to be corrected.

  1. Click on each of the rows to make sure the data is mapped correctly -- please use caution to ensure the file you are about to upload matches the template.

  2. Select the fields you want to import -- if you only want to import data from a subset of the total columns in your file, simply uncheck the columns you want to ignore. SKU is always selected since it is required for all imports.

  3. Click START IMPORT.

Once the import has begun, you can track its progress on the Import History tab.

Now we’ll take a look at one of the easiest ways to get your data into Zentail, the Templateless Product Data Import. It is possible to set up custom import templates to select only specific portions of an imported file, but Templateless Import will take all valid columns from a CSV and import them.

Templateless Product Data Import

You can import data into Zentail without using an Import Template. All you need to do is make sure that you are using a recognized field value in the header row for each of your columns.

Here's how it works:

  1. Enter recognized field values in the first (header) row of your spreadsheet and fill in the spreadsheet with the data you want to import.

  2. Click on the Import menu item near the top right.

  3. Select Templateless Product Data Import.

  4. Click UPLOAD FILE and select the file from your computer.

  5. Preview the Import to make sure Zentail is mapping your data to the correct attributes.

  6. Confirm the fields you want to import.

  7. Click START IMPORT.

Different Types of Attributes

There are different types of attributes in Zentail. For the most part you will see attributes that are:

  • Text- This accepts any and all values. Most attributes are categorized as a 'text' attribute.

  • Numeric- Only accepts number values. Commonly used for quantity attributes.

  • Boolean- This a true/false, yes/no field. Use “true” or “false” without quotes or “0” for false and “1” for true. Do not use “True” or “False” with capitalized letters.

  • Select- These are attributes that only accept a select set of values. There is a list of accepted values listed as you add the attribute to your template.

Accessing Previous Imports

You can access and download the files that you've previously imported into Zentail. To do so:

  1. Navigate to your Import page on Zentail.

  2. Select the IMPORT HISTORY tab.

  3. Use the downward arrow icon to download the import.

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