Product Upload - Sku and Quantity On Hand Only

[extragear]

Hello:

I've been experimenting with uploading the quantity on hand to our products database.

I created a small text file. Included the field names I want in the first row. Separated the values with tabs.

Ideally we would only upload the sku and the quantity on hand. Using the SKU as the unique identifier.

When the upload is attempted, we receive the following message:

The Name field has been omitted in the upload file. This is a required field.

When I include the Name field it uploads fine.

My question is, is it possible to leave out the name field? If so what are the settings needed?

Thanks

Tim
Belden Motosport

[Jim]

Name is the only required field in the upload. You can include any of the other fields that you want as long as name is there. So in your case just use Name, SKU and Quantity on hand.

[extragear]

Jim

So if I understand correctly, that we must include the name field? So obviously if we change the name field online and dont update it on the database snippet we have offline. Then upload that snippet it would overwrite the name field?

I did notice during the upload process that there is the ignore option when you are at the Match Upload Fields page. How does that fit in?

Thanks

[Jim]

Yes the name field is required.

If you change the name in the store and it is not updated in your upload file then a new product will be created that has the name that is in the upload file.

If you have extra data in the file that you don't want to use you can choose the ignore option and it won't be added to a field. So for example you have columns for Name, SKU, Price, Vendor in your upload file. You could use the Ignore option on the Vendor column of data (or you could assign it to someother field such as Product/Page field 1)

[extragear]

Jim

Thanks for the help. As an experiment, I modified the name of one of the items in my test upload file. Then choose ignore in the settings.

The file uploaded fine and the name field was not changed in the products database.

Thanks

Tim

[dZi]

Does this mean that I can include the name field but have it blank and just have the name header? Sometimes an employee will create a spreadsheet and have information I need to upload to shopsite. If they don't include the name field....or their names are not exactly matching up with the ones I have in shopsite, I worry that I won't be able to use the name as a reference (index), but if the name isn't used as an index and just needs to be there.....for a reason I am unaware of, that's fine. I usually want to use the SKU as the index so it matches up with our Inventory management system and I do not want to interfere with the names during uploads.

I hope I have this correct...on to experimenting!

[Jim]

The Name field is required and must contain a name. If the name does not match an existing product/page then a new one will be created.
You can match on SKU during the upload but the name must also be specified for that record.
If you have duplicate names then the name and sku are both compared to see which record needs to be updated or created. For example you sell art supplies and have 5 different "blue" paints. As long as each blue has a separate sku it will be matched with the appropriate item so the data is updated correctly. If you don't have separate skus the first database record with the name "blue" would be updated for each "blue" record in you upload file.

[dZi]

The Name field is required and must contain a name. If the name does not match an existing product/page then a new one will be created.

I had different results (unless I misunderstood you)

I just uploaded an .xls file that included a SKU, Price, Sale Price, and Name. The SKUs, Price, and Sale Price all contained accurate information which coincides with the SKU. The Name field contains only the number 1 for each record all the way down. I have chosen to ignore the Name field and use the SKU as an index. It would not work.

But when I uploaded as a .txt file it did work. It did not change all of the names to "1's". The names remained unchanged and the Price and Sale Price were updated correctly.

[Jim]

if you specify to match on SKU then the name will only be used if there are 2 skus that are the same. Same thing on matching on name. If there are 2 names the same the sku will be used to help with the matching.

[bucolic]

I have been uploading updating information to product field 2 for awhile now using only the SKU and Product Field 2. I don't include the name and match on the SKU and they upload and update fine. Our system si set to have unique skus for every product and sub product though...no 2 skus exist that are the same.