How can we help?

Bulk (Spreadsheets)

The Bulk section of Inventory allows you to work with your product data by spreadsheet. You can get to this part of the system by clicking on Inventory > Bulk. Working with spreadsheets for your data adjustments can be fast if you're good with them, but there are some things you should be aware of before starting. Be sure to review this article to make sure you preserve the integrity of your data: Spreadsheets - Tips and Tricks from the Pros.

Once you have chosen the spreadsheet you want to work with, you have the option of applying Filters. For your Edit Existing Products and Edit Existing Products Long reports (the Long one includes Long Descriptions), you can Filter by Category or Department, getting only the info you need. For your Inventory reports, you can choose your Store Location (or just download all of them) and Filter by either Category, Department, or Vendor. You can hold down your Ctrl button (in Windows, Command button on a Mac) and click on as many of the Filter items as you like. Please note that when filtering by Category, each one will have a number next to its Title, and that number is its Category ID. When filtering by Department, you will see your Department Codes next to each one. Vendors just show the title, but you can look up your Vendor IDs by clicking on the View Vendor IDs link on the Bulk page.

 

Available Spreadsheet Downloads

Here are some good things to know about the current offering of specific spreadsheets you can download and work with in our system:

Add New Products - Any time you want to add products by spreadsheet, download the latest version of this blank spreadsheet to work from! It may change periodically. You do NOT want to work from a previously saved version of this spreadsheet, as uploading the same products more than once with this sheet will duplicate them in the system, so please, always, work from a fresh download.

Edit Existing Products - Use this spreadsheet for working with general product data for products that are already saved in the system. This is the one you will want to use to adjust info about the product's category, title, descriptions, identifier codes (UPC, Manufacturer ID, SKU), status (active, deactivated, or deleted - if you want to delete products with an upload, use that last status, removing the line items doesn't remove a product from our system), and tax code, among other things.

Edit Existing Products, Long - This spreadsheet is only necessary if you need to work with your Long Descriptions. Please note, that the CSV format is plain-text only, so you will want to use that field only for simple block text. You can then go into the product and do any formatting you might need, e.g. bold, italics, bullet points, etc.

Add New Inventory - Use this spreadsheet if you want to add inventory quantities and costs to products you already have saved in the system. It will add a line-item entry to the product's inventory log with the new quantities and costs in place. Please note that only the Add Inventory, Current Cost (per unit base Cost to you), Add Cost (secondary cost, usually for freight cost per unit), Edit Unlimited Inventory (to set it yes or no for unlimited inventory on the website), and the Inventory Note columns can actually be edited. The other fields are there for reference only and will NOT update data changes.

Edit Existing Inventory - If you need to change inventory numbers or costs that are already in place for your products, you can use this spreadsheet. Please note that only the Edit Inventory, Edit Cost, and the Inventory Note columns can actually be edited. The other fields will NOT update data changes.

Edit Cost for Inventory with No Cost - This spreadsheet wins the award for Most Convoluted Name. It is also the best way to identify items in your system that have zero cost and add that cost for them. Please note that only the Cost column in this spreadsheet should be edited, the others are just for reference and will NOT update data changes.

Categories - This is a great spreadsheet to download and print out if you'll be doing a lot of work with your Category ID numbers, something you will need access to if you're moving products into different categories and/or adding them to multiple categories. This spreadsheet is purely for reference.

FabShop-Specific Inventory File - If you are a member of the FabShop product listing service, you can download this file to submit to them monthly so they can index your inventory with their directory service.

Product Images - This download gives you a list of all product images (in the Images tab) along with the image URLs. This spreadsheet is for reference only and is not a way to bulk upload images. To learn how to bulk upload images, click the following link: Bulk Upload Product Images.

Google XML Product Feed - If you need to manually update your product listing with Google, you can download this file and submit it for that purpose.

SVP Export - This spreadsheet will contain data specific to Serialized Inventory you have sold and is used for SVP dealers. You can set the time frame you want the data to cover, and it provides useful bulk information about all serialized items sold during the period. If you are not an SVP dealer, this spreadsheet may still have useful information for you for reference on your serialized sales.

 

Other Bulk Functions

View Category IDs- In working with your spreadsheets, you will often need to be able to look up the simple ID number the system has given a category you are working with, so clicking on this link will give you a full, on-screen list of the Category IDs in the system. They will appear in the order they are listed in the Categories module, and you will be able to see which are subcategories and which are top-level parent categories. In the screen capture below, the number next to the category name is its Category ID.

View Vendor IDs - Several of the spreadsheets in the list above require the Vendor ID for a product with which it is set as the Preferred Vendor. Click this link for an on-screen reference of all of your Vendor IDs. Please note, that clicking this will take you away from the Bulk section of products, but you can hit your Back button on your browser to get back there if you still need it.

Store Locations - If you have multiple Locations set up in our system, you will need the Location IDs for each, as in the images above. These will be four or five digit numbers next to the Location Title. These are provided for your reference so that in the spreadsheets you can specify which products are associated with your various locations.

Upload Product Images - You can actually upload in bulk from anywhere in the system where you upload an image. Clicking this link will take you to Website > Files > Images, where you can click the Upload File button, then Add Files, and upload as many images as you like. We would recommend not doing more than about five-hundred images at a time. NOTE: If your image file names are exactly the same as a product SKU, UPC, or Manufacturer ID, when you upload them they will automatically merge into the product. Your image files should be either JPEG or PNG format and should be less than 4mb in size and less than 2000 pixels in the largest dimension. Images larger than this may not upload properly into the system.