Export Product Information Guide

Shift4Shop allows you to easily set up your online store by importing and exporting the bulk of your current store information. Such information includes customers, products, product options, and images.

Exported CSV files can then be edited and formatted for importing back into the store.

This guide will give you a step-by-step process on how to export all of your product information.

Additional Information: The actual import/export process takes place "behind the scenes" of your store's software to prevent it from interfering with your store's active processes. By allowing the function to work in the background, you can go to other pages of the admin and still work on your store while importing or exporting large files.

During the process, you will be taken to the Import/Export Status page which will display a grid layout of your recent imports and exports. The progress column will show you the progress of the import.

At the far right of each grid item will be an action wheel that contains the following options:

Download: Allows you to download the CSV file after a successful import/export
Notify Me: For larger, more time consuming files; this option will let you input your email address so that you will receive a notice once the import/export is complete.
View Log: Allows you to review the log of the import/export so you can see how many items were updated, inserted or if any records failed.
Cancel: Allows you to cancel an impending import/export
Retry: If for some reason the import/export fails, you may use this option to attempt a retry of the file.
Delete: Use this to delete the record altogether from the status page.

This will be present in all of the store's Export/Import functions.

Run a General Product Information Export

Go to Products > Product List.
Look towards the top right of the page and click on the Export/Import button.
Look toward the left side of the page and click on the + Icon next to "Products."
Click on the Export Data link to generate your store's product CSV file.

This file will list all of the various attributes of your product (name, price, image paths, etc) in a text file with commas separating each entry. While it is technically just a text file, the comma separated values (CSV) allow the file to be imported and read in a spreadsheet program so that it appears in rows and columns.

5. Open the file into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

This file may be edited as needed and then saved for importing updates to your store. Just follow the same steps as above to import items, but look to the right side of the page for your Import options.

In the next section, we'll go over the various column headers found in the CSV file and how they pertain to your product's information.

Products Export

Here is a description of the most common fields found in the product export CSV file:

catalogid
This is a unique database ID that will be used to keep track of each product in the backend of the system. This is not the same as the productid.
id
It is the unique product id (SKU or Part Number) of the product.
name
This is the name of the product.
categories
This is the name of the category the product is assigned to.
mfgid
This is the unique manufacturer id that may be provided by the manufacturer of the product or assigned by you.
manufacturer
This is the name of the Manufacturer this product is associated with.
distributor
This is the name of the Distributor this product is associated with.
cost
This is the base cost of your product, it's for internal use.
price
The price of which you sell the product to the customer.
price2
This is the MSRP or Retail Price of the product. If this is added to the product then the Savings will be displayed to the customer.
saleprice
The price of the product when it is on sale.
onsale
Lets you know if the product is on sale. 1 for yes, 0 for no.
stock
This is the stock (Quantity On Hand) of the product.
stock_alert
Displays the amount of stock that needs to be left before a stock alert is generated.
weight
Weight of the product.
minimumorder
Minimum amount of the product the customer needs to purchase to checkout.
description
This is the short description of the product. This is displayed in the Search page only by default.
extended_description
This is the Description of the product.
keywords
These are additional keywords used by the Internal Search of the site. This is also used in the dynamic Meta Tags for the product pages; the system will automatically generate Meta Tags using the NAME, EXTENDED DESCRIPTION and KEYWORDS of your product. These keywords do not show on the website to the customer.
sorting
This determines the products order or sorting inside the Categories.
thumbnail & image1 through 4
This is the path to the main images used for the product.
ex.assets/images/image1.jpg.
related
This column defines the related products for this product.
shipcost
This adds a handling fee to the product. This fee is added to any shipping methods that you have set.
homespecial
This marks the product as a home special which means that the system places this product on your home page. 1 means home special, 0 means not a home special.
categoryspecial
This marks the product as a category special which means that the system places this product on top of the Category that it is in. 1 for category special, 0 not a category special.
hide
This hides the product from the website. 1 hidden. 0 for the product to be visible.
freeshipping
This marks the product as free shipping. 1 for free shipping, 0 for paid shipping.
title
This defines the title of the product in the web browser. By default the system will use the product name.
metatags
Displays the meta tags of the product.

Custom Export Set for Products

The main product export function will allow you to export all of your product's basic data in one large CSV file. However, you may have an export need where you only need a small number of editable CSV areas. For this purpose, we've created the Custom Export Sets, which allow you to specifically dictate which product columns are included in the exported CSV file.

To create a Custom Export set for Product information:

Go to Products > Product List.
Look towards the top right of the page and click on the Export/Import button.

The Export/Import page will contain Export options on the left side and Import options on the right side.

3. Look towards the left side of the page and click on the + Icon next to "Products."

4. Next, click on the Custom Export Set link to review your custom export settings.

5. Click the +Add New button at the top right of the page.

6. Type the name of your custom export in the Set Name section.

7. Click Save.

The next steps will involve designating which of the CSV columns you will need for the export file. These can be added using the "Add New Field" drop-down menu at the top of the page.

8. Add the categories of information you would like in your export in the "Add New Field."

Once you have chosen the Information fields you would like to include in your export, you can then edit them as needed for your own purposes. For example, you may need to create an export file for a drop shipper who - rather than referring to the item's name as "name" - needs to have that specific column labeled something different. Or perhaps, the drop shipper's interface doesn't recognize comma-separated values in the file but rather tab-delimited. Either way, we offer some control as to how the export file itself is generated for you.

After adding your desired CSV fields, you'll have these additional options to further customize the export:

These first options will let you determine how the custom export itself is formatted.

Set name
The name of your custom export set as set in step 6 above.
Delimiter
By default, the CSV file will be exported with commas separating the values. However, you may need to have the delimiter be something different. In this case, your choices are:
- Comma (default)
- Tab
- Tilde (~)
Category Separator
By default, product categories are separated by a forward slash. However, you may need this to be a different character for some reason. This drop down menu will allow you to select either of the following:
- / (default)
- >
- -

These next options will allow you to fine-tune how the data within the CSV is written:

Alias
Renames the CSV file's header column to use whatever information you place in this box
Example: Changing the "Depth" header column so that it says "Length"
Prefix
Text entered here will be added to the beginning of the data in the CSV file.
Example: Adding "$" as the prefix for "Price" will write the data in the CSV as an actual dollar amount instead of the numerical value.
Suffix
Text entered here will be added to the end of the data in the CSV file.
Example: "-In stock" as the suffix for the "stock" field will write the data in the cell as "[number]-In Stock"
Order
This will determine the sorting order that the filed will be written to on the CSV file. Higher numbers will list the column header (and its data) further on the CSV
Action
The action wheel fond at the far right of the field editor will allow you to delete a field if needed.

9. Click on the Save button located at the top right once you have finished customizing your export.

10. Click Back until you reach the Export/Import page.

11. Click on the + Icon next to products.

Now, you should see the custom export set (that you just created) in the "Custom Export Sets" section.

12. Click the radio button next to your custom export in the Products section.

13. Click Export Data.

The generated CSV file will now match your specified custom export criteria.

Product Options Export

You can also export your product's current option sets as needed.

To create a Custom Export set for Product information:

Go to Products > Product List.
Look towards the top right of the page and click on the Export/Import button.

The Export/Import page will contain Export options on the left side and Import options on the right side.

3. Look towards the left side of the page and click on the +Icon next to "Products Options "

4. Next, click on the Export Data link to generate your store's product options CSV file.

This file will list all of the various attributes of your product options.

Here is a description of each field:

Optionid
Unique database ID to keep track of the option in the backend.
Productid
It is the unique product id (SKU or Part Number) of the product.
Catalogid
This is a unique database ID that will be used to keep track of each product in the backend of the system. This is not the same as the productid.
Category_id
Shows which category this option is assigned to. Only refers to options that are input in the "Global Product Options" section of a category.
Featurecaption
The name of the feature.
Featuretype
The type of the option – describes how the option is displayed to customers.
Featurerequired
Shows if the option is required to be chosen for checkout. 1 means yes, 0 means no.
Sorting
Shows the sorting number for the option. Lower numbers will display before higher numbers for products with multiple options.
Featureid
Unique database ID to keep track of the feature in the backend. This is not the same as optionid.
Featurename
These are the names of your options.
Featureprice
The price of the options.
Sorting
Shows the sorting number for multiple options within the same feature. Lower numbers will display before higher numbers.
Partnumber
Shows the part number of the option.
Imagepath
Shows the path of the image used if the option displays using the dropimage type.
Hidden
Shows if the option is hidden from customer view. 1 means yes, 0 means no.

Advanced Options Export

Along with regular options, you can also export your product's Advanced Option sets as needed.

To create a Custom Export set for Product information:

Go to Products > Product List.
Look towards the top right of the page and click on the Export/Import button.

The Export/Import page will contain Export options on the left side and Import options on the right side.

3. Look towards the left side of the page and click on the + icon next to "Advanced Options."

4. Next, click on the Export Data link to generate your store's product options CSV file.

This file will list all of the various attributes of your advanced options.

Here is a description of each field:

Productid
This is the unique Catalogid of the Product. This number was automatically generated by Shift4Shop when the product was initially entered into the system.
AO_Code
This is a unique database ID that will be used to keep track of each advanced option in the backend of the system.
AO_Suffix
This is the part number of the advanced option.
AO_Name
The name of your advanced option.
AO_Cost
The additional price of your advanced options.
AO_Stock
The stock number of your advanced option products.
AO_Weight
The weight of your advanced option products.

Bulk Pricing Export

If your items use bulk discount pricing, you can also export this data as needed.

Go to Products > Product List.
Look towards the top right of the page and click on the Export/Import button.

The Export/Import page will contain Export options on the left side and Import options on the right side.

3. Look towards the left side of the page and click on the +Icon next to "Bulk Pricing."

4. Next, click on the Export Data link to generate your store's bulk pricing CSV file.

Here is a description of each field:

Catalogid
This is a unique database ID that will be used to keep track of each product in the backend of the system. This is not the same as the productid.
Productid
It is the unique product id (SKU or Part Number) of the product.
Lowbound
This is the low end of your range (number of products) for customers to receive bulk discounts.
Upbound
This is the high end of your range (number of products) for customers to receive bulk discounts.
Price
This is the discount amount the customer will receive if they are applicable for the bulk discount.
Percentage
Shows if the discount is a percentage – 1 for yes, 0 for no.
Price_level
Shows which customer group/price level receives the bulk discount. If none are specified, the default will be 1.