Store Import and Export Basics

StoreFront is designed to be a very flexible system allowing import/export of store data in various ways, which can be very useful for store owners. StoreFront provides the ability to upload/download your products, orders, and other store data either via built-in Import/Export tools:

• If you need to upload products to your store in mass (or update existing products), you may want to use the Import products tool. Please see the examples in the FAQs below. For the detailed descriptions and troubleshooting, see Importing products.
• If you need to download your store data in a file either for further editing in a spreadsheet editor or for importing to some third party application, you should use Export tool. For more information, see Export Store Data.

How can I download all my products in a file?

To export and download your store products:

1. In the left panel, click ecommerce and then click Manage Store.
2. Click Catalog, and then click Products.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Export All.
4. In the Export products settings pop-up, select the fields you want to export.
5. Click Download CSV file and save the file on your computer.

It is also possible to export just a part of your inventory matching some criteria.

To export some of your products:

1. Go to the Store Control Panel, click Catalog, and then click Products.
2. Click the Filter drop-down to apply filters or use the product search field.
3. Scroll to the bottom, and click Export all found.

How can I generate my customers email list?

You may want to get your list of customer emails in order to send them email messages in bulk or to import them to some third-party email marketing tool (for example, MailChimp).

To generate your customers email list:

1. Go to the Store Control Panel, click My Sales, and then click Customers.
2. At the bottom of the page, click Export all.
3. In the export settings dialog, select the Email column (you can also export customers names and dates of their registration if needed).
4. Click Download CSV file and save the file on your computer.

For more information, see Export Store Data.

How can I generate inventory report (my products' stock quantities)?

To generate a list of your products' stock levels:

1. Go to the Store Control Panel, click Catalog, and then click Products.
2. At the bottom of the page, click Export all.
3. In the Export products settings pop-up, select the Product name, SKU, and Quantity columns.
4. Click Download CSV file and save the file on your computer.

You can get a list of all your products that are out of stock currently. In order to find your out of stock products:

1. Go to the Store Control Panel, click Catalog, and then click Products.
2. In the filter above the Availability column of the products table, select Enabled, but out of stock. The products table will show the out of stock products.
3. At the bottom of the table, click Export all found.



For more information, see Export Store Data.

How can I get sales reports based on my orders in StoreFront?

Using the sales export tool (Store Control Panel → Sales → Orders), you can download your orders data into a CSV file and use it, for example, for generating a report in your spreadsheet editor or importing to a third-party sales tracking tool.



How can I import all my products to StoreFront?

Sometimes you need to copy your products from some third-party application or database to StoreFront, for example to move products from a file provided by a dropshipper or migrate from another shopping cart to StoreFront. In such situations the most convenient way to add all your products to StoreFront is to use the the built-in import tool.

• Get a CSV file that contains your products. If you are not sure how to get it from the place where your products currently belong, please search for the corresponding info in third-party application's documentation or contact its support on the matter.
• Adjust the file so that it fits the StoreFront CSV import format.
• Import the resulting CSV file to StoreFront in the Store Control Panel (Catalog → Products → Import products).

For more information, see Import Products to Your Store.

How can I update my products in bulk?

If you need to change properties of multiple products in your store, you can use the export-import features for doing it in mass.

1. Export the products to a CSV file:

• Go to the Store Control Panel, click Catalog, and then click Products.
• Use search filters to find the products that need to be updated.
• Click Export all found or Export all depending on whether you want to edit all your products or only some of them.
• In the Export products settings pop-up, select Product name, SKU columns and the ones you want to edit (for example, price).
• Click Download CSV file and save the file on your computer.

    2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet editor (for example, OpenOffice Calc) and edit the columns containing the properties you want to change.

• By means of the built-in spreadsheet program features, you can quickly update many lines. For example, you can set the same value for the whole column or even apply some formula to a column so that all the values are changed in the same manner. You can insert a formula that will instantly add, subtract, multiply or divide numbers in columns or rows. For example, this way you can add a 10% price markup to all the products - just multiply the whole price column by 1.1 . Please refer to your spreadsheet program's documentation for further details on using formulas.
• Please make sure the SKU column in your editor has the text type, when you initially open your CSV file. Sometimes, spreadsheet editors recognize numeric SKUs as integer numbers and set numeric format for the SKU column, which results in changing their values (for example, 0005 becomes 5 when considered a number). This may cause some issues during import, for example, duplicating of store products. The SKUs in the CSV file must be imported by the spreadsheet editor exactly as you see them in Store Control Panel. Setting the text format for the SKU column upon opening the file in the spreadsheet editor does the thing.
• When saving the changed file, you will most likely be prompted to change the format of the file—that is not what you want, always proceed with saving exactly to CSV format, not to Excel document or Open Document.
• 
  

     3.Import the edited CSV file back to StoreFront.

• Go to the Store Control Panel, click Catalog, and then click Products.
• Click Import Products.
• In the import settings popup select importing from CSV, and select the file.
• Select the delimiter to be used in the exported CSV file (it is semicolon by default).
• In the Import columns list, select the columns that are present in your CSV file.

Warning

The column order must be the same as in the CSV file, please re-arrange them if needed (in order to do it you should drag-and-drop the list items).

Note

Uncheck the Delete all products/categories before import checkbox at the bottom of the window.

Example

The Quantity import field can be used for updating your store inventory.

• Export your products (three columns will be enough: Product name, SKU, Quantity).
• Modify the CSV file in your spreadsheet editor (change the products quantities).
• Import the file to StoreFront.

The number in the Quantity column will be used to update the quantity of the product with the corresponding SKU or product name. If there is no value in the Quantity column, the Unlimited quantity option will be enabled for the product. Example of a CSV file:

name;sku;quantity

cherry;item132;2

cucumber;item7;

apple;item7635;15

For more information, see Import Products to Your Store.

How can I increase/decrease all prices in my store in mass?

In order to increase or decrease all the prices in your store in mass, you can use the export/import features. You will need to export your products with their prices, change the CSV file in your spreadsheet editor as you wish and import it back to StoreFront. Please find the detailed instructions here: How can I update my products in bulk?

Tip



In a spreadsheet editor it is possible to apply some action to an entire column—it will let you quickly update the prices for a bunch of products.

How can I assign weights to all my products in bulk?

If you have a large number of products in your store and need to assign weights to all of them (e.g. if you need to set up carrier-calculated shipping in your store that requires valid product weights), you can quickly do it by means of StoreFront export-import tools. You will need to export your products to a CSV file, change the CSV file in your spreadsheet editor (enter weights) and import it back to StoreFront. Please find the detailed instruction here: How can I update my products in bulk?

How can I upload images to my products?

In StoreFront, you can import the main product images via CSV. Small thumbnails will be created automatically.

• Upload your images from your computer to any web server / hosting. Your images should be accessible by direct link, e.g. http://example.com/images/product_1.jpg
• Export your products to a CSV file.
• Change the exported file in your spreadsheet editor: add the corresponding URLs to the product lines.
• Import the resulting file back to StoreFront.



See also: How can I update my products in bulk?

How to export or import to StoreFront via XML files?

XML is basically a markup language, but not the inner format of the file itself. XML files vastly differ on the inside depending on various purposes of their usage and the target programs. I.e. each of external services/programs like marketplaces, inventory management tools etc. requires its own file format. To import/export your StoreFront products in desired XML format you can use StoreFront's built-in CSV import/export tools and convert StoreFront CSV files to XML for exporting or external XML file to StoreFront CSV format for importing.

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