Lesson 2: Import Data
The fastest way to load data into your PIM is to import it. It is important to remember that you can perform repeated imports. There are some things to remember when importing data.
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It is not necessary to get everything right the first time .
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It is not necessary to import all of your data at once.
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Repeating imports is easy.
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You can import a few products or a few attributes at a time.
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once you understand how everything works you can import all attributes and products at once.
When you're starting out it's important to understand what is happening. That's why it's best to go one step at a time
Lets import some data for the first time. For the purpose of this lesson lets use a spreadsheet that contains sample data and import it into the PIM. I will be presenting data in a sample spreadsheet as an example. You should GENERALLY compare what I have on my sample spreadsheet that is used in the demo to the data you have contained on your spreadsheet. Also, Remember the tasks we performed in Lesson One.
We will be importing 5 different products or items. These 5 items have multiple attributes. The Attributes that we want to import are item number, description, brand and product name. These fields will be mapped to the PIM fields:
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Attribute Name
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Type
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MAPS TO
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item number
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string
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sku
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description
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string
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brand
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string
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product name
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string
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title
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Lets look at the actual source spreadsheet. ROW number 1 highlighted in yellow below is of special interest to us because this row contains the column names in our sample spreadsheet. Most spreadsheet exports from eCommerce platforms will use the first column to display the column names for the data that is stored in the spreadsheet. The PIM has advanced functionality to MAP columns but, we want to keep the import as simple as possible while we are getting started. So instead of using mapping functionality we will simply "rename" our columns to match the attributes that we created in Lesson One.
After we rename the columns using he values defined in row 1, our spreadsheet should look like this:
Notice that we:
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changed the value in row 1 column A to "sku" because this column contains the unique product number for each item and we want that data inserted into the "sku" attribute. We want to demonstrate that the PIM can automatically identify that the column contains the SKU based on the value in Row 1.
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changed the value in row 1 column B to "title" because this column contains the product short description or title for each item and we want that data inserted into the "title" attribute. We want to demonstrate that the PIM can automatically identify that the column contains the title based on the value in Row 1.
After the changes are saved we are actually ready to import the data.
To define the import task and actually start the import process: Select Products -> Import from the menu.
The Import Task List will be displayed. This list is most likely empty in your PIM if none of your users have never performed imports before.
In order to import a file you must create an import task. An Import task allows you to save information about your import so that you can easily repeat the import in the future.
In order to create an import task click on the "plus" icon.
The New Task window will be displayed.
 Data Type You must select this value. The data type denotes the type of file that is expected by the import job. The file may be posted to a predefined import job URL, selected using a file selection dialog or dropped onto the upload area in the browser. The file type used as a sample is a .CSV file. Your file may be a .CSV or other format. When you select .CSV format you are presented with additional choices:
 The selections above are the default values. The values that your file format require may be different. If you have no idea what to select you can always send a copy of your file to our support team or schedule a support meeting by contacting us. We are always ready to help you.
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As you can see from the number of options we are ignoring in our first import, there are many advanced features. Do not be intimidated or overly concerned about those now as making the correct import choices will become second nature as you learn how the data is stored in the PIM and learn about different attribute types.
Lets proceed with the import steps. I have made all of my selections and I am ready to move on to the next step by clicking on the "SAVE TASK" button highlighted by the blue arrow below:
Once you click the save task button you will be immediately shown the Import Task window that allows you to run and edit the task as well as see many more options and settings. Lets ignore all the extra information for now and click on the RUN button highlighted in the screen below by the blue arrow.
RUN actually open a window where you can drag and drop your file onto the drop zone highlighted by the blue arrow in the image below, or select your file by clicking on "browse" (highlighted by the red arrow) so that the file can be Analyzed for import.
Your next step is to "Upload & Analyze". After you have dragged and dropped the file or selected the file using "browse, " additional options will be displayed that include a button that will perform an analysis of the selected file. In order to proceed to this step you must click the "Upload an Analyze" button highlighted in blue on the screen below.
The Run task window will be displayed. PIMInto will display all of the columns from the import file and inform you if corresponding attributes were found and display the results of the import file analysis to you. This will include any potential field mapping suggestions that the import process has discovered. You will notice in the sample below that "sku" and "title" have been mapped. Additionally, the PIM has mapped "brand" and "description." If required, You can adjust the import destination in the PIM by changing the selected PIMInto Attributes field drop down value (highlighted by blue arrow) for any of the attributes or column names discovered in the import file. For more details and analysis of the import data you can click on the "SHOW DATA PREVIEW" button highlighted by the red arrow.
The Run Task window will be expanded to display the actual data from the spreadsheet in a table format with the mapped Attribute from the PIM at the top of each column. This will provide a preview of the column data that will be imported into specific columns and allow you to make a visual confirmation that the results will be as expected.
All un-mapped or "Not Found" columns of data discovered in the import file MUST be manually mapped or removed from the list of columns that will be imported in order to proceed with the actual data import. All columns and attributes that are listed will be imported.
The import task will be added to the import queue. Items listed on the import queue are generally imported very quickly. Thousands of lines of import data can be processed in seconds. If you are concerned that your import process is taking too long please reach out to our staff. We are always happy to review your data and the number of tasks in the queue.
Once the import has completed, the queue will be updated with the import results.
