Importing Orders (without Importing Products)

Many store owners prefer to migrate all products from WooCommerce to Shopify first, when using Ablestar WooCommerce Importer.

Some though, have already recreated products manually in Shopify, which means you can skip the product import process.

There are some drawbacks if you only import orders and/or customers, so learn more about pros and cons before starting.

In this article, we'll explain the pros and cons of skipping the product import. 

Linked Orders vs. Un-Linked Orders

Skipping the product import will cause only product names to be visible on orders, without product images or hyperlinks to product pages. For most cases, we recommend a product migration as the first step.

During migration, the app has to keep track of the exact WooCommerce variant that matches each Shopify variant to link them up properly. In some cases, other apps require the orders to be linked to products to function, and skipping the product import could cause problems within these apps.

In the above image, products were imported before orders which is why the product name, product image and live link URL are all visible. Clicking the live link will redirect you to the product.

In the second example, products were not imported first so the product name is visible but the live link and image are missing.

URL Redirects

Skipping the product import step will prevent Ablestar WooCommerce Importer from being able to generate URL link reports. For most cases, we recommend a product migration as the first step and Ablestar Link Manager can assist with URL redirects.

Product Reviews

If you migrate your products, it enables our app to also create a CSV file of your product reviews. Skipping the product import would disable this ability. Learn how to approach product reviews by migrating products first.

Fix the Issue

If you had already skipped the product import and then realize you want to fix the missing images and live links, there are some options:

1. Re-import and Unpublish Duplicates

Instead of deleting existing products, go ahead with another re-import and then we can isolate duplicates to unpublish.

Since all imported products are imported with a tag, they should be easy to filter and isolate.

To find duplicates:

• Click on 'Manage imports'
• Scroll to the 'Products' section and note the 'Import tag' formatted similar to: woo_import_1

• Click the 'Re-import' radio button option under the tag
• Find all duplicates and unpublish

Learn more about Ablestar Bulk Product Editor to help you bulk edit and find duplicates.

2. Delete Existing Products and Re-import

From the Shopify Admin, save a CSV copy of any existing products and then:

• From the Shopify Admin, delete all existing products
• Re-import products using the WooCommerce Importer app (and consider whether duplicates might be created)
• Once the product re-import is complete, import the orders

Note: if any new orders have been created with the new products, you could lose the link to those orders, so this may not be an optimal solution.

✅ Tips and Troubleshooting

• Learn more about Ablestar Bulk Product Editor to help you bulk edit and find duplicates.
• See the full procedure for re-importing products

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