Creating or Importing Products
Ablestar Bulk Product Editor allows you to create or import new products to your store, using a spreadsheet format. The 'Create products' navigation section is similar to our Spreadsheet edit function we use for bulk edits, but this area is more focused on the creation of products workflow.
Create Products
From the app dashboard, click the 'Create products' navigation menu and you will be prompted to upload a spreadsheet.
You can use any spreadsheet editing software and then download your store data locally. We prefer using CSV file formats to help preserve numeric formatting but XLS formats will work most of the time.
Format Spreadsheet
Once your spreadsheet is formatted with product-level identifiers and variants, you are ready to upload.
In our example above, there are three products, and the first product (example-t-shirt) has two variants. All variants of the same product share the same 'Handle'. This is the field that groups them in one product. The option labels are stored in the 'Option Name' fields (like 'Size' or 'Color), and the data for those options are stored in the 'Option Value' fields (like 'Small', or 'Red').
We are now able to support additional fields during import:
- Image Alt Texts
- SEO Meta Title
- SEO Meta Description
- Standard Product Category
Upload Spreadsheet
From the dashboard view, click 'Create products' from the navigation menu:
- Click Drag & drop spreadsheet button to start upload
Import Type
From the 'Create products' view, choose options to configure the import:
- Create new or Update existing (Beta)
- Add a unique tag to your import
- By default 'Not published' is set but you can change it to published or to pull the meta from your spreadsheet. Some products might be in 'Draft' or 'Archived' status.
- Click the Save Preset button to save the configuration for your future imports
Map Columns
Specify the field names for the the importer to match:
- Map columns: If spreadsheet column names do not match existing field labels in your store, click to specify the 'Shopify product field' label. The system will remember your naming conventions in future imports
- Remove columns: (x) out of any columns you need to remove
When you are ready, click the Create Products button to start processing the import.
Once your processing is complete, you can click the Presets button to save your configuration for next time
Import History
Access your product history from the 'History' navigation menu → Imports tab:
Click any row to see the full detail of the import and from the detail view you have several options:
- Download error log: see a full list of any error notifications
- Edit Products: return back to your original product filter for further edits
- More Actions → Rename: give your import a unique name that you can find more easily
- More Actions → View configuration: see the upload configuration of your columns and fields
✅ Tips and Troubleshooting
- New to bulk editing? Get started here
- Learn more about Mapping Fields on import
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