Bulk Import

How to update many products at one time (advanced users only)

Rebecca avatar
Written by Rebecca
Updated over a week ago

Instead of adding information one entry at a time, you can import information in bulk by using a CSV file.

Note: Bulk imports can lead to serious problems if not performed properly; please only perform a bulk import on the advice of an Abacus Support member. We recommend only users with advanced spreadsheet knowledge to use this feature.

In this article:

  • Download sample

  • Bulk importing product images

  • Bulk importing product variant images

  • Troubleshooting

Download Sample

  1. Go to POS > POS Settings > Bulk Import

2. Under Import, select the kind of information you want to import
3. Click Download a sample CSV file for reference to retrieve the correct template
4. Fill in the template according to your own needs

Note: You can also cross-reference this with an exported CSV file, but please note that exported CSV files may use a different format to importable CSV files. It is best to use a sample to make a compatible CSV file.

5. Click Select CSV File. Choose the CSV file you have edited.
6. Click Import.

Bulk importing product images

You can't bulk import product images using the standard product import procedure above. You'll need to import product images separately.

Note: product images must be .jpg or .png files, with dimensions 861 × 600 px.

  1. Name all your images as their respective product codes.

  2. Zip the images into a zip file (.zip). To do so:

    i. Select all images.

    ii. Right click and select Add to archive...

    iii. Set the Archive name to 'Bulk import images.zip' and ensure the Archive format is set to ZIP. Then, click OK.

    iv. The zip file will look as follows:

  3. On the backend, go to POS Settings > Bulk Import.

4. Under Product Images, click SELECT FILES and upload the zip file.

5. Perform a Menu Sync on your Abacus POS, and the images will appear.

Bulk importing product variant images

To bulk import product variant group images, click SELECT FILES under Product Variant Group Images. Zip all the images into a zip file (.zip) prior to upload. There should be no folders in the zip file, only image files. Make sure image names, including extensions (.jpg, .png), match exactly as they are written in the "Value Images" column of the product variants CSV file.

Photos must be uploaded as .jpg or .png files, with dimensions 861 × 600 px

Troubleshooting

At times, you might receive an error for a CSV file whose import has failed.

If a bulk import has failed, you will automatically download a "DataNotImport" CSV file that will contain the reasons why your CSV import had failed.

The CSV file will tell you which Row and Field had the issue, and the Reason why, e.g. a username may have already been taken
Note: The row "count" excludes the header row, e.g. if your erroneous data is in row 2 of the spreadsheet, this will be counted as row 1, because that's the first row of the actual information you are importing. This is the case in the example below.

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