Troubleshooting Item Import - Console

September 17, 2021 10:54

What We'll Cover

Stuck imports
SKUs in scientific notation and missing special characters
FAQ
Tips For Successful File Import

If your CSV does not have the correct column headers or if the CSV was not formatted correctly, it can lead to inaccurate data being imported. However, there can be a multitude of reasons why an import did not go as planned. Below we've provided a few common scenarios and their solutions.

Regardless of the type of data you're importing or exporting, your first priority should be to make backups of your data.

Stuck Imports

If you find your imports are not completing, and are becoming "stuck," with a status "PARTIALLY COMPLETED" there could be a few potential causes.

Cause: The CSV file is having special characters which are restricted on Console

Resolution: Click on the Status (highlighted in blue color) to view the Status Report- This will list both Imported Records as well as Failed Records with a reason for the failure. You also have the option to Download the Failed Records by clicking on the Download button. You can correct the remaining failed record by removing the special characters and precede them to reimport them.

Cause: The CSV being used is larger in size or you have a slow internet connection.
Resolution: Break up the CSV into smaller files and save those files as batches. Import all of the portions of the larger CSV.

Cause: The CSV being used has an unusually high number of blank columns.
Resolution: Double-check your CSV file and delete the unused columns.

SKUs in Scientific Notation and Missing Leading Zeros

When opening an exported CSV file, you may experience an issue in which the Excel spreadsheet program automatically converts long SKUs or UPCs to scientific notation. Excel can also remove leading zeros or unique characters from text. If you are experiencing these problems, use the steps below to prevent Excel from making alterations.

Example CSV that has been converted

Steps for saving the item file without losing the ItemID/UPC format

Step 1:

Get the Item listing and download the file.

Step 2:

To open the file --> Right-click on the file --> Press Open With -->Notepad

Now you have the items in notepad - the ItemID's should look good with lead zero's and no scientific notation

On the File press Control+A (So all in the file are selected/highlighted)

Press Control C (to copy all) Or Right Click --> Copy

Step 3:

Open Excel (you have a blank worksheet)

In the first column/row, put your cursor and paste the copied data Control P. You will see all of your items but in column A

1. Highlight the column A and

2. Navigate to the Excel Tab --> Data

3. Select Text to Column and you will have a Wizard pop up

4. Step 1 of 3 Leave at Delimited

5. Press Next

6. Step 2 of 3 Delimiters Change to Comma

7. Press Next

8. Step 3 of 3 Highlight the first column (ItemID)

9. Change from General to Text

10. Highlight the second column (UPC)

11. Change from General to Text

12. Press Finish

The file is in a good format so that your itemID's and UPC's are saved correctly

When you save this file, save it as an Excel Worksheet file (this way you can save and close and reopen without losing the itemID format)

Once you are ready to import also create a CSV file for the correct import format

FAQs

Is my data being exported in scientific notation from retailcloud?

No. All data is exported in a comma-separated value (CSV) file, which allows data to be saved in a table structured format. Traditionally they take the form of a text file containing information separated by commas, hence the name. The scientific notation conversion happens when Excel opens the CSV.

How do I use numbers in other columns?

If you have other number-based columns that need to be recognized as numbers so that you can execute Excel functions, highlight the column and change the number format to Number or General. This option will convert your column without affecting the Product Code/SKU column.

What happens if I do not provide a value for a specific field?

If you do not set all fields in your CSV file, it will assign the default value for every non-defined field. But if you set fields with empty values in your CSV file, it will set the EMPTY value in the field, instead of assigning the default value.

Tips For Successful Imports

Using the import feature is for strong excel users as the file contents are placed directly in the back end table. The following are tips to allow for a successful import.

Avoid special characters - once your file is ready to send - do a "Control F" - find, to search for special characters that should be removed.

Special Characters

Special characters are allowed as part of the name of the item, department, category, subcategory, size, color, style, brand, and season.

Allowed special characters

/ & # ( ) +

. $ ` ~ ! @ # % ^ & * - _ + = ( ) { } [ ] \ | /

Not permitted

: ; ' " < > , ? $ û (the circumflex on the u)

Also, Not permitted on Vendor (Supplier Name) : - . & + '

Remove Duplicates using the excel Remove Duplicates function

Remove any stray characters

Go to the last line of entries and scroll down and across (highlighting all and removing extra rows – in case there are random characters there that should not be), perform this on both the bottom row and last column

View in Notepad for extra spaces which may have been inserted

Verify that the headers have not been altered in any way (as the final step you may want to replace the existing headers with a fresh set from the sample CSV)
Max characters

Max characters in any field are 50.
Selling Price

If you are creating the import file and some items have a selling price and others are unknown at this time. Put 0.00 for the ones where you do not know the selling price (do not leave blank).

Omit the "$" as part of the cost and selling price

Note: If these items are sold and the selling price is $0.00 the cashier will have a pop up asking what is the selling price. This is our Variable pricing option, which is also often used for those items that are sold at different prices regularly.

Sales Tax on your Items

Your default sales tax will be automatically applied to your items unless you specify on the import file differently.

If the tax should be different on some items, create a column on your import file and specify your Tax Name.
File Formatting

Save as CSV or txt file

If using our item template with all available data options, remove all columns that are not being used before sending

If using a non-windows computer, save the CVS as "CVS for windows"

Note: We recommend that when you save the excel file, first same as a regular worksheet. When it is saved as a CSV file, IDs with lead zeroes or many characters will change their format. If you need to go back to the file and make changes, saving it as a regular worksheet will retain the format you want to import. Once you save it as a worksheet, then save it as a CSV file to be used for the import.

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