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Case study 2: Importing a product with options or input fields

This article is part of the catalog import and export section and tells you how to manage products with options or input fields in your store with a CSV file.

You can import new products with options or input fields, or you can import options or input fields for products that already exist in your store.

In this section, you’ll learn how to import a new product with options into your store.

If you import data on new product options or input fields, all the other options, input fields, and variations that already exist for this product in your store and are not present in the file will be deleted.

In our example, we’ll use the same sample product:

A black dress from this season’s collection that costs $25, weighs 1 lb, and already has an SKU (A0001).

Let’s say it has three “Size” options: S, M, and L. All the options cost the same, and you want to display them as radio buttons on the product page without preselecting a certain size option.

You can compile your file in any spreadsheet editor (or in a plain text editor). In our example, we’ll use Google Sheets.

To create an import file:

  1. Open your spreadsheet editor.
  2. Enter “type” in the first cell. Then enter “product” in the row below it, and fill out all the other columns for the product itself (see Case study 1).
  3. In the next row, enter “product option” in the “type” column:

    Product options (1).png

    Now you’ve specified that the third row is about a product option.
  4. In the “product_sku” column, enter “A0001” again. That’s the SKU of the product this option belongs to. By specifying it, you let the import tool know which product this option goes to.
  5. Add the “product_option_name” column to the file header and enter “Size” as its value for the “product option” row:

    Product options (2).png

    Now, this product row is dedicated to the product option that’s named “Size”.
  6. Next, add the “product_option_value” column to the file header and enter “S” as its value for the “product option” row.
    This way, you specify that this product row is dedicated to the “S” value of the “Size” product option.
  7. Then add the “product_option_type” column to the file header and enter “RADIOBUTTONS” as its value for the “product option” row.
    This way, you define that your product option must be displayed on the product page as radio buttons.
  8. Next, add the “product_option_is_required” column and enter “TRUE” as its value for the “product option” row:

    Product options (3).png

    This way, you define that you want customers to select an option value.
  9. Congrats! You have entered all the data you need for the “S” value of the “Size” product option. Now add a new “product_option” row. It will be dedicated to the “M” value of the “Size” product option.
  10. Enter “A0001” for “product_sku”, “Size” for “product_option_name”, “RADIOBUTTONS” for “product_option_type”, and “TRUE” for “product_option_is_required” columns. In the “product_option_value” column, enter “M” for this row.
  11. Now add a new “product_option” row and repeat the process for the “L” value of the “Size” product option.
    In the end, every product option value must have its own row.
  12. Now save/download the file as .csv to your device. In Google Sheets, you can do it by going to File → Download → Comma Separated Values (.csv).

That’s it! You’ve compiled a file for the “Black Dress” product with three size options: S, M, and L displayed as radio buttons (you can find the “product_with_options” file in the article attachments):

Product options (5).png

For existing products, you can add options without specifying other product details in the spreadsheet (just its SKU or ID will be enough). In other words, you can skip the whole “product” row.

After you upload this file on the Catalog → Data Import & Export page, the product will be added to your store. Here’s how the Options tab will look in your store admin:

Product options (7).png

As you can see, this new product will have all the product options from the initial list as radio buttons.

Now you can choose any product with options from your catalog and follow these instructions step by step to compile your own import file. If you need to add several different product options (or input fields) to a product or several products with product options, simply add rows with data on them to the same file:

Product options (6).png

If later you need to update options for your product, we recommend creating and uploading a new file that will contain all the option data that you need your product(s) to have after import.

See the list of available product option and input field columns

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