Understanding a unique ID

Contents 

• A unique ID in Channable
• How Channable automatically selects your unique ID
• How to set up a unique ID manually (from Optimize or manually)
• How to change a unique ID

A unique ID in Channable 

A unique ID is an identifier that we use to identify your items within Channable. It’s important that every item has its own unique ID, meaning no two items should share the same ID.  

Uniqueness is especially important when using features like AI enriched attributes in Optimize:

• Channable uses the unique ID field to apply and track these enrichments.
• If your product data contains new and refurbished versions of the item and they share the same ID, they will be treated as the exact same item by Channable.
• If multiple items share the same Unique ID, and one of them is enriched (e.g. with an AI-generated attribute), all items sharing that ID will receive the same enriched attributes.
• Duplicate IDs can lead to errors. For example, an enriched color attribute meant for a pair of sneakers being incorrectly applied to a t-shirt.

Examples of commonly used unique ID fields:

• id
• SKU
• product_id
• mpn 

How Channable automatically selects your unique ID 

Based on your product data, we’re usually able automatically to select a unique ID for your items in your Channable project. We choose this ID using: 

• the name of the field (commonly used unique ID fields)
• how many other products have the same ID (duplicates)
• the length of the values in the field (no longform texts)

Based on these factors, we choose the ID field that has the least amount of duplicates. 

If you are setting up AI-related attributes in Optimize, you will be notified via a banner that a unique ID was automatically set up:

1. Go to [your project] > Optimize. 
2. Click the AI enriched attributes tab. 

If we can select a unique ID for your product data, a banner will show indicating the field that we chose. If we cannot select a unique ID, you need to set one up manually. 

How to set up a unique ID (from Optimize or manually)

If we could not select a unique ID for your items, you can select one in Optimize > AI enriched attributes from the banner OR you can set one up manually: 

1. Go to [your project] > Setup.
2. Go to the ID fields tab.
3. At Field containing Unique ID, select a unique ID. 

   1. Make sure to choose the option that has the least amount of duplicates. 

      Important: If you select an ID that has duplicates (multiple products share the same ID), add an import rule to remove the duplicate items. 
4. Click Save. 

How to change a unique ID

1. Go to [your project] > Setup.
2. Go to the ID fields tab.
3. At Field containing Unique ID, select a different unique ID. 
   1. Make sure to choose the option that has the least amount of duplicates.
4. Click Save.