Combining import data feeds can be useful for various reasons:
- Adding new products: Integrate products that are not in your original import feed.
- Enriching product data: Add information such as EAN numbers to your existing products.
- Uniform Information: Add the same information to all products in a new field.
Important information
- Order of imports: the sequence of imports matters. The first import determines which items are imported. Subsequent imports combine fields where matches are found, but any IDs not present in the first import are ignored.
- Case sensitivity: the values in the combined field must match exactly in both imports for successful combination.
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Field overwriting: mapping to a field already filled by the first import will overwrite its data.
- Solution 1: for different titles or prices for marketplaces, use unique field names (e.g., title_amazon, title_ebay).
- Solution 2: to manage different language translations, rename fields or create new fields for each language to keep the original and allow multiple translations to be imported. (e.g., title_en description_en, title_nl, description_nl).
Step 1: Setup Mapping
After you have set up an import feed, you can combine it with another import feed. Click on “+ Combine imports”, choose your import type, and specify the type of the import feed you want to add (ensure that the file is available online).
You will be taken to 'Setup Mapping' which you have seen before in the setup of your first import feed. Again, the fields in the left column (fields from your feed) will be mapped to fields in Channable. Normally, you don't have to change these fields.
Step 2: Combining imports options
At the bottom of the fields list you can find the 'More options' section, depending on the desired outcome, you will need to select one of these 3:
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Add as new items: This is the ‘standard’ way of adding new items. When using this option, the items will be added as separate items.
- Combine on Field: This option allows you to merge imports based on a specific field. (e.g., ID ⇾ ID) For the merge to work, the field name in the existing import must exactly match the field name in the new import file. When a match is found, values from the new import will overwrite the corresponding field values in the existing import. Additionally, if the new import includes fields that weren’t present in the existing import, these new fields will be automatically added.
- Item enrichment: This option should not be confused with the add as new items option. This option should be used when you want to add the same information to all products. This information will be stored in a new field. Using this option is different from combining on a specific field. Item enrichment will add the same imported information as a new field to all products, whereas combining on a specific field might give you different data for different products.
Click 'Save & Import' when you are done.
Adjusting the order of imports.
You have the option to re-order your imports, by dragging and dropping. Read this article for more information.