5.1. Import Product Attribute Sets

The Import Product Attribute Sets utility will help you to update and maintain your database.

Be sure to pay careful attention to each wizard's page, when importing product attributes into Magento. Import can be a complicated procedure and may be destructive if performed incorrectly. Be sure to create a database backup, before beginning importing product attributes into Magento, especially if being done for the first time.

To begin importing Product Attribute Sets, click [Import/Export], which will start the Import/Export Wizard.

The Product Attribute Sets Import/Export Wizard is similar in operation to the Categories and Products Import/Export Wizard.

1. Begin with creating a properly formatted .csv file. Make sure it contains all the necessary fields and data to be imported.

2. Select [Import] in the Import/Export Wizard.

3. Specify the .csv file to import, or select the browse button [...], and specify your source file.

Next, select File Charset, to set up the correct coding for your .csv file.

*You may choose to click [Save Import Settings], for future automatic import of most attributes settings, or load a previously created settings file, for use, at this time.

4. The source file preview shows part of a .csv file, selected for import and contains a number of very important settings. If you specify incorrect field values here, the Import process may not complete successfully.

The first option allows for the specification of the delimiter character. The most popular delimiters are the comma (,), semicolon (;) and the tab character ( ), however, other symbols may be used, as well.

Note: The .csv file contains data in a row - column format, and a delimiter character is used to separate one column from another. If you specify an incorrect delimiter, the file will not parse properly and the attribute sets will not successfully import.

In this import example, the semicolon symbol was used as a delimiter and values were quoted with the double quote (") symbol. Specify the first two settings, as illustrated above.

The Set and Group delimiter is not a native .csv setting and is used only by Store Manager, to separate Attribute Sets and Groups. By default, the pipe character ( | ) is used. An Attribute Group may be assigned to more than one Attribute Set, via the use of a double delimiter ( || ).

Thus far, no Products have yet been imported into your database.

5. The "Preview Import" page illustrates how the .csv file was processed, using the Import Attributes settings specified in the previous step(s). Be sure and verify that all columns, which are to be imported, are properly filled with data, as some of them may be blank, which indicates that the field is empty in the source (.csv) file.

6. The "Import Options" page settings may affect Import results. Please verify your selections carefully, to correctly, and successfully, perform a Magento Attributes Import.

• Update Existing attributes. Current option helps to update existing attributes details and replace them with the ones from a file. Leave this field unselected if you do not want to loose your available attributes at the store.

• Add option if an attribute exists serves for updating attributes of MultiSelect or Dropdown types and allows to add options to the already existing options list without substituting them.

You may save your import configuration to a separate file, or by pressing the appropriate button in the wizard:

7. The final window of the Import Products Attributes Set Wizard will display any errors that may have occurred during the import process, for review, and, or, correction.

The Import log will reflect any error(s) that may have occurred during the Attributes Import process. While some errors may be ignored, others, such as "Could not find the image: image_name.gif", will have to be fixed, before proceeding.

Also, check for other useful article and video tutorial, pertaining to this topic, below:

Magento – Import Product Attribute Sets