Before you start: finish part 1, and have your file ready (CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, ideally with column names in the first row), or your platform connected on the Integrations page. Products already in? Skip to part 3.
Decide the rules before you upload anything
Two places decide what happens when an incoming product already exists, and they cover different imports. Platform imports follow the project-wide Import settings. They apply to every platform import, including the ones your colleagues run later. Setting them before the first import is what makes the second and third boring.
File imports ask per file, on the review screen, under What this import does:
Next to it, Find existing products by decides the match: SKU, then EAN/GTIN is the safe default for supplier files, because a row with a new SKU still finds your product by its barcode. Empty cells in a file never erase what’s already in WISEPIM.
1
Set your platform conflict resolution
Pick from the first table in Import settings. It is your safe default for platform imports, not a lock.
2
Set empty-field handling
Skip empty fields keeps whatever is already in WISEPIM, which is the safe choice when a source only carries part of each product. The alternatives clear the field or fall back to the attribute’s default.
3
Pick a validation strictness
Strict rejects any row with missing required fields, standard imports the valid rows and reports what it skipped, lenient auto-fixes minor issues. Standard is the documented recommendation.
4
Add import filters if the source has junk in it
Conditions on fields like price or SKU let you leave test products and incomplete rows behind, instead of importing them and deleting them afterwards.
Test-import about 50 rows
Cut the first 50 rows of your file into a separate file and import that. You are not checking whether the import works, you are checking whether your interpretation of the file is right, while the cost of being wrong is 50 records instead of 5,000.1
Drop the file and answer any questions
On the Products page, click Import, choose CSV Import and drop your file on Import your products. If WISEPIM can’t tell how to read it, A few choices before importing asks first: whether the first row holds column names, which worksheet, the number or date format, or a measurement unit.
2
Read Here's what we found
The review shows the row and column count, how products are matched, which columns go into which fields and which become new fields, and How a product will look. Fix a wrong guess here with Not right? Change it, or click a column to pick another field.
3
Check the variants and images
When rows share a parent, the Variants card offers Group variants under their parent product and shows how many products and variants that gives. Check the image columns too: several URLs in one cell are split on a separator, and numbered columns such as “Image 1” and “Image 2” fill the gallery in order. Getting this right here saves regrouping by hand in part 3.
4
Import, then save your choices
Click Import 50 products. WISEPIM remembers your choices for the next file with the same columns. To use them for files with other names too, choose Advanced > Save these choices and save them as an import profile.
5
Open five imported products and read them
Check the title, price, images, and category path on a handful of records. This is the step people skip and regret.
Run the full import and work Import cleanup
With the mapping proven on 50 rows, run the rest. Imports execute in the background, so you can keep working while they do.
1
Drop the full file
A file with the same columns gets your remembered choices automatically: “We reused your choices from the last file with these columns.” Otherwise pick your import profile under Advanced. Then start the import.
2
Follow it in the Process Tracker
The Process Tracker shows processed, successful, failed, and skipped counts per task, and a plain-language recap when it finishes.
3
Work Import cleanup
After a file import, WISEPIM scans for missing critical fields and opens Import cleanup when it finds gaps. It handles missing images, weight, and price one step at a time, including suggesting an unmapped column that might hold your image URLs. Skipped gaps stay visible as a banner on the Products page until they are filled.
4
Make the keep-or-redo call now
Open the import task and choose Rollback to remove everything that import brought in. Rollback exists on import tasks only, and it takes the enrichment you did on top with it, so decide before part 4 rather than after.
How to tell it worked
When it doesn’t work
Every size and colour arrived as its own product
Every size and colour arrived as its own product
Group variants under their parent product was off, or WISEPIM didn’t recognize the parent column. Either roll back and re-import with one chosen, or fix it in place in part 3 with Group as Variants.
The images didn't come through
The images didn't come through
Usually the image separator did not match your file, or the image column was never mapped. Import cleanup checks whether an unmapped column looks like image URLs and offers to re-run with it mapped.
Hundreds of rows never appeared
Hundreds of rows never appeared
Rows that can’t be imported are listed on the review before you start, with the reason, and Download these rows gives you a file to fix. Also check What this import does: with Only update existing products, new products are left out on purpose.
Good descriptions came back blank
Good descriptions came back blank
On a platform import, that is Overwrite doing what it says on partial data. Roll the import back, switch conflict resolution to Merge in Import settings, and run it again. A file import never erases a value with an empty cell, so check whether the column held real blanks or placeholder text.
My platform isn't in the import list
My platform isn't in the import list
The import modal only shows platforms that have been successfully connected. Set the connection up and test it on the Integrations page, and the source appears on its own.
Related
Clean and structure what you imported
Next in the series: dedupe, normalize, categorize, and group variants in the right order.
Migrate platforms without losing data
The same import discipline applied to a full replatform.
Importing Products
Every source, every step of the importer, and what each option does.
Import Settings
Conflict resolution, empty fields, validation, and import filters.