January 16, 2013 at 14:14Magmi is the best way to import products into Magento
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A few years ago I made a lot of Magento-based websites. In the archive of my blog you will find several articles that allow you to solve some problems on Magento.
I recently worked again with Magento (v1.7.0.2). There is one thing that incredibly limits the use of Magento. This is the import functionality. If you have ever imported products through Magento Dataflow profiles, you know how much everything is crookedly implemented there:
Fortunately, about a year ago I found Magmi. If you want to import something into Magento, use Magmi. It works great. Magmi is developed by Seb Bracquemont .
Here is the Magmi homepage: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/magmi/index.php . I do not know why Magento did not buy the project and its developers. And I’ll probably never know. Magmi may seem a little complicated at first glance, but believe me, it will make working with Magento a lot easier.
Do you need to import from remote CSV? It's not a problem. Need to update your image options? Magmi can do this. Want to create all your categories on the fly and activate them in one fell swoop? Yes, it is also possible!
Magmi is a tool that few people seem to use yet. I hope this post helps:
I admit that from a technical point of view, I have no idea what is there and how it works. However, from the point of view of the Magento store developer, I understand that I can create a CSV with an arbitrary structure and solve all the problems mentioned above. Easy. I admit that the interface looks a bit complicated, but if you take your time and read the documentation, you will realize that you can import almost anything.
When creating a CSV file for import through Magmi, make sure that you have the option to save all values in double quotes. Excel cannot save data to CSV using quotation marks (surprise), but LibreOffice can. From the menu, select "File", "Save As", then select the file type "CSV Text", set the "Change filter settings" checkbox and click the "Save" button. Then select "Save." In the filter settings window, set the "Text values in quotation marks" checkbox.
You probably know some points that are quite difficult to batch and quickly do in Magento. For example, upload a gallery of images and product options. Magmi is easy! Another feature is the ability to specify the desired product categories using the following syntax in CSV:
In addition, if these categories do not exist, they will be created upon import.
Cool? Magmi works at lightning speed! If you are used to watching the progress bar of importing Magento products, you will be pleasantly surprised. Magmi does it in seconds.
Magmi works directly with the site database, so it works really fast. I got about 500 products / sec with uploading images from remote sources on a cheap VPS. Also do not forget to backup the database before importing.
I recently worked again with Magento (v1.7.0.2). There is one thing that incredibly limits the use of Magento. This is the import functionality. If you have ever imported products through Magento Dataflow profiles, you know how much everything is crookedly implemented there:
- there is no way to import multiple images (image gallery, etc.);
- there is no possibility of importing categories;
- there is no possibility of importing cross-selling and related products;
- there is no way to import multiple prices (for different groups of customers);
- in short, this circuit works extremely awfully ...
Fortunately, about a year ago I found Magmi. If you want to import something into Magento, use Magmi. It works great. Magmi is developed by Seb Bracquemont .
Here is the Magmi homepage: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/magmi/index.php . I do not know why Magento did not buy the project and its developers. And I’ll probably never know. Magmi may seem a little complicated at first glance, but believe me, it will make working with Magento a lot easier.
Do you need to import from remote CSV? It's not a problem. Need to update your image options? Magmi can do this. Want to create all your categories on the fly and activate them in one fell swoop? Yes, it is also possible!
Magmi is a tool that few people seem to use yet. I hope this post helps:
- raise awareness about Magmi; it deserves more recognition;
- facilitate data import into Magento;
- convince users to support the Magmi project - it's really great
How it works?
I admit that from a technical point of view, I have no idea what is there and how it works. However, from the point of view of the Magento store developer, I understand that I can create a CSV with an arbitrary structure and solve all the problems mentioned above. Easy. I admit that the interface looks a bit complicated, but if you take your time and read the documentation, you will realize that you can import almost anything.
Example CSV file format:
When creating a CSV file for import through Magmi, make sure that you have the option to save all values in double quotes. Excel cannot save data to CSV using quotation marks (surprise), but LibreOffice can. From the menu, select "File", "Save As", then select the file type "CSV Text", set the "Change filter settings" checkbox and click the "Save" button. Then select "Save." In the filter settings window, set the "Text values in quotation marks" checkbox.
"store","attribute_set","type","sku","pack_size","name","short_description","description","dimensions",
"qty","price","special_price","tier_price:B2B","categories","image","small_image","thumbnail",
"image_label","small_image_label","thumbnail_label","media_gallery","weight","tax_class_id",
"meta_title","meta_description","Colour:drop_down:1","news_from_date","news_to_date",
"special_from_date","special_to_date"
You probably know some points that are quite difficult to batch and quickly do in Magento. For example, upload a gallery of images and product options. Magmi is easy! Another feature is the ability to specify the desired product categories using the following syntax in CSV:
"Портатив/Наушники;Аксессуары/Аудиотехника/Наушники;Подарки/Для меломанов/Наушники"
In addition, if these categories do not exist, they will be created upon import.
Cool? Magmi works at lightning speed! If you are used to watching the progress bar of importing Magento products, you will be pleasantly surprised. Magmi does it in seconds.
Translator's Note
Magmi works directly with the site database, so it works really fast. I got about 500 products / sec with uploading images from remote sources on a cheap VPS. Also do not forget to backup the database before importing.