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Web development tutorial

Importing data into your CafeCommerce store

Tutorial created by Ray Borduin, WebAssist

Categories: CafeCommerce

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If you are migrating to CafeCommerce from another shopping cart solution, you may want to do a bulk import of all your data instead of entering products, customers, etc. one at a time into your CafeCommerce Manager. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to import products, but the same concept can be applied to orders and customers.

arrow downExport from another platform

Using the export tool that your existing shopping cart solution offers you, create an Excel .xls or .csv file containing all of the products you want to import.

View Shopify export manual


View Volusion export manual

arrow downCreate a properly formatted csv file

Now you will create a new csv file that is properly formatted for CafeCommerce.

  1. In your CafeCommerce Manager, navigate to Store > Import/Export.


  2. Under Export, select CSV for the File Format.
  3. Click the Products radio button.
  4. Click Export.


  5. Open the downloaded CSV file with Microsoft Excel.


  6. Delete any/all data under Row 1 so that all you have remaining is a header row. This gives you a properly formatted template for importing products in a manner that your CafeCommerce database can understand.


  7. Save this CSV file to a directory on your computer. If Excel gives you an alert that this workbook contains features that will not work if you save it in this file format, click Continue. You are receiving this alert because you are saving your file as a CSV file instead of in the default Excel (.xls) format.

arrow downTransfer your product data

Next you will transfer your product data to your properly formatted spreadsheet.

(You can also enter other data into the rows if you want to add brand new products with the spreadsheet instead of in your CafeCommerce Manager.)

  1. In your old platform’s exported spreadsheet, select all of the product names you want to import. Right click your mouse and click Copy or use Ctrl+C (Command+C on Mac) to copy the product names.


  2. In your new, properly formatted spreadsheet, place your cursor in Row 2 in the Name column and right click your mouse and click Paste or use Ctrl+V (Command+V on Mac) to paste the product names.


  3. Repeat the copy/pasting for each column of data.
    Ensure all of your Product IDs are unique numbers - unique to each other and unique to any products in your store.

  4. Save the file. Once again, this should be saved as a .CSV file and you can click Continue if you get the same alert mentioned above.

arrow downImport your product data

Finally, import your properly formatted spreadsheet containing all of your products.

  1. Back in the CafeCommerce Manager, on the Import/Export page, click the Browse button next to Select .CSV file.
  2. Select your properly formatted spreadsheet.


  3. Click the Import button.


  4. A confirmation message will appear when import is complete. If you receive an error upon importing, see the Troubleshooting section.

arrow downTroubleshooting

Here are some tips to help you if you receive an error on the Import/Export page.

The file you are trying to import does not appear to have any new products, categories, orders or customers to import. Please check your file and try again.
This error means that your Product ID, Order ID or Customer ID already exists in your CafeCommerce store, or that you did not include ID numbers. Make sure to use ID numbers that are unique in each row and that do not already exist in your CafeCommerce store.

The file you are trying to import is not correctly formatted. Please check your CSV file structure and try again.
This error usually means that you are missing the header row on your spreadsheet or are trying to use a spreadsheet/CSV file that is not properly structured for CafeCommerce. Make sure to use the steps in the "Create a properly formatted CSV file" section above to start with a file that is properly formatted.

You did not select a file to import.
This error means you need to select a file before you click Upload. Click the browse button to browse your computer and select a file.

The file you selected is not a supported file format.
This error means you selected a file that was not a CSV file. Make sure to first save the file you are importing as a comma separated value (CSV) file.

There was an issue opening the file you selected. Please try again.
This error can occur when your browser or an intermittent Internet connection interrupted your upload. Refresh the import/export page in your browser and try selecting the file and clicking the Upload button again.

The file you selected does not have a supported format.
This error usually means that you are missing the header row on your spreadsheet or are trying to use a spreadsheet/CSV file that is not properly structured for CafeCommerce. Make sure to use the steps in the "Create a properly formatted CSV file" section above to start with a file that is properly formatted.

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