Import the catalog by spreadsheet

Where to find it

In your account menu, under Catalog and exports, Import tab. The Import catalog card has the Import spreadsheet button.

Importing is for the administrator: the Import tab only opens for those who administer the store or the organization. A seller who tries to open this screen is sent back to the Catalog.

With the store's catalog empty, the product list itself (menu Catalog) shows an Import Catalog shortcut that leads here.

If you administer more than one store, check the Store selector at the top of the Import tab before you start: the spreadsheet goes into the catalog of the store that is selected there. With a single store, the selector doesn't appear and the spreadsheet goes to it.

⚠️ Three different imports: choose correctly

Clicking Import spreadsheet opens the Import Products window with three paths. The first two do opposite things:

Import new catalog: "Replaces the current catalog. Products missing from the file will be deactivated." The spreadsheet takes charge of the store's catalog: what is in it is created or updated by code, and whatever has no row in it goes out of circulation. It's the path for swapping the entire catalog. See Import a new catalog: the step-by-step wizard.

Update existing catalog: "Adds or updates products and prices without removing existing ones." It adds what's new, updates what already exists and deactivates nothing. It's the path for a new price list, a batch of products, a correction. See Update an existing catalog: add without removing anything.

Import images: brings photos from a cloud folder or from the computer and doesn't touch any other product data. See Import the product photos.

When in doubt between the first two, Update existing catalog is the one that doesn't destroy anything. Before using Import new catalog, export the current catalog from the product list (Export button) and keep the file: it's your starting point and your way back.

Upload a new price list

To upload a price list, use this same screen, through the Update existing catalog path: prices come in by product code and no product leaves the catalog. In the review, the Save as field decides where the price column goes:

• Base price (no table): saves the price on the product itself;
• an existing table: saves the prices in that table (the default table appears with (default), and choosing it also updates the base price);
• Create new table...: creates a new table with the spreadsheet's prices.

The Price tables tab, on the Prices screen, creates and organizes tables, but has no field to type a product's price: table prices come in by spreadsheet. A spreadsheet with one column per table, the default table and the care with tables that are left out in a catalog swap are in Load price table prices by spreadsheet.

What if the catalog only exists as a PDF?

The import screen takes a spreadsheet. On the Import new catalog path, the Excel file field accepts .xlsx, .xls and .csv, and a PDF dragged onto it is ignored. On the Update existing catalog path, the Excel/CSV file field also accepts .xlsm and .xlsb.

If your catalog only exists as a PDF (the supplier's price table, an illustrated catalog), talk to Vendria support before trying to work around the screen: reading a PDF catalog is not a path the administrator triggers alone from this screen.

Store synced with an ERP

⚠️ In a store whose catalog is synced with the ERP, the ERP decides what goes out of circulation. Products that came from it stay active even when missing from the spreadsheet: a partial spreadsheet is no reason to take down what the ERP says exists. Only products created here in Vendria leave. If you expected a total swap and it didn't happen, this is why, not an import failure.

For the same reason, the fields the ERP defines on those products (description, price, unit, packaging, brand and others) aren't overwritten by the spreadsheet. The import result says which fields were preserved and on how many products, and ends with "Edit these fields in the ERP."

How to prepare the spreadsheet

In the Import new catalog wizard, use the Download template link. The template has the columns the system understands: Code, Description, Price, Brand, Stock, Unit, Packaging and Image URL.

You don't need to follow the template strictly. The wizard reads your spreadsheet's headers and proposes a mapping for each column; the Mapping Review screen shows what it understood and lets you correct it before anything goes in. Spreadsheets with several sheets and with several price columns are also accepted.

Unit and Packaging deserve attention: they're what makes "3 boxes" become the right quantity when the customer orders by box and the price is per piece. See Product unit, packaging and sales multiple.

The code is the product's identity. It's by the code that Dri recognizes what the customer ordered in a photo or a message, and it's by the code that the order reaches your ERP. Changing the code of an existing product creates a new product; it doesn't inherit history or last paid price.

After uploading

Before saving, the wizard shows what will go in. On a catalog swap it also warns how many products you already have registered, and reminds you that those missing from the spreadsheet will be removed.

⚠️ That number is what you HAVE, not what WILL LEAVE: it doesn't depend on the uploaded file and counts all products registered in the store, including those that were already deactivated. The check that exposes an incomplete spreadsheet is comparing it with the size of your spreadsheet. The total removed only appears during saving, in the progress bar, and in the final result, when it's no longer possible to go back.

On an update none of this appears, because nothing leaves.

Where to see what was imported

Each import is recorded in Import History (the button is at the top of the same Import tab), with date, type, file and the counts of added, updated, skipped and errors. See Catalog import history.

What the import does with each product (creation, update, deactivation, columns left out) is in What the catalog import does with each product.

Common questions

How do I upload a price list to Vendria? In Catalog and exports, Import tab, click Import spreadsheet and choose Update existing catalog. In the Save as field, indicate whether the price goes to the base price, to an existing table or to a new table. No product leaves the catalog.

Can I type a product's price on the Prices screen, Price tables tab? No. That tab creates and organizes tables; their prices come in by spreadsheet, through the import.

I imported the spreadsheet and products disappeared from the catalog. What happened? Almost always the import went through the Import new catalog path and the spreadsheet didn't have those codes. They were deactivated, not deleted: they appear in the product list with Status set to Inactive only, and come back when a new import through Import new catalog brings their codes. See What the catalog import does with each product.

Can I send the catalog spreadsheet to Dri on WhatsApp? Dri doesn't update the catalog. A spreadsheet sent to her in the conversation is read as an order, to build a quote. The catalog is imported on this screen, by the administrator.

Can the seller import the catalog? No. The Import tab is for administrators only. A seller who needs a new price or product asks the store administrator.