Import moved existing product to new location

[pierre66]

We created a new section in our catalog. It was intended to contain DUPLICATES of products already existing in the catalog so that a customer could order from either section. We imported a CSV that contained new product details but had the same reference number as the existing products - but we used the "Section text" header and loaded these into the NEW section we had created, instead of overwriting the existing products (and then making duplicates, a mistake in hindsight)...This is what has happened:

The imported products went exactly where we pointed them with "Section text", but now they cannot be found in the locations where they existed before. And those HIDDEN products that we had built with Product|Component|Attribute|Choice structure (in order to have stock monitoring) are now located in the new section, even though the CHOICE DETAILS are still there for the, now gone, hidden product. And to make it more confusing, even after multiple refreshes and updates, the products are located in BOTH sections and are fully orderable on the site and via search!

Should I revert to a snapshot previous to the import, create the duplicates and then import the updated details? Or should I leave it alone? It does seem that the end result has been what we want but I am not sure that stock monitoring is behaving correctly. Any other ideas or suggestions?

Thank You!

[James M SellerDeck]

Hi there

Its depends how messed up you think it is, you could try again if you have a previous snapshot.

Did the import file you were importing use the same product refrence numbers as they in your catalog? So that when you did the update import, it actually updated the existing products rather than create new ones?

The duplication of products can occur when the "Auto generate product references" is checked in View | Business Settings | Options. Actinic thinks that the products are new due to the different product reference assigned when importing. The import file needs to have a "Product Reference" column inserted with a unique code for each product.

Hope that helps

[pierre66]

Import seems to have worked as Advertised

After further "investigation" of where all imported data went, it seems the import behaved correctly. I used existing reference numbers in the import and directed them to a new section we had created. It pulled those products from where they were and put them in the new (specified) section. I have simply now gone and created duplicates of them (from the new section location), and put those duplicates back where they were previous to the import...

Everything seems to be working correctly. Shoppers can select from either location and stock levels are tracked by the original...

On another, related, note:

We are constantly adding, moving, deleting products. I keep most of our core product data in an Access table (but not the Actinic export fields). Is there a point where we should create an entirely new site file to "clean up" all the old code? I do not want to do this unless performance and stability will be enhanced.

Thank you!

[James M SellerDeck]

Hi there

There isnt much point in creating a new site, it will be fine to add/delete products from your current site...

If you didnt know, to permenantly remove products that have been marked for deletion, you simply go to Housekeeping | Purge | Purge content.

Another thing you can do from time to time is go to Housekeping | Compact databases, this will compact the database, and normally reduce it in size helping Actinic to run smoother.

Hope that helps