Guide to Importing Products from Shopify

Welcome to the second guide in our series! This article will walk you through how to import your products from your Shopify store into the AI Content Manager tool. This is a crucial first step to start managing and enhancing your product listings.

1. Why Import Products?

Importing products allows you to:

1. Bring all your product data from Shopify into our tool with just a few clicks.
2. Edit and manage product details in a centralized place.
3. Use our AI features to generate or improve product titles, descriptions, tags, and SEO content.
4. Keep your product information consistent between our tool and your live Shopify store.

2. Before You Start: Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following sorted out:

1. Shopify API Connection: Your tool needs to be correctly connected to your Shopify store. If there's an issue, you'll usually see a notification (like a red banner on the product list page). Check your admin settings for the Shop URL and Access Token if needed.
2. Active Subscription & Credits: Some features, including importing many products or using AI, might require an active subscription plan with sufficient product slots and credits. The tool will inform you if you've reached any limits.

Note: The number of products you can import might be limited by your current subscription plan. If you have many products, the import process might take a few moments.

3. Step-by-Step Guide to Importing Products

Let's get your products into the tool!

Step 1: Navigate to the Import Function

Typically, you'll find an "Import Products" button on the main Products page. It often looks something like this:

Import Products

Clicking this button will open the import products modal (pop-up window).

Step 2: Understanding the Import Modal

Once you click "Import Products", a modal window will appear.

1. Loading Products: The tool will first fetch a list of products directly from your Shopify store. You might see a loading indicator while this happens.
2. Product List: You'll see a list of your Shopify products, usually showing the product title, SKU, price, and sometimes an indicator if the product already exists in the tool.
3. Pagination: If you have many products, they will be displayed in pages. Use the "Next" and "Previous" buttons to navigate through the list.
4. Select Products:
5. Select All: There's usually a checkbox at the top (e.g., "Select All Import") to select all products currently visible on the page or all products fetched.
6. Individual Selection: Each product in the list will have its own checkbox. Tick the box next to each product you want to import.
7. Overwrite Option: You'll often find a dropdown menu like this: Skip existing products or Overwrite existing products :
8. Skip existing products: If a product (based on its Shopify ID or SKU) already exists in our tool, it won't be imported again or updated. This is good if you only want to add new items.
9. Overwrite existing products: If a product exists, its information in our tool will be updated with the latest data from Shopify. This is useful for refreshing product details.

Step 3: Choosing Your Import Method

You typically have a couple of options:

1. Import Selected: Import Selected
2. Use this if you've manually selected specific products. Only the checked products will be imported based on your chosen overwrite option.
3. Import All from Shopify: Import All from Shopify
4. This option attempts to import all products from your Shopify store. It's powerful but might take time and consume more resources/credits depending on your store size and subscription. You'll usually be asked for confirmation before this starts.

Step 4: The Import Process & Results

After clicking an import button:

1. You'll likely see a loading or progress indicator. Please be patient, especially if importing many products.
2. Once finished, an import results message will appear. This message will typically tell you:
3. How many new products were imported.
4. How many existing products were updated (if you chose to overwrite).
5. How many products were skipped (if they already existed and you chose to skip).
6. If there were any errors during the import.
7. You might need to reload the page or go back to the product list to see the newly imported products.

Success! Your selected products should now be available in the tool for editing and AI content generation.

4. Troubleshooting Common Import Issues

1. Connection Error: "Failed to connect to Shopify API." Double-check your Shop URL and Access Token in the settings. Ensure your Shopify store is active.
2. Product Limit Reached: "Product limit reached. Upgrade your subscription." Your current plan has a maximum number of products you can manage. Consider upgrading or deleting unused products.
3. No Products Found: If the import modal is empty, ensure you have products in your Shopify store and that the API connection is working.
4. Import Takes Too Long / Times Out: If you have thousands of products, importing all at once might be slow. Try importing in smaller batches (e.g., using "Import Selected" for a few pages at a time) if the "Import All" feature struggles.
5. Partial Import / Errors on Some Products: Sometimes, specific products might have unusual data that causes an issue. The results message might give details. If not, try importing that product individually to isolate the problem.

5. Tips for Efficient Importing

1. Start Small: If it's your first time, try importing a few selected products to understand the process.
2. Use "Overwrite" Carefully: If you've already made significant changes to products within our tool that you haven't published to Shopify, overwriting them will replace those changes with the Shopify data.
3. Check Subscription Limits: Be aware of your product limits before attempting a large import.
4. Be Patient: Importing a large catalog can take time. Don't close the browser window or navigate away unless instructed.

Next Up: Now that your products are imported, the next article will show you how to edit them and use the exciting AI features to make your content shine!