CSV Column Descriptions
Below you’ll find helpful details relating to every column that the plugin imports and exports. Please don’t attempt to type these into a spreadsheet. The best way to get a correctly formatted CSV file is by exporting an eShop product.
id
There should always be a number in this field when you export. Leave the number as it is if you want to modify the same post. If you want to use the post as a template for a new post, then delete the number and leave it blank. If you want to delete the post, then add a minus to the number (ie 123 becomes -123). Deleted posts will be moved to trash and WordPress will delete permanently after 30 days.
post_date
CSV Imp exports dates as yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss. However, by the time you see it in your spreadsheet it will probably have a different format. To avoid problems, I recommend configuring your spreadsheet not to alter the format, and to ensure that your import files format the dates in the same way that they are exported. If you use any other format, import may fail or the dates might be mis-interpreted.
post_title
This will be the title of your post or page.
post_content
This will be the content of your post or page. HTML markup is no problem, but you should avoid using your enclosure character. ie if your CSV delimiter is a comma and your CSV enclosure is a double quote, then don’t use double quotes in your HTML markup.
post_excerpt
You can add this to a post or a page but, with most themes, it will only display for posts.
post_parent
Pages can be organised hierarchically. Use this field to specify ‘id’ of the parent post. With most themes, this will only work with pages.
post_name
This is the unique name (aka ‘slug’) required for each post and page. When you link to your page, this is what appears in the url. If you notice that your slugs are getting numbers added to them on import, it means that the slug is already used somewhere in WordPress (posts in trash will still cause this to happen)
post_type
This can be ‘page’ or ‘post’.
ping_status
This can be ‘open’ or ‘closed’. Open means pingbacks and trackbacks will be allowed.
comment_status
This can be ‘open’ or ‘closed’. Open means comments will be allowed.
menu_order
Use this to control the order in which pages appear in menus. Lower numbers appear first. With most themes this will do nothing when set on a post.
Tags, Categories, and Custom Taxonomies
CSV Imp supports all taxonomies. Tags, Categories, and Custom taxonomies are all treated the same way. Following are some examples of what you could put into these kinds of fields:
- Input: “one, two, three”
Result: Three categories created with the name and slug the same. - Input: “Name 1:slug1, Name 2:slug2, Name 3:slug3”
Result: Three categories named ‘Name 1, Name 2, Name 3’ but with slugs ‘slug1, slug2, slug3’ respectively. - Input: “Parent Name:parentslug, parentslug~Name 1:slug1, parentslug~Name 2:slug2, parentslug~Name 3:slug3”
Result: The first category is called ‘Parent Name’ with a slug ‘parentslug’, and the other three categories are children of that parent
You must create parent categories before any children categories or it won’t work. However, if you follow that rule, you should be able to build quite complex hierarchies.
Custom Fields
If you have any custom fields, this is where they’ll be exported, between the WordPress columns and the eShop columns. You could even insert a new column here and a new custom field would be created.
eshop_sku
This is a unique product number used by eShop
eshop_description
Description of your eShop product.
eshop_option[x]
Each eShop product can have multiple variations, or options. ie If the product is an apple, then you might want to sell a single apple for one price and a basket of apples for a higher price. Use this field to give each option a name.
eshop_price[x]
The price for this option. Just the number, do not include any currency symbols.
eshop_tax[x]
Blank for no tax, or the number of the tax band. ie ‘1’
eshop_saleprice[x]
The price when product is marked as being ‘on sale’. Leave blank for no change.
eshop_weight[x]
Enter the weight of the product option. Refer to Settings -> eShop -> Shipping. Leave blank if not using weights to calculate shipping/postage.
eshop_download[x]
Enter the download id. Refer to eShop->Downloads to get the download id.
eshop_stkqty[x]
The amount of stock you have. Blank if not using eShop to monitor stock levels.
eshop_shiprate
This is the shipping class you want to assign to the product (‘A’ through ‘F’, even if you’ve changed the display names).
eshop_featured
‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
eshop_sale
Insert ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
eshop_cart_radio
Use ‘1’ to use radio buttons, or ‘0’ to not use radio buttons.
eshop_optset
List your option sets here. Need to use numbers, not the names.
eshop_stock_avail
‘yes’ or ‘no’.
thumbnail
You can specify a thumbnail for your product here. CSV Imp does not transfer images to your web server. You need to upload them yourself using FTP or some other method. Image files must be place under the ‘wp-content/uploads’ folder somewhere on your web server.
If you FTP ‘image.jpg’ to the ‘wp-content/uploads/2011/05’ folder, then you’d need to put ‘2011/05/image.jpg’ into this field so that CSV Imp can find the image and import it into WordPress for you.