eShop Data Import/Export

[ian_d]

Hi,

I am adding products to my eShop and have become familiar with the Import/Export Feature.  This works well for adding products as I can edit the file in Excel. I notice the export file also shows the html code for the product descriptions and the name of the associated images files for the product. 

Question is, can I upload the new product images manually to the location of the exisiting image store, and reference them in the CSV file so that they will be shown in my product page? 

Can't see a way how to at the moment as I cannot seem to access the product image location. It does not appear in the File Manager and if I look at the path for existing product images they seem to be located in a WebRoot path behind my domain name.

I understand that when adding a product within eShop I upload the images and they are resized for optimal display, or several different sized images created and stored for different views.

Do other users import products, and if so, do you then add the images later through eshop, as well as the descriptions through the WYSIWYG editor? 

Finally, anyone know how the File Manager paths it's files? If I add images in the WYSIWYG editor they seem to be accessible in the File Manager but behind several paths of random letters/numbers.  It becomes difficult to manage where all my files are and delete files no longer required.

Thanks in advance.

Ian

[ian_d]

Hi,

Any chance of a response from eShopTeam or any other BT Employee. Surely the above is a simple question to answer for an eShop professional.

I can see eShopTeam is online as I write this and is responding to other posts.

Waiting 5 days for any kind of response or feedback from BT is very poor to say the least.

Any chance?

Cheers.

[dave]

"BT do monitor these forums but are not able to respond to all unanswered posts;"

If your question is urgent, you should probably contact BT through the official support methods instead of relying on a response from them on here.

[ian_d]

Dave,

I appreciate all posts cannot be answered, and I realise there are official ways for BT customers to contact BT about a product they purchase. I have used these methods and have always had a speedy and satisfactory response, and resolution of the problem.

I posted my question about the Import/Export feature here as I am relying on someone like yourself to share advanced knowledge of the eshop system to help me get the most out of it.

I have read many of your posts that have provided quality information to other BT customers, me included.

My query is not a fault with the system and I have searched the forums and help sections of BT and epages to seek further information. In this case I do not believe the official customer contact methods would provide me with helpful information to answer the query.

From experience of using this forum, either eShopTeam or a community member would be most knowledgable about my question.

Hope someone can help?

Cheers

[eShopTeam · Accepted solution]

Hello Ian,

Please accept our apologies for the late reply.

Currently it is not possible to upload product images in any other way then one-by-one in the image tab of each individual product. As an alternative you can upload your product images to an external webspace/website and use the image URL as a reference in the import file (i.e. copy the image URL to the corresponding fields for the image file names in the import file).

Using the file manager to upload all images and reference them from there does work, though it has a number of disadvantages:

• The storage space for uploading files to your shop is limited, so you might reach this limit a lot sooner.
• The file manager was not developed to handle a large number of files being uploaded at once into a single folder.
• It is not possible to insert files from the file manager in the image tabs of products and pages, so you would have to copy the image into the description text.

The upcoming update (this summer) will include the functionality to upload all product images at once and reference them in the import file.

Sincerely,

[ian_d]

Thanks eShopTeam,

I am sure you appreciate adding product images and descriptions individually is time consuming for 1000s of products. It is good to know this is being looked into as a future development.

I am still unsure where the File Manager is storing its files, and how I can organise them better for future reference? Particularly the image files I insert in descriptive text.

I assume the storage space available for images etc. is monitored via the Utilisation section of eShop software, so I can see if the space is becoming limited.

Thanks again for your response.

Ian

[eShopTeam]

Hello Ian,

The file manager stores files in a separate path per shop. This path looks like this:

/WebRoot/<individualShopPath>/MediaGallery/<possibleSubDirectories>/<ImageFileName>

If you have pasted images into text already, using the editor, you can check the path in the text fields, or simply insert an image into a text field and check the path in the resulting HTML.

The file manager allows you to create your own directory structure to better organise the files. If you are using images in descriptive text of pages and products, you might want to create two top-directories ("Pages" and "Products") and store the files in sub-categories thereof, named according to the product or page.

The "Utilisation" page in the general settings menu allows you to keep track of the storage space for your shop.

Sincerely,

[ian_d]

Thanks eShop Team,

Your reply is much appreciated and will help me organise my shop better.

Kind Regards,

Ian