Import & Export
Official guide · English · Version 9c253d0cf11816df
DirectSale supports importing products from spreadsheet files (Excel and CSV) and from four major e-commerce platforms via API. You can also export your entire product catalog to Excel.
Import Methods Overview
| Method | Best For |
|---|---|
| File Import (Excel/CSV) | Migrating from spreadsheets, bulk uploading product lists, importing from any source that can export to Excel or CSV |
| WooCommerce API | Importing directly from a WordPress/WooCommerce store (recommended for WooCommerce users) |
| Shopify API | Importing directly from a Shopify store |
| PrestaShop API | Importing directly from a PrestaShop store |
| OpenCart API | Importing directly from an OpenCart store (requires REST API extension) |
| Web Scraper | Importing from any website by analyzing its product pages |
File Import (Excel / CSV)
Navigate to Products > Import Products and select the File Import tab.
Upload Your File
Click the upload area or drag a file onto it. Supported file formats are:
.xlsx(Excel).xls(legacy Excel).csv(Comma-Separated Values)
The system reads the file and proceeds to the column mapping step.
Map Columns
After the file is parsed, the column mapping screen appears. The system uses AI to automatically detect and map your spreadsheet columns to product fields.
AI-Powered Mapping:
- An AI analysis runs automatically after upload to detect column mappings
- Each mapped field shows a confidence percentage badge (color-coded: green for 90%+, yellow for 70-89%, red for below 70%)
- If a platform is detected (e.g., WooCommerce export format), it is displayed
- If AI analysis fails, the system falls back to basic string matching
Required field mappings:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Product Name | The column containing product names (required) |
| Price | The column containing product prices (required) |
Optional field mappings:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | Product description column |
| Category | Product category column |
| SKU | Stock Keeping Unit column |
| Stock | Stock status column |
| Image URL | Column containing image URLs |
| Product URL | Column containing product page URLs |
Each mapping field is a dropdown where you can select from all columns found in your spreadsheet. AI-suggested mappings are pre-selected but can be changed manually.
Detected Attributes: If the AI detects additional product attributes in your spreadsheet (such as color, size, material, etc.), they appear in a "Detected Attributes" section with confidence scores.
Select Rows to Import
Below the column mapping, a preview table shows all rows from your file:
- Checkboxes on each row let you select or deselect individual rows for import
- Select All / Deselect All button to toggle all rows at once
- Search field to filter rows by content
- Pagination with configurable page sizes (25, 50, 100, 200 rows per page)
- Mapped columns are highlighted in blue in the table header
- Row count shows how many rows are selected for import out of the total
You must also check the ownership certification checkbox confirming you have the right to sell these products.
Import Products
Click Import Products to start the import. A progress bar shows the percentage completed along with a count of processed rows vs. total rows.
Review Results
When the import completes, a summary card shows:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Imported | Number of products successfully created |
| Skipped | Number of rows that were skipped (e.g., duplicates or missing required data) |
| Errors | Number of rows that failed to import |
| Total | Total number of rows processed |
After the import, a suggestion card offers to run AI Content Generation on the newly imported products. You can click Generate Now to go directly to the products page with auto-generation enabled, or click Later to skip.
Store API Import
Navigate to Products > Import Products and select the Store API tab to see supported platforms, or go directly to Products > Import Products > Store API page.
The API import page features a tab bar at the top with five import methods: WooCommerce (recommended), Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart, and Web Scraper.
All API import methods follow a similar step wizard: Connection > Preview > Complete.
WooCommerce Import
Enter Connection Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Site URL | Your WooCommerce store URL (e.g., https://yourstore.com) |
| Consumer Key | WooCommerce REST API consumer key (starts with ck_) |
| Consumer Secret | WooCommerce REST API consumer secret (starts with cs_). Click the eye icon to toggle visibility |
How to get API keys:
- Go to your WordPress admin panel
- Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > REST API
- Click Add Key
- Set Permission to Read
- Copy the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret
Test Connection
Click Test Connection to verify your credentials. On success, the store name and total product count are displayed.
Fetch Products
After a successful connection test, select how many products to fetch (50, 100, 200, or 500) and click Fetch Products.
Select and Import
The preview screen shows all fetched products with checkboxes, images, names, categories, and prices. Use Select All / Deselect All to manage selection. Click Import to import the selected products.
Shopify Import
Enter Connection Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Store Domain | Your Shopify store domain (e.g., mystore.myshopify.com or just mystore) |
| Access Token | Shopify Admin API access token (starts with shpat_). Click the eye icon to toggle visibility |
How to get an access token:
- Go to your Shopify admin panel
- Navigate to Settings > Apps and sales channels > Develop apps
- Click Create an app
- Configure Admin API scopes: enable read_products
- Install the app, then click Reveal token once
- Copy the Admin API access token
Warning: The Shopify access token is only shown once when you first create it. Make sure to copy and save it securely.
Test, Fetch, and Import
The workflow is the same as WooCommerce: test the connection, fetch products, select which ones to import, and click Import.
PrestaShop Import
Enter Connection Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Site URL | Your PrestaShop store URL (e.g., https://yourstore.com) |
| Webservice Key | A 32-character PrestaShop Webservice API key. Click the eye icon to toggle visibility |
How to get a Webservice key:
- Go to your PrestaShop admin panel
- Navigate to Advanced Parameters > Webservice
- Set Enable webservice to Yes
- Click Add new webservice key
- Generate a key and enable these permissions:
- products: GET (View)
- categories: GET (View)
- images: GET (View)
- Copy the 32-character key
Test, Fetch, and Import
The workflow is the same: test the connection, fetch products, select, and import.
OpenCart Import
Enter Connection Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Site URL | Your OpenCart store URL (e.g., https://yourstore.com) |
| REST API Key | Your OpenCart REST API extension key. Click the eye icon to toggle visibility |
Warning: OpenCart does not include a REST API by default. You must first install a REST API extension from the OpenCart Marketplace (e.g., REST Admin, REST API Extension, or API Pro).
How to set up the REST API:
- Download a REST API extension from the OpenCart Marketplace
- Install the extension from Extensions > Installer
- Go to the extension settings
- Create a new API Key
- Enable Products access
- Copy the API key
Test, Fetch, and Import
The workflow is the same: test the connection, fetch products, select, and import.
Web Scraper Import
The Web Scraper can import products from any website by analyzing its HTML structure.
Enter the URL and Configure
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Website URL | The URL of a product listing page on any website |
Import Mode -- Choose one of three modes:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| First Page Only | Analyzes only the provided URL. Best for a single category page |
| All Category Pages | Follows pagination links to scrape multiple pages. Configure the maximum number of pages (3, 5, 10, or 20) |
| Entire Site (Sitemap) | Uses the site's sitemap to discover product pages. Configure the maximum number of products (25, 50, 100, or 200) |
Additional option:
- Fetch Complete Details -- Check this to visit each individual product page for more accurate data extraction. This is slower but produces better results.
Analyze the Page
Click Analyze Page. The system scrapes the URL and attempts to discover products.
Review Analysis Results
The preview shows:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Platform | Detected e-commerce platform (if any) |
| Page Type | Whether the URL is a product listing page or a single product page |
| Products Found | Total number of products discovered |
| Selected | Number currently selected for import |
If the system has recommendations (e.g., "try using the sitemap mode for better results"), they appear in a yellow callout.
Select and Import
Review the discovered products (with images, names, descriptions, and prices), select the ones you want, and click Import.
Info: Web scraping results depend on the structure of the target website. Some websites may block automated access or have complex page layouts that reduce accuracy. For best results, use the platform-specific API importers when available.
Post-Import AI Generation
After every successful import (both file and API), a suggestion card appears recommending that you run AI content generation on the newly imported products. This generates:
- Professional product descriptions
- SEO metadata (title, description, image alt text)
- AI embeddings for the chatbot
Click Generate Now to navigate to the products page with auto-generation triggered, or click Later to do it manually from the products page.
Exporting Products
To export your product catalog:
- Go to the main Products page
- Click the Export Excel button in the header bar
- An Excel file containing all your products is downloaded to your computer
The export includes all product fields: name, price, description, category, stock status, SKU, and more.
Product ZIP backup and restore
For a catalog backup with available image files, use Export Backup rather than Export Excel. Restore Backup inspects a product ZIP and, after confirmation, replaces the current products. Read Catalog Backup and Metadata Repair before restoring; spreadsheet imports and ZIP restores have different effects.