Magento – Magmi configurable and simple products CSV confusion – Magento import

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I am trying to import a list of products which contain both simple and configurable products.

Having read the manual and other resources, I am still very confused on a few aspects on the CSV file.

What I have is various attributes such as colour, size, style, search colour, scent, pack qty and wesco type.

I have a few questions to clarify the model of the CSV I am to generate:

1) I read that you need to setup the attributes beforehand in Magento – for this I need to set up a attribute value as I have set the attribute to 'values required – yes'.

So for example 'Colour – values required yes' now when I try and save this it wants me to set up an actual colour. Can I just use the value 'none' and let Magmi handle the actual attributes (the real colour values)? Or do I need to go through all the possible options and input them into Magento manually (blue, yellow, green …)?

2) Having looked at examples on the internet, do I set my CSV like this:

sku, type, colour, size, style, search, colour, scent, pack qty, wesco type, configurable_attributes
slave, simple, blue, , , , , , , , blue
master, configurable, , , , , , , , , colour

OR

sku, type, configurable_attributes
slave, simple, blue
master, configurable, colour

3) Is it possible for me to do all the configurable products first like in question 2. Then after do another import for just the standalone simple products. As you can see I am trying to automatically link the products.

If you require any clarification, please feel free to ask me to be more precise with any of the questions.

4) Regarding prices for simple and configurable products, can I use the price field and set £0.00 for a configurable product and the actual price on each simple product?

Best Answer

1) Can I just use the value 'none' and let Magmi handle the actual attributes (the real colour values)? Or do I need to go through all the possible options and input them into Magento manually (blue, yellow, green ...)?

Magmi will create the attribute options for you, just not the attributes themselves. So you will need to create the Colour attribute, but you do not have to input each option such as black, red, green etc.

2) Having looked at examples on the internet, do I set my CSV like this:

If you read the CSV Datasource documentation, it will tell you that the correct format for the attribute columns is the actual attribute code. You can find the Attribute Code for an attribute under Catalog > Attributes > Manage Attributes in the Magento admin.

Also, make sure you are including the required columns for Magmi. These required columns can again be found on the Import new products documentation page.

The required columns for Magmi 0.7.17+ are: 

"attribute_set","type","sku"

So to properly import configurable Colour products, your CSV should also follow the documentation for the Configurable Item Processor.

"attribute_set","type","sku","colour","configurable_attributes","simple_skus"
"Colour","simple","mysimpleproduct","Red","colour",""
"Colour","configurable","myconfigproduct","","colour","mysimpleproduct"

Then be sure to enable the Configurable Item processor plugin in Magmi and set the Perform simples/configurable link option for the plugin to Yes.

3) Is it possible for me to do all the configurable products first like in question 2. Then after do another import for just the standalone simple products. As you can see I am trying to automatically link the products.

Yes, you can associate simple products to an already created configurable product at a later time, however you MUST include the configurable product in your import CSV to associate skus to it. The simple_skus column should contain a comma separated list of simple product skus that you want assigned to a configurable product. Any skus not listed in the simple_skus column upon import will be disassociated with the configurable product.

4) Regarding prices for simple and configurable products, can I use the price field and set £0.00 for a configurable product and the actual price on each simple product?

No. Magento by default uses the Base Price for the configurable product as the pricing for all associated simple products. Simple product prices are not actually used when adding to the cart, it's the configurable parent product and based on the super attribute pricing, the price changes.

To have Magento use the simple product prices based on the attribute combination selected, you will need to install a 3rd party extension. I personally use and recommend the Simple Configurable Products extension that will do just that.

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