Update PrestaShop Combinations Preserving Image Relations

Web merchants, who run their stores on PrestaShop have an advantageous possibility to customize product catalogs creating product options with the help of PrestaShop attributes and their combinations. It simplifies product search and selection for your customers, as they can easily adjust a purchase, choosing this or that product variant without browsing multiple product pages.

To keep your catalog renewed and actual for customers, you should be particular about PrestaShop combinations arranging. Not infrequently, you need to update combination details (e.g change quantity, impact), which might be not so easy, as it looks like, especially when dealing with huge data sets. When updating attribute combinations by means of data import from .csv, you are, actually, overwriting those, created formerly. For that very reason, it’s very important to preserve data relations.

Oftentimes, when renewing PrestaShop product combinations, you may encounter issues with associated PrestaShop images, as the“combination-image” association might be broken. Below in this article, you will find the tutorial on how to efficiently update attribute combinations and bypass inaccuracies with images.

We can organize an overall process of data renewing into several steps:

If you haven’t installed Store Manager yet, download the free trial and connect the application to your store database using the wizard inside. Read about other Store Manager tools to simplify and speed up PrestaShop store management

Export Combination Data

On purpose to update product combinations successfully, you have to physically download their images to the hard drive, while exporting information, associated with PrestaShop combinations. For that you need to enable the “Export images” option, checking the corresponding box on the fourth step of the export process. In the field below you must specify the local directory, images will be downloaded.

Export Images Options at Select Delimiters Step with Store Manager

Note, “Export image filename with full HTTP URL Path” option should be disabled.

Moreover, you should pay attention to the fields, you are exporting to .csv file, since they are crucial for further data update, namely:

Product Image – it’s possible to accomplish further combination update only in case the main “Product Images” column, which comprises all combinations images, is listed in the file.
Combination images – this column includes the name of the exact image, that must be linked to a certain attribute combination.
Attribute group – this column of your .csv file should contain all attribute options accessible.

Depending on what exactly data you need to update, choose the fields to export (e.g. quantity, impact).

Import Combinations Images File Example Exported with Store Manager

Check FTP Tasks Queue

PrestaShop images are not being downloaded in an instant, they form a queue and are being exported one by one. This process is displayed in the FTP Tasks Queue section of Store Manager. Once the program downloaded images, FTP Tasks Queue is empty.

Import Data Back to PrestaShop

Having implemented needed modifications to the data exported, you can import the file back to the database, re-uploading combination images, and updating combination details as follows. When accomplishing this procedure via Store Manager Import Wizard, you should pay heeds to the following points:

on the third step of PrestaShop import, you should check the “Import Images” box, specify local folder name (combination images are stored in after exporting), and define image delimiter (used to separate images in the file)

Delete Product Images Option at Last Step of Import Wizard in Store Manager

specify correct identifier and properly link database fields and file columns on the “Assign .csv Columns to Database Fields” step of data transfer, so that PrestaShop combinations will be successfully updated

on the “Import Options” step you should enable “Delete product images before import” box. In such a way you delete existing combination images and re-upload them, assigning them to proper combinations. It helps you avoid image duplicates.
Note, if you upload PrestaShop images from URLs, leading to your FTP, the situation differs. Whenever you check the “Delete product images before import” box, images will be deleted from FTP and not re-uploaded again. As a result, you won’t get any image at the front-end. This option can be used if images are located at the external source (supplier’s server).

Check Import Images Option at Select Delimiters Step During Combinations Import

Following tips, covered in this article, you will massively update PrestaShop product combinations in a hassle-free manner, avoiding inaccuracies and data muddles. It will help you keep the restaShop catalog manageable and efficiently control site imagery.