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The catalog grid

How to edit the attributes of many products at once, spreadsheet-style, and what happens to each cell when you save.

Video transcript

In this video, you'll edit the attributes of many products at once.

The grid puts products in rows and attributes in columns, like a spreadsheet.

Pick the columns from your attribute catalog: up to forty at a time.

The rows come from your catalog, with the same filters: here, Hilo Fino's clothing.

Each cell is edited by its type: a select is chosen from a menu.

What you change stays pending until you save.

Got the sizes in Excel? Copy the block and paste it: it spreads down the column.

Save, and it all goes together in a single request.

The grid tells you how many cells it saved, and across how many products.

And every save is recorded in each product's history, with who made it and when.

If something went wrong, you can go back to an earlier version from there.

In the next video, you'll save your filters and columns as a view.

What it is

The grid puts products in rows and attributes in columns so you can edit dozens of values in one sitting. Attributes only: name, brand, category and generated content are edited on each product's page.

Choosing columns

You pick the columns from your attribute catalog, with a search box. With no columns chosen, the grid opens with the picker already open.

  • Up to 40 columns at a time; they show in the order of your attribute catalog, not the order you ticked them.
  • The columns travel in the page address, so you can bookmark the view or share it.

Which products show up

The same ones as the catalog list, with the same filters: search, status and “Incomplete”, 50 at a time. If your organization works in more than one language and any column is translatable, language tabs appear.

You can also get here from the list: tick the products you want and use “Edit in grid”. The grid narrows to that selection and says so above the filters; “See the whole catalog” removes it without losing the columns.

You can narrow the rows by an attribute value with the “Attribute” chip (for instance, the products with “Ready for SAP” set to Yes, or those with no value yet). Filters combine, are saved in a named view and travel in the address, so a bookmarked link opens the same queue.

Editing and saving

Each cell is edited according to its attribute type: a list is picked from a menu (with search once it has more than 20 options), a multi-list with checkboxes, a Yes/No, a date, a number or a text.

What you change is marked as pending and does not reach the server until you press “Save changes”. Everything is saved together, in a single send of up to 500 cells.

If one cell cannot be saved, none is: the failed ones turn red with their reason —for example, the message of the attribute's rule— and the rest stay pending exactly as you left them, so you can fix and save again.

If you try to leave with unsaved changes, the screen asks you first.

What you see after saving is what was stored, not what you typed: if an attribute has a rule converting ounces to milliliters, you type “8 oz” and the cell reads “237 ml”.

Pasting from Excel

Copy a block of cells in Excel or Google Sheets, click the grid cell where it should start and paste: the block spreads down and to the right, as far as the page has rows and columns, up to 500 cells. Each text is translated according to its column's type:

  • In a list, the option with that name is matched, ignoring case and extra spaces.
  • In a multi-list, several options are separated by commas.
  • In a Yes/No, sí, si, yes, y, true, 1, verdadero and x are understood; and no, n, false, 0 and falso.
  • What does not exist is never invented: if a label matches no option, that cell is flagged with the unrecognized label and the rest of the block still goes in.

Keyboard and undo

Enter moves down a row and Shift+Enter up; Tab and Shift+Tab move sideways; Escape puts the cell back as it was; ⌘Z or Ctrl+Z undoes the last operation —a paste is undone whole— and there is also an “Undo” button. A successful save clears the undo list.

The arrow keys do not jump between cells, on purpose: in a list they change the chosen option and in a text they move the cursor, and taking them away would leave anyone working without a mouse with no way to pick a value.

The history

Every save is recorded in the “History” of each product that changed, with who did it and when, and “Restore this version” undoes it from there. If two people edit the same cell, the last one stays; the history keeps both versions.