ExcelPort Q&A

ExcelPort makes data migration between OpenCart versions a walk in the park. All you need to do is export your products from the older version and then import them in the new version.

You are all set. It is really that easy. Along with this you can find out more about ExcelPort here.

Can I migrate my store data to a newer OpenCart version with ExcelPort? How?

Yes. ExcelPort is the perfect tool to migrate data between different versions of OpenCart.

Migration is possible between all versions of OpenCart 1.5.1.3 - 2.3.0.2. Older releases of OpenCart require extensive modifications to ExcelPort. For more information, please contact our sales department: sales[at]isenselabs.com.

The data available for migration is this:

  • Products
  • Categories
  • Options
  • Attributes and Attribute Groups
  • Customers and Customer Groups
  • Orders
  • Manufacturers
  • Coupons
  • Vouchers

Migrate your data in the order specified here:

  1. Migrate Categories
  2. Migrate Options
  3. Migrate Attributes and Attribute Groups
  4. Migrate Manufacturers
  5. Migrate Customers and Customer Groups
  6. Migrate Coupons
  7. Migrate Vouchers
  8. Migrate Products
  9. Migrate Orders

For more detailed information, please read this blog post.

What is the difference between Grouped mode, Bulk mode and Basic mode?

The main difference is in the way AttributesDiscountsOptions, etc are managed.

1. Grouped mode 

Grouped mode holds all available product data in a single sheet. A single product is distributed in 26 lines. Grouped export/import mode is useful when you want to do very small changes to product data individually.

2. Basic mode 

Basic mode does not export/import product Attributes, Options, Recurrings, Discounts, Specials, Extra Images, Reward Points and Designs. As in Grouped mode all basic product data is in a single spreadsheet, but every product is on a single line. Basic mode is useful if you want to modify basic data of many products in bulk.

3. Bulk mode 

Bulk mode is an extended version of Basic mode.

It can export/import all product data, including Attributes, Options, Recurrings, Discounts, Specials, Extra Images, Reward Points and Designs.

In Bulk mode, all extra product data is distributed into separate sheets. This option is useful if you want manage all possible product data in bulk.

To see the XLSX fils structure of all modes, feel free to do Product exports in the module demo page.

Can ExcelPort export/import non-standard OpenCart fields added by a third-party extension?

ExcelPort is out-of-the-box compatible with all fields introduced by the extension OpenStock.

ExcelPort for OpenCart 1.5.x is also out-of-the-box compatible with the extension Options Boost. Options Boost for OpenCart 2.x is not supported yet.

All other fields introduced by third-party extensions are not supported and need to be implemented additionally as a custom service.

My ExcelPort file contains formulas, how can I import the information correctly?

If the XLSX file contains formulas, ExcelPort will not import it properly. The importer cannot recognize formulas and parse them.

To resolve this, you must import a file containing only the final data, without formulas. To do this, select all data, and copy it. Do a special paste preserving only the values.

If you are not sure what this means, please follow this tutorial article.

Does ExcelPort work with a custom XLSX file format? Can I export/import only specific columns, not all data? Like just the Product columns for Model and Description.

No. ExcelPort works only with very specific pre-defined formats which cannot be altered. You can see the valid structures by exporting a file from the module demo page.

Will ExcelPort work with my theme?

Definitely yes. ExcelPort is an extension used only in the OpenCart admin panel and it is used to manage your data, therefore it will not have any issues with your store front theme.

Why are the imported products not visible on the front end?

Most probably, the products are not associated to your store. The column Stores in the XLSX file you import must contain comma-separated Store ID's.

Your default OpenCart store always has an ID = 0. Any additional stores (if you have any) will have their unique Store ID. You may find a list of all Store ID's in the Meta sheet of an exported Products spreadsheet.

For example, if you have an extra store with an ID = 3, and you want to assign your product to both your default store and your extra store, insert the following string in the Stores column: 0,3.

Why am I getting a "Fatal error: Class 'ZipArchive' not found in ...?"

It means that your PHP server is missing the php_zip extension, which is a requirement for ExcelPort to work. Please, contact your web hosting to make sure the php_zip extension is installed on your server.

I am getting Error 500 during export/import. What should I do?

In most cases this error suggests that your web server has run out of memory. To resolve this, try to alter the ExcelPort settings in Admin > Extensions > Modules > ExcelPort > tab Settings:

  1. Number of entries per exported part: set to 100
  2. Maximum entries to read on each step of the import: set to 50

If you are still receiving Error 500 after doing these changes, consider increasing your web server memory. More information here.

Does ExcelPort automatically create missing Attributes/Options/Categories during Product import?

No. ExcelPort expects all Attributes, Options and Categories to already exist in your store.

If you are doing a migration of products, make sure to first migrate your Attributes, Options and Categories, and migrate Products last.

My store has more than one language but every ExcelPort sheet works with only a single language. How do I import my data?

During every import, you have the option to select the language in which you are importing. This setting is available under ExcelPort > Import > Which language do you wish to import

If you are running a multi-lingual store (more than 1 language) this means that you must do a separate product import for every language in your store.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT translate the name of the columns or change their order! ExcelPort will not work if you do that.

I have more than 800 products. Can I import them in a single file?

ExcelPort relies on a third-party library called PHPExcel to manage XLSX documents. Even though PHPExcel is the most feature-rich library for XLSX management to date, it tends to break on sheets containing more than 800 products, regardless of the available server resources (CPU and RAM).

This is why we have added the chunk file import/export, which breaks the import/export and creates another file once it reaches the server resources. In this way we guarantee that all of your products would be safely imported/exported.

Hope you enjoyed this Q&A session for ExcelPort. If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to write them down in the comment section below the blog. We will be happy to answer.

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