Troubleshooting

"Product Data is not activated in merchantCENTRAL"

The tool runs only while the module is switched on and has a license or a running demo. One of the two is missing; nothing was changed. The message opens the module's extension card:

If Enabled is off, switch it on.
If the license is missing, the License part shows the state and offers Register Demo. This also applies in a sandbox.

Which case applies is also shown by the State field in the Product Data Settings and by the notice at the top of the Dashboard. See Setup.

The demo cannot be started again

The demo can be started once per tenant and module. If it has been used in a production environment, contact merchantCENTRAL support; the release is granted there.

An option value is rejected

An attribute of the type Option has a fixed value list. A mistyped value would otherwise become a new option on every item in scope. That is why the tools create no new values for option attributes:

In Replace Attribute Values, choose the value from the list or create it first: Item Attributes → attribute → Item Attribute Values.
In the Excel import, the line appears in the preview as an error with Value is not in the option list. Correct the spelling in the workbook, or add the value to the value list, and import again.
With the AI suggestions, such a suggestion is discarded before it is saved and counted in the result message as Value not in the option list.

"Kept - the value was written by a higher-ranking source"

An AI suggestion was not written because the item meanwhile has a value for the attribute written by a higher-ranking source: by hand, an import, a supplier connector or Icecat. That is intended – an AI value never replaces such a value. The suggestion is Failed. If you want the AI value anyway, change the value by hand, for example with Edit Values on the Item Attribute Values page. The Source column there shows who wrote which value.

The attribute is blocked

A blocked attribute takes no new values, and its values cannot be changed. The tools report this, the Excel export leaves the column out, and the import skips it. First clear the Blocked check box on the item attribute.

"AI is not ready for item attribute suggestions"

The message names what is missing:

No Azure OpenAI resource is entered in the merchantCENTRAL AI Setup yet. Enter endpoint, deployment and key in the AI Setup. Open AI Setup takes you there.
The Copilot capability "Item Attribute Suggestions" is switched off. An administrator switches it on on the Copilot & AI Capabilities page. Open Copilot & AI Capabilities takes you there.

"The AI answered, but not in the expected form"

Try again. If it happens repeatedly, the model assigned to the feature in the AI Setup may not be a chat model. Check the assignment for Item Attribute Suggestions under Model per Feature there.

A run returns hardly any suggestions

The AI suggests only what the item's facts state. If description, key features and extended texts say little, few suggestions come back – and that is correct. Also check:

Are there Attribute Rules for the item category? Without rules, the AI is asked only about the attributes you mark under Also Suggest These Attributes.
Does the item already have values for the attributes? Those are not asked about.
The result message counts discarded answers per reason, e.g. No evidence or Several values for a single-value attribute.

A block is missing from the text ("Blocks left out - a value has no translation into the language")

The text template writes only words in the language of the sales channel. If an attribute value has no translation into that language and no value mapping for the marketplace, the whole block is left out. Maintain the translation of the value – with Value Translations on the Item Attribute Values page, for example – or the value mapping, and run Generate Texts for the template. A changed translation queues no items for the automatic rebuild.

A text is not written ("Kept - the text was changed by hand")

The listing's previous text is neither empty nor the text the templates wrote last – somebody changed it, by hand or through the SEO Engine. It stays. To replace it, choose Generate Texts and Overwrite Manual Texts (see Texts changed by hand).

A text is not generated

Not generated means: a block without Skip If Empty has no value for the item, or no block has a value. The listing keeps its previous text. The preview on the template card shows with a sample item which block is missing.

The automatic rebuild does not move

Is Rebuild Texts Automatically switched on, and does Job Queue Entry show Active? If it says Not running, switch the setting off and on again, or check the entry among the job queue entries.
Is Product Data switched on and licensed? Otherwise the queue stays as it is on purpose.
Are there items with an Error Message in Items Waiting for Texts? The message names the reason; Process Now tries again at once.

"The job queue entry cannot be created"

Your user may not create job queue entries. Ask an administrator with this permission to switch Rebuild Texts Automatically on.

The Excel import does not read the file

The file is not an Excel workbook: choose an .xlsx file with at least one sheet.
The workbook has no row with an item number: use a workbook from Export Attributes to Excel or one with an Item No. column in row 1.
The workbook has more than 50,000 item rows: split it into several files and import them one after another. Nothing was changed.

"The filter on … cannot be taken over" or "Too many items are selected"

The export or the AI suggestions from the item list cannot take over the selection as a filter – with several item categories, say, or a great many individually selected items. Without the filter, more items would be covered than the list shows. Filter the list on one item category and select a single item, or start the tool from the Dashboard and enter the filters there.

The merged value still exists

Merging deletes the value to remove only when nothing uses it any more. It does not change defaults of the item category, values variants inherit from their item, or contradicting marketplace value mappings. The result message counts these cases. Clean them up and run the merge again.

Completeness

The worklist is empty or the tile says "Not calculated"

Completeness is stored, not calculated when the page opens. A listing that has never been calculated has no line.

Choose Calculate Completeness in the worklist. It calculates the listings within the filters of the header – check marketplace, sales channel, item category and item no.
With more than 1,000 listings, the page offers to calculate every listing in the background. The lines appear once the job queue entry has run.
If Show is set to anything other than All, the list hides calculated lines.
Without a license and without a running demo nothing can be calculated (see above).

The scores are stale

Changes to attribute values, mappings or attribute rules show only with the next calculation. The Completeness Calculation card on the dashboard shows Oldest score in yellow when the oldest stored calculation is more than two days old.

Select the lines and choose Recalculate, or recalculate everything within the filters with Calculate Completeness.
Switch on Recalculate Completeness Nightly in the Product Data Settings; the state is then current every morning.
If the switch is on and the scores are still old, check the entry among the job queue entries and the merchantCENTRAL activity log. A listing whose calculation fails keeps its old scores.
The Completeness Details are worked out when they open. If they differ from the figures of the line, the line is older than your last change – Recalculate brings both in line.

A listing is blocked

Blocked means merchantCENTRAL does not send the listing in this language. A blocked listing has 99 % at most. The cause is one of three:

A mandatory attribute of the marketplace cannot be sent – no value, no attribute mapping, no translation into the language of the channel, or a value the marketplace does not allow.
The marketplace category is missing where the marketplace requires one.
An attribute rule with Block Listing applies and the item has no value for the attribute.

Choosing Missing Required shows the attributes concerned; Attribute Issues shows what the attribute check found. Close the gap – with Close Gaps, for example – and choose Recalculate.

The score stays below 100 % although every mandatory attribute is filled

Then recommended attributes are missing: they count half, and Recommended OK is lower than Recommended. Recommended are the attributes an attribute rule names without requiring them, and the optional marketplace attributes with an approved mapping. Untranslated and Invalid Values can concern recommended attributes too.

Details shows every counted attribute with a hint – including the recommended ones, which the attribute issues do not show.
Fill the values, for example with Fill with Bulk Tool or Suggest with AI, and choose Recalculate.
If you deliberately do not want to maintain a recommended attribute, take it out of the attribute rule or give its mapping the source type Not Sent. It no longer counts – and is not sent either.

The FactBox "Completeness per Marketplace" is missing on the item card

The FactBoxes on the item card, the item list and the marketplace items appear only while Product Data is switched on. If the FactBox shows no line, no listing of the item has been calculated yet.

Can I put the module to rest temporarily?

Yes: switch Enabled off on the extension card. The tools then answer with a message, and no items are queued for the automatic text rebuild any more. Texts already on the listings stay there. Your data stays; when you switch it on again, everything is as before.