Tools for Item Attributes
With the tools of Product Data you maintain item attributes for many items at once. You reach them
- from the Product Data Dashboard,
- in the Item List, group Product Data: Replace Attribute Values, Copy Attributes from This Item,
- on the Item Card, group Product Data: Copy Attributes to Other Items, Replace Attribute Values,
- in the Item Attributes list and on the Item Attribute card, group Product Data: Replace Values on Items, Merge Values,
- through search ("Tell me what you want to do").
The tools run only while Product Data is switched on and has a license or a running demo. Otherwise the message says what is missing and opens the right place (see Troubleshooting).
Every tool writes through the central merchantCENTRAL writer. A change made with a tool counts as entered by hand: supplier connectors, Icecat (Product Enrichment) and the AI no longer overwrite it. The tools change the values of the item itself; values of item variants are changed only by merging.
To edit many different values at once, the Excel export and import is the better choice.
Selecting items
Replace and copy work on the items your filters cover:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Item No. Filter | e.g. 1000..1999 or 13*. Empty = no restriction |
| Item Category | Items of this category. With Include Subcategories also the items of all categories below it |
| Vendor No. Filter | Items of these vendors; separate several with a vertical bar |
| Manufacturer Filter | Items of these manufacturers |
| Only Items With Attribute / With Value | Only items that have this value for this attribute. With multiple values, one is enough |
From the item list, Replace Attribute Values takes over the selected items as a filter. If they do not fit into a filter, the tool opens without a filter and you enter it yourself.
Replace attribute values
Changes one item attribute on all items in scope. Under Action you choose:
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Set value | The item gets exactly the new value; previous values are replaced |
| Add if missing | Only items without a value for the attribute get the new value |
| Add to values | The new value is added to the existing values. For an attribute without Multi-Value Allowed the action works like Set value |
| Replace value | Items with the Current Value get the New Value instead. With multiple values, only this one value is exchanged, in its place |
| Remove value | Removes the current value. Without a current value, all values of the attribute are removed |
Preview counts the items in scope and how many would change, without writing anything. Apply asks with the same figures and then reports what happened: values written, items unchanged, items the action does not apply to, and rejected values (value does not fit the attribute type, attribute takes one value only). When the action removes all values, the confirmation says so explicitly.
A new value the attribute does not have yet is created. The exception are attributes of the type Option: their values come from a fixed list, and a mistyped value would otherwise become a new option on every item. Choose the value from the list or create it first under Item Attribute Values.
The tool compares values exactly as they are stored, that is, case-sensitively. Enter numbers and dates in the format of your language setting.
Copy attributes from a template item
Transfers the attribute values of a well-maintained item to other items.
- Choose the Template Item No.. The item category of the template item is proposed as a filter, and the list Attributes of the Template Item shows its attributes with all their values.
- In the Copy column, mark the attributes to transfer. Default: all that are not blocked. Select All and Clear Selection help with long lists.
- Choose the Copy Mode:
- Only missing attributes – an attribute the target item already has a value for stays untouched.
- Overwrite – the target item gets exactly the values of the template item, multiple values included.
- Copy Attributes. The confirmation names the number of attributes and items. The template item itself is never changed.
On the item card, Copy Attributes to Other Items, in the item list Copy Attributes from This Item, opens the tool with this item as the template.
Merge attribute values
Turns two values of an attribute that mean the same into one, e.g. "Rd" and "Red".
- Choose the Attribute, the Value to Remove and the Value to Keep. You pick the values from the value list of the attribute – this also tells apart two values with the same text.
- Merge Values. The confirmation names how many items and variants have the value to remove.
The following applies:
- Every item and every variant with the value to remove gets the value to keep, with multiple values in the same position.
- Who wrote the value is kept. A value from Icecat stays an Icecat value.
- Translations of the value to remove are taken over by the value to keep where it has none in that language yet. Existing translations stay.
- Marketplace value mappings of the value to remove are taken over by the value to keep. If it already has a mapping with another marketplace value for the same marketplace attribute and language, both stay. You decide which applies in the Value Mappings.
- The value to remove is deleted as soon as nothing uses it any more. Merging does not change defaults of the item category or values that variants inherit from their item. As long as they use the value, or a marketplace value mapping contradicts that of the value to keep, it stays with its translations and mappings. The result message counts these cases. Clean them up and run the merge again.
- Two values merchantCENTRAL treats as the same value (same text, same number like "1.5" and "1.50", same date) can only be merged into the older of the two. The message names it.
Hint per attribute
On the Item Attribute card (FastTab Hint for Maintenance) and in the Item Attributes list (column Hint) you enter a text for the people who maintain the attribute: what belongs in it, which unit, which spelling.
The hint appears as the Attribute Hint FactBox
- in the Item Attribute Values dialog of the item card, for the line you are on,
- on the merchantCENTRAL page Item Attribute Values,
- as a note on the column header in the Excel export.