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I have a product list that I am working with. Because QB online has no nice way to make batch edits, I sometimes export the product list to a spreadsheet for manipulation. Then I re-upload the product list. (Sometimes I just upload only wholly new products, as that's a reasonable way to create several new products at once in QB because it's much easier to manipulate prices and costs and other data in a spreadsheet, again because QB annoyingly has no batch edit functions.)
Here's what actions I took to end up in my current situation:
1) I went into QB online and manually edited about half of my products and included them in a new category, which I named "Parts and Accessories".
2) I filtered by the new category, and then exported the resulting product list to a spreadsheet.
3) Problem1: is that when exported that way, every single item in the first column(Product/Service Name) has the words Parts and Accessories: added in front of the product name! (i.e. so the cell might read in total Parts and Accessories:Battery Charger, whereas the actual product name is just Battery Charger).
a. This can be solved a couple of ways in a spreadsheet by using a Split Column command or other methods, which I did.
b. Note if the product doesn't have a category assigned, this doesn't happen.
4) So after splitting off the category into it's own column on the spreadsheet, I deleted that column of data.
5) PROBLEM2: There is no way to have a column for Category in a spreadsheet and upload that data back to QB online! There are actually several fields of data under each product in QB that you just can't upload via spreadsheet data, the only way to change them is to edit each product individually (because no batch edit). It's highly, highly annoying.
5) After changing some pricing information and inventory quantities I saved the spreadsheet and uploaded that data back to QB. The product names remained exactly the same.
a. I did check the box to overwrite existing data
6) PROBLEM3: This is the big problem, instead of overwriting the old products with new data as I expected, QB created an entire new second set of duplicate products!
a. The result is now I have a duplicate set of the same product, one with correct category, but the newer one with updated pricing information.
7) These duplicate products do not have any category. When I try to change their category to Parts and Accessories I get the message popup that I need to merge them with an existing product,
8) BUT PROBLEM4: the merge function does not work for inventory products.
9) So now I'm sitting here contemplating a ton of work because I need to delete(make inactive) every single old product, then go in and update every single new entry with the correct category. And I have to do this one-by-one to each individual item.
ARRRGH This is very very frustrating. There is a serious mismatch and inconsistency with the way QB Online treats export and import of product lists, which data is imported or exported, duplicate items, and it is creating a ton of extra work for me.
I would love a solution. Or to know if I did something wrong on one of my steps above and could have avoided this situation. The only thing I can think of is to simply not use any product categories, which is my previous situation and I had no problems* downloading/uploading spreadsheets and overwriting data in QB. But I want to be sure, because ending up with complete duplicate sets of products every time is totally unacceptable, let alone the other issues.
Thank you.
*Actually I had lots of problems, like QB screwing up the hyphen in "noninventory" which screws up upload, not allowing actual deletion of products, just deactivation, trying to upload the formula present in a cell, not the value, etc.
Solved! Go to Solution.
Hey there, Hazzard. Let me help you sort this out.
I appreciate all the details you've provided. To ensure you're importing the products correctly, you may need to double-check the spreadsheet format to avoid problems.
You can download a sample file for your reference by following the steps below:
For more details, you can scan through this article: Import products and services into QuickBooks Online. This will provide you with a list of formats for items with sub-categories and their sub-items.
I'll be standing by if you still need help with anything. I'm always here to provide additional assistance.
Hey there, Hazzard. Let me help you sort this out.
I appreciate all the details you've provided. To ensure you're importing the products correctly, you may need to double-check the spreadsheet format to avoid problems.
You can download a sample file for your reference by following the steps below:
For more details, you can scan through this article: Import products and services into QuickBooks Online. This will provide you with a list of formats for items with sub-categories and their sub-items.
I'll be standing by if you still need help with anything. I'm always here to provide additional assistance.
Thank you! I searched for this previously and only got a bunch of forum posts and questions asking for this feature to be enabled, never found the linked page which explains how to use the colon right from the start.
Some feedback on this method:
As a user it still feels odd and inconsistent, it would make much more sense if it could be a separate column in the spreadsheet when downloaded or uploaded. Every other data field is simple 1:1 relationship between a cell on a spreadsheet and the field in QB. It's awkward for the product name to need to be combined in the cell with a bunch of other text to get the product categories to show up correctly when uploaded. Similarly it's unexpected to download your product list and all of a sudden every product name has the category appended to the front.
I hear your sentiments and can see how the benefit of the features you have mentioned above would aid you in running your business with QuickBooks Online (QBO), @Hazzard. I'm here to share a few details about this.
We take customer suggestions as opportunities to improve the various features of our products. Therefore, I would encourage you to send suggestions or product recommendations.
You can use the Feedback feature to send this matter straight to our Product Development team. This way, they could take action to help improve your experience. Let me show you how:
You can also submit your suggestion by clicking on the following article: Customer Feedback for QuickBooks Online.
Don’t hesitate to tap the Reply button below if you have other questions or concerns about importing products. The Community Team will be here to help. Take care always!
Plus1. I too really stumbled on product category being included in product title. dum.
Thank you for following up on this thread, hahnsburg.
We value our customers' feedback and suggestions as they play a crucial role in shaping our product improvements and the addition of new features. By incorporating their input, we gain insights into how we can enhance the functionality of QuickBooks Online (QBO) to better cater to the needs of our users and elevate their overall working experience.
I suggest submitting a request to our engineers for the inclusion of a separate column in the spreadsheet during the download or upload process. This will ensure that your feedback is heard and considered for future improvements.
To send your feedback:
Discover the most recent product news, features, and enhancements introduced by our developers, along with expert advice to help your business thrive. To delve into the full details, you can visit the QuickBooks Blog.
I'd like to share some resources with you for future reference. The following links cover various topics such as setting items in the automated tax system, ways to check your sales, and frequently asked questions related to the import process:
If you have any further concerns about the import process or need guidance on how to navigate through QuickBooks Online (QBO), drop a comment below and mention my name. I'd be delighted to help you out. Enjoy the rest of your day, @hahnsburg.
customer service is an absolute joke. Every single time I have called no one knows anything about QBO. I know more then they do about the product and I do not work for QBO. Its a shame how much this stripped down product has become and with all the bugs it continually has. Inventory is duplicating. I have called multiple times and told I would received a call back within 48h and not received anything. QBO has zero way to batch update pricing. Here I am nearing the end up February with no resolution offered from QBO and pricing still from 2023 and many duplicates because I was trying to update the pricing. Mind you I have used QBO for 10 years now so I am quite familiar with how to do this lousy way of price updating. QBO will you ever do better?
I am having the exact same issue. Has anyone figured out how to avoid the duplicate entries with all the same information? I am trying to batch update 14,000+ prices.
I just called again about this issue! This is now my 4th call since the beginning of January. The first 3 times I was told I would receive a call back/resolution within 48h. No surprise here but I got no call back and gave ample grace time between each, weeks to be exact. My 4th call today has me completely beside myself.
”the engineers are working on it with no date in mind; they have other issues they are working on and this is not a priority”
So to that, I kindly asked, how do I update my pricing. The agent didn’t know, had to look up a solution. You guessed it, one by one updates. Absolutely insane. I have over 5000 product/services that need updated and also need to delete all the duplicates it has caused. What a nightmare.
This is by far the worst product and customer service I’ve ever dealt with.
Oh and not to mention, there is no way to sort by duplicates either!
I called customer service today and did not receive any help either.
I decided to do some further testing and believe I have found a work around - not perfect, but certainly faster than manually updating 14,000 products.
The categories seem to be the hang up. You have to click the appropriate products, then go to 'batch actions' in upper left hand corner and select 'uncategorized'. Then complete your upload sheet (as formatted in QBO upload page) without any categories listed. For example, if part number is ABC you enter that way, not Sales:ABC.
Upload your revised sheet and click option to save over previous information (at bottom of upload page). Confirm items are not duplicated - mine were not. Then you have to recategorize those products by using the 'batch actions' feature again. It will need to be done in waves, but it is certainly faster than manual
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