You can update data for products and variants already existing in Katana in bulk via spreadsheet (XLSX) import.
The most typical use cases include:
- Importing Variant codes (SKU) to existing products in Katana. If you have a long list of products without Variant codes in Katana, it might be more efficient to generate the SKU codes in the spreadsheet and upload them into Katana than entering Variant codes manually directly into Katana.
- Updating Product names, Categories, Default Sales Prices, Barcodes, or Additional info for products in bulk.
- Updating Reorder points for products in bulk.
- Updating Default storage bins for products in bulk. This is a Standard and higher plan feature.
- Enabling serial number or batch tracking for products in bulk. This feature is part of the Full Traceability Add-on (automatically available on Professional plans).
- Updating Default suppliers and Purchase prices for purchasable products in bulk.
The overwriting template and workflow in Katana are separate from the functionality of adding new products and variants. Read more about adding new products and variants via spreadsheet.
How to bulk update data for existing products via import?
1. Navigate to Settings screen > Data import in Katana.
2. Find Update existing products and reorder points and select Download data.
3. A spreadsheet (in XLSX format) with all your Katana product data will download. This template includes a Katana ID column used for matching imported products with products existing in Katana.
4. Make the preferred changes to the product data in the spreadsheet.
5. Import the XLSX file back into Katana by selecting Upload data next to Update existing products and reorder points in Data import.
6. Updated data in the spreadsheet will overwrite existing product data in Katana.
Tip: Creating .xlsx on Mac. Open the spreadsheet in Numbers and choose File > Export to > Excel... from the menu at the top of your screen.
Tip: Creating .xlsx in Google Sheets. Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets and choose File > Download as > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).
What import rules are applied?
Imported products are matched to products in Katana by the Katana ID included in the spreadsheet. This ID is not visible inside of Katana and is purely used for matching products.
Imported products without a Katana ID match in Katana will be skipped.
Any changes to columns in the spreadsheet will update the associated data for products in Katana. The only exception is the Product variant column. Changes to this column will not update any data in Katana. This column is included in the spreadsheet only for better identification purposes for the user.
The Make? and Buy? columns accept values "Yes", "yes", "Y", "y", "No", "no", "N" and "n". At least one of those columns must include a positive answer or the row will be skipped during import.
The Product tracking? columns allow you to enable batch or serial number tracking for products by entering
“batch” to enable batch tracking
“serial” to enable serial number tracking
“no/none” to disable tracking
Note: The values above aren't case-sensitive. For example, you can use either “Batch” or “batch“ as a value.
If a product has multiple variants, changing the Product name in the spreadsheet for only one variant won't split the product variants into multiple product cards in Katana, but will overwrite the product name for the original product.
Updating product barcodes.
This is a Standard plan or higher feature and this field is only available in the template when you are using a higher plan.Supplier item code - Add or change one or more supplier item barcodes to identify raw materials and purchasable products. Multiple barcode numbers are separated by a comma "," to your item variant as a supplier item code. Supplier item codes are imported if the supplier item code is switched on in the barcode settings.
Internal barcode - Assign or change internal barcodes to track inventory movements. Barcode numbers are between 3-40 digits.
Internal barcodes are only imported if the internal barcode is switched on in the barcode settings.
If internal barcodes are generated automatically, then internal barcodes are not imported.Registered barcode - Assign or change a registered barcode to your retail products. Registered barcode numbers are between 3-140 digits.
Registered barcodes are only imported if the registered barcode is switched on in the barcode settings.If you change Default supplier to a supplier that has a different supplier currency, the default purchase prices of this item will be converted to the selected supplier's currency.
Updating Default purchase prices for purchasable products in bulk.
Starter plan: the Purchase price is per purchase unit of measure and in your base currency.
Standard, Professional, Professional Plus plans: the purchase price is per purchase unit of measure and in the currency of the default supplier of this item. The updated price values entered here are not converted anymore. Read here about purchase prices in foreign currency.
Note. If you do not have a different purchase UoM set, then the default purchase price is considered per tracking unit of measure.
If you have multiple Locations in Katana, the file will include multiple rows for each item variant in the file (one row for each Location). This is so you can also update Reorder points and Default storage bins for items with this file (which are a Location-specific values in Katana).
If you have multiple Locations in Katana and there are multiple rows for each item variant in the file, and you change product data (e.g. product name, category, default sales or purchase price, serial number/batch tracking settings) on one row but not on the other, then the values for the bottom row for this item variant in the file will be imported to Katana.
Empty cells are ignored during import. Existing data in Katana will not be overwritten with blank values.
Except for barcodes, where the empty cells overwrite the existing values. This enables deleting barcodes in bulk.