Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to update a specific field in all the listings on your site? Manually editing each listing one by one can be a time-consuming and tedious task. Fortunately, there's a more efficient way to achieve this – by reimporting your listings without duplicating them. In this guide, we'll walk you through the step-by-step process of how to reimport your listings in a way that ensures you won't end up with duplicates.
Why Reimport Listings?
Before we dive into the steps, let's briefly explore the reasons why you might want to reimport your listings. As a site manager, you might encounter situations where you need to make bulk updates to listings. This could be anything from correcting a common typo to adding new information to a specific field. Instead of manually editing each listing, reimporting provides a more streamlined and time-efficient approach to ensure your listings are up-to-date and consistent.
Step 1: Export Your Current Listings
The first step in the process is to export your existing listings. To do this, navigate to "Content" and select "Export."
Step 2: Open the Exported File
After initiating the export, you will be able to download an Excel file containing all your listings. Open this file to access a comprehensive list of your site's listings.
Step 3: Update Desired Fields
Now that you have the listings in an Excel file, you can easily update the fields you wish to modify. This is where you can make changes, corrections, or additions as needed.
Note: On this step, you can update any field on the file. If there are fields you would not like to update, it is not necessary to take any step, simply leave the fields the way they are. If you would like more details on how to fill out the eDirectory template file fields, please check our article: How to fill out the import fields.
Step 4: Verify the "Listing Db Id" Field
Ensure that the "Listing Db Id" field is filled with a unique number for each listing. This step is crucial in preventing duplicates during the reimport process. When exporting the listings in step 1, the IDs are exported with them automatically, but it is important to check if all listings have the Listing DB Id number before reimporting.
Step 5: Save the Updated File
After you've made all the necessary changes and verified the "Listing Db Id" field, save the Excel file with your updates.
Note: If your exported file has more than five thousand listings, we recommend splitting the file before reimporting. The maximum number of listings that eDirectory supports reimporting is five thousand at a time. Make sure your file does not exceed this number, and split the file, if necessary.
Step 6: Start the Import Process
To begin the import process, navigate to "Content", select "Import" and then "Listings."
Step 7: Upload the file
Upload the updated file that you saved in step 5, click on the button "Choose your file" to upload it to your eDirectory website. If you would like to know more details on the steps of how to import, please, check this article: How do I import listings?
Step 7: Select "Overwrite Matching Items"
As you progress through the import process and reach the last page, be sure to select the option "Overwrite matching items." This is a critical step to prevent listing duplication.
Step 8: Complete the Import
After selecting "Overwrite matching items," proceed with the import process by clicking on the button "Next". Your listings will be reimported without creating duplicates, and the changes you made will be applied to your site.
By following these steps, you can efficiently reimport your listings with the confidence that no duplicates will be generated. This method is particularly useful for site managers looking to maintain the accuracy and consistency of their listings in a hassle-free manner.
Remember that keeping your listings updated is essential for providing your users with current and reliable information. Reimporting listings is a powerful tool in your arsenal for achieving this, and it can save you valuable time and effort in the long run.