Why did my product import fail, take hours, or leave data missing, and can I undo it?

Endless processes a product import one row at a time in the background. A row that fails is skipped, and the rest of the file continues. When the import finishes, the “Import completed” notification shows how many rows succeeded and failed. Open Raw metadata on the notification to see up to three failed rows, each with its SKU and reason. Fix the rows it lists and import them again to find any others.

UPCs or brands are usually missing for one of these reasons:

• A spreadsheet changed the UPC. Spreadsheets drop leading zeros and turn long numbers into values such as 8.5E+11. A UPC must be 12 or 13 digits, and Endless fails a row that contains a value a spreadsheet rewrote. Format the column as text before saving the file.
• The Brand cell held the brand’s name. The import needs the brand’s handle. An unknown handle fails the whole row with “Unknown brand handle.”
• The cell was blank. A blank cell leaves a new product without the value and keeps the stored value on an existing product.

Each row goes through the same checks and updates as saving a single product by hand, one row after another, so a file with thousands of rows can take hours.

To be able to roll back an import, export the products before you import, then import that export if you need the old values back. Each product’s Activity shows what changed. Keep in mind that blank cells do not clear values, tags the import added stay, and a filled Image cell replaces all images, so delete the Image column from the restore file. Contact Endless support for help undoing an import.