Column mapping
Column mapping is a table saying which of your fields each column in a supplier’s spreadsheet feeds, built once per supplier and reused on every file.
- Field mapping
- Header mapping
What it means
Every supplier names its columns differently. One sends Colour, another Finish/Colour; one sends EAN, another Barcode. A column mapping pairs each supplier header with one of your fields, so both colour columns land in Colour and both barcode columns in GTIN.
Most of a mapping is renaming. Some of it is splitting, where one cell holds three measurements. Some is deciding what not to import, such as a warehouse bin location, which means nothing on a product page.
Store the mapping per supplier. Their second file then maps itself, and only a column you have not seen before needs a decision. Importers do a version of this too. WooCommerce’s Column mapping screen “automatically maps recognized CSV columns to product fields”, and any column can be set to Do not import.1
Think of it like this
A phrasebook for one supplier’s way of talking does the same job. Once you know their Col. is your Colour, you only reach for the dictionary when a new word turns up.
For example
Supplier A sends Colour, Dims as 1850x595x655, EAN and Bin Loc. Supplier B sends Finish/Colour, separate Height, Width and Depth, Barcode and Warehouse. Both map onto Colour; height, width and depth in mm; GTIN; and, for the warehouse columns, nothing at all.
Why it matters
A wrong mapping is silent, and it repeats on every row. WooCommerce maps recognised column names for you, so a supplier’s own column headed ID lands in the importer’s ID field, which “Identifies an existing product to update”. With Update existing products selected, a supplier row whose ID matches one of yours updates that product.1
Not to be confused with
Column mapping is not category mapping. Column mapping decides which of your fields a supplier’s column feeds, while category mapping decides where each supplier category sits in your own category tree.
Sources
- WooCommerce documentation. Product CSV Importer and Exporter.