Title: import variations troubleshooting Last modified: January 8, 2018 --- # import variations troubleshooting * Resolved [manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/) * (@manolime) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/) * Hello * Ok the classic problem with variations! BUT… * After a lot research and practice found this: After importing in woocommerce the csv file with the variations i go to the tab of attributes inside product page (admin) and the box with the “used for variations” is unchecked ,so when you go to variations tab ,of course you see nothing. I checked that box and now I went to import again (update) the csv file waiting to load in each variation the values, BUT when i went back to in the products page – attributes tab the box “used for variations” was again unchecked! Yes the global attribute values are 1 in the csv and the visible attribute also. * So what’s up? How to fix it ? * Kindly thank you Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total) * [flyfisher842](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flyfisher842/) * (@flyfisher842) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9844179) * I do an xlsx first then convert to csv. On the variable header line in the attributes for example Color nextcolumn Red, Blue, Green nextcolumn 1 next column 1 then for all the child variations or options leave the visibility blank and global set to 1 Color Moss, Orange 1 1 Color Orange 1 Color Orange 1 Color Moss 1 Color Moss 1 * This should set the two check boxes in the attributes to checked. The variable row controls those boxes. * If under a variation you set visibility to 0 and global to 0 it will not appear in the options box on the front end. The global seems to control the visibility more than the visiblity column. If set to 0 and 1 the variation will still be visible in the options box on the front end. * Thread Starter [manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/) * (@manolime) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9844424) * Thank you flyfisher842, * Yes I work in the same way. variable -> colors | blue, green | 1 | 1| variation- > colors | blue | | 1| * May I ask if you know if the position column before attr_name_1 column plays any role in our case ? For example if they are all 0? * Manolis * [flyfisher842](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flyfisher842/) * (@flyfisher842) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9844902) * I put all 0 in position. This column is for setting the order of the display I think from some research. menu_order codex. Generally when I do an export after products setup there are numbers in the position column. * I assume your pipes are to denote columns. If you are using the free supplied importer exporter, the sheet needs to be csv. I know the importer docs say utf8 format but I have had best success with plain csv selection on the excel save as menu. There is coding in the importer to deal with the utf8 format as well. The reason I asked is some of the paid importers do use the | as a separator. * If the box being unchecked is occurring on every trial, I would start looking at plugins interfering. Try deactivating all your woo plugins except the core woo. Then try a test import. * I usually make a simple and one variable test product manually and then export to see the format. If you do a manual variable product, you can copy and change a bit to make a new importer test. * Thread Starter [manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/) * (@manolime) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9844972) * Hello again flyfisher842 ! * Thank you for your advice. I think there is something wrong with the attribute names. It is working correct with customized attribute names and false with global attribute names. * [flyfisher842](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flyfisher842/) * (@flyfisher842) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9845944) * I forgot to say that the names on the variable control line must be exactly what is on the variation lines in the attribute set on the csv. * If on the variable line it is Black, Green You can’t have Blacke on on a variation line or Greene. * In my testing I analyzed my products and then set up as many of the attributes in advance in the attribute table as I could. When doing this print out your table as a ref when setting up the csv. I have one of my test sites attributes pretty messed up going at it from the csv end first. * This may help too. the / is not a happy camper for Woo if possible use a – dash instead and in or ft for ” and ‘ symbols. If using the / put text right next to it on both sides 0/2, or 3/4 wt will work. Taking a look at the slugs of the attribute after setting it up sometimes offers a clue to whether to use it as it was entered or make it better. * If I was going to set a variation on each line, I would set up the variable control line then copy each variation into its respective variation line below the control line. * If all variations apply across the set. An easy method is to copy the attribute name down the variable/variation set then leave the visibility blank and 1 in all the global cells for that variable/variation set. Test this last method on a test product but it works fine for me. * For example Color Yellow, Green, Brown would apply to each variation in the set. The above is a faster way to setup than copy into each variation line. For me this produces a display of pick the variation first which then shows all the colors for them to pick. Hope this helps. - This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by [flyfisher842](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flyfisher842/). * Thread Starter [manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/) * (@manolime) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9849157) * Hello flyfisher842 * I appriciate your kindness willing to support me. All these that you are telling me above is very interesting advice , although most of them are well known. * After all I think the problem has to dowith some kind of confliction when importing the csv records. Perhaps has to do with the lunguage – greek because it accepts slug values in the first row and not meta names. As I told you in the previous message customization attributes(per product) cause no problem but the problem has to do with the global attributes. So I think there is a combination of those two aspects. Ok at the moment I use a plugin to make my imports. * Gooad day my friend * [flyfisher842](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flyfisher842/) * (@flyfisher842) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9853310) * One problem I found in my headers today. An extra space at the end of a column header was producing a do not import in the map. I did not catch this until I had run the importer 3 times and had my products messed up. You might check your global headers to make sure the cursor is at the end of the header text and no more. Weird little thing but it affected the mapping. * Thread Starter [manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/) * (@manolime) * [8 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9853806) * Ok,let’s check it up * [Rynald0s](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rynald0s/) * (@rynald0s) * Automattic Happiness Engineer * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9911115) * Hi [@manolime](https://wordpress.org/support/users/manolime/)! * It sounds like you are only exporting the `variable product` type and not also the `product variations` type, like so: * [https://cloudup.com/co6niKtZGHG](https://cloudup.com/co6niKtZGHG) * You need to export both, and then make sure you add `1` value to all `Attribute 1 global` before re-importing the file. * Cheers! Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total) The topic ‘import variations troubleshooting’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/woocommerce/assets/icon.svg?rev=3234504) * [WooCommerce](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce/reviews/) ## Tags * [Import](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/import/) * [variations](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/variations/) * 9 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [Rynald0s](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rynald0s/) * Last activity: [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/import-variations-troubleshooting/#post-9911115) * Status: resolved