How to Create & Apply a Custom Field to Sproxi Products
Sproxi allows for the creation of custom fields to help fill gaps in your product data. This article describes how to create a custom field, how to apply the custom field, and how to map the custom field. Please note: do not confuse a custom field in Sproxi to a custom field you may have created in your WooCommerce store. Those field will be imported into Sproxi as “meta data.”
Why Create a Custom Field in Sproxi?
Most shopping carts will have some sort of data limitation. A good example of this is the lack of data fields in a WooCommerce listing that is needed for a good Google Listings. For example, there’s no native field named “brand” in WooCommerce and this is needed in your Google Shopping Listing. So how do you get this field into your Google Listings if it doesn’t exist in your shopping cart?
There are couple of ways. A common approach in WooCommerce stores would be to create an attribute named “brand,” populate that field, and then map that (using a tool like Sproxi) to the Google attribute field named “brand.” But this approach has some problems. First, unless a specific attribute is used to create a variation, you cannot map an attribute to a variation without some extra code.
An easier approach would be to create a custom field in Sproxi, populate that field, then map it to the right Google attribute.
How to Create a Custom Field
There are two ways to create custom field in Sproxi:
- In Sproxi, go to “PRODUCT MANAGEMENT >PRODUCTS >”
- Upload a custom field through a CSV upload
Creating a Custom Field Through Sproxi Products
1. Click on the check box next to a product or multiple products.
2. Click the “Custom” button (in blue).
3. In the custom field box labeled “Custom Field” name the custom field.
4. Insert a value (or you can leave it blank.) That custom field will be applied to custom fields you selected with the check box. Note: if you insert a custom value when creating the custom field, it will insert that value into the custom field attached to the products you selected with the check boxes(don’t worry, you can always change it later.)
Creating a Custom Field Through a CSV Spreadsheet Upload
Viewing Custom Fields
Once a custom field is created, it will be available for viewing in two places.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT > Other > Custom Fields. This table will display custom fields. When clicking the edit icon you will see three tabs. The first tab allows you to see or change the custom field name. The second tab will display all products & the custom field value attached to those products. The third tab will show you if & where this custom field is mapped. For additional information on mapping, click here.
Editing, Changing a Custom Field Values
Custom values may be edited in a variety of locations in Sproxi. Specifically the value can be added/edited by editing a Sproxi product, using the bulk editing feature in Sproxi products, or through a CSV upload. All three of these processes will be outlined below.
Directly editing a Sproxi product to edit/add a custom value (to an existing custom field).
- Navigate to the desired product by going to “PRODUCT MANAGEMENT > Products > Products.” Once there, click the edit icon for the desired products (it’s located on the far right of the table.)
- Click on the “Custom” tab.
- From here you will notice any custom field attached to this product. You can edit or add a custom value here.
- Click the green button labeled “Save & Continue.”
Using the Bulk Edit Feature in the Sproxi Products Table
- Navigate to the desired product by going to “PRODUCT MANAGEMENT > Products > Products.” Once there, click the edit icon for the desired products (it’s located on the far right of the table.)
- Use the check box located to the right of the SKU name to select the desired products.
- After selected products, you should notice the blue button appear labeled “custom.” Click this button.
- In the box labeled “Custom Field” start typing the name of the custom field you created above. Remember, you can also create a new custom field this same way.
- Next click on the box labeled “Custom Field Value.” Write whatever you want in this field.
- Next click the green button labeled “Submit.” The value you typed in will now be applied to the custom field selected in the check box.
Here’s a quick example where the bulk edit feature might come in handy. Suppose you do not have a field named “Brand” in your native shopping cart, but you want it in your feed. You create a custom field named “brand.” Next, you bulk select the products where the brand is the same…let’s call the brand, “ACME.” After bulk selecting those products you will insert “ACME” into the “Custom Field Value” and click the submit button. Now, those selected products will have “ACME” inserted into the custom field “brand.” Now, you can go to the Sproxi Field Map tool and map this custom field to the Google Attribute field, brand. To note, there are other ways to insert a brand name in Sproxi, this is just an example.
Importing Custom Values by Uploading a CSV spreadsheet.
The process of creating a CSV file in Sproxi, exporting and importing it are outlined in an in-depth KB article labeled “Using a CSV File to Create Custom Fields.” The basic steps are outline below:
- Go to Sproxi products and click the “Products Menu” drop-down button located in the upper right hand corner.
- Click “Export.”
- Click the light blue button labeled “Select CSV Content” and use the check boxes to select the fields you want to export. Make sure you click the check box labeled “custom fields” and click the green “save” button. This will add all the custom fields you created to the export spreadsheet.
- Next click the green button labeled “Submit for Processing.”
- Notice the dialog bar with the rotating green arrows that read “Export in process. This should only take a minute.” Once Sproxi has created the spreadsheet and it is ready to download you will notice the dialog bar will disappear and a “download” button will appear.
- Download the spreadsheet by click the button labeled “Download.”
- Edit the CSV file to populate the values for the respective custom fields.
- Go back to Sproxi products, click the drop-down button labeled “Products Menu” and select “Import.”
- Choose the CSV file you edited and saved.
- Click the green button labeled “Submit for Processing.”
Removing Custom Values
There are four ways to remove custom fields.
- Navigate to “PRODUCT MANAGEMENT > Other > Custom Fields.” Click the trash can icon next to the custom field. This will completely remove the custom field from Sproxi.
- From the same menu location, click the edit icon next to the custom field you want to remove from specific products. (instead of the edit icon.”) Click the “products” tab. You will see all the products this custom field is attached to. Clicking the trash can icon next to each product will remove that custom field from that specific product. It will not completely remove the custom field from Sproxi, just from that exact product.
- Navigate to product table and located and select a product. Click the edit icon for that product. Click the “Custom’ tab. Click the trash can icon.
- Navigate to the product table and bulk select products using the check box next to the product.
- Notice and click the blue button labeled “Custom.”
- In the “Custom Field” box, type the name of the custom field.
- Click the check box labeled “Check this box to delete selected custom field.”
- This will remove the custom field from the selected products.
