Categories and Tags Import

Import product categories (with parent-child hierarchy), tags, and attributes.

Quick Import wizard step 1 — upload and configure Step 1 of the Quick Import wizard: select Categories, Tags, or Attributes and upload your taxonomy file.

Entity	What It Is
Categories	Product categories (hierarchical, e.g., Clothing > Men's > Shirts)
Tags	Product tags (flat, e.g., summer, cotton, sale)
Attributes	Attribute definitions (Color, Size, Material) and their values (Red, Small, Cotton)

Column	Required	Example
`Name`	Yes	`Men's T-Shirts`
`Slug`	No	`mens-t-shirts`
`Description`	No	`Premium men's t-shirts`
`Parent`	No	`Men's` (parent name) or `42` (parent ID)
`Image URL`	No	`https://example.com/mens-tshirts.jpg`
`Display Type`	No	`default`, `products`, `subcategories`, `both`
`Sort Order`	No	`1`, `2`, `3`

Column	Required	Example
`Name`	Yes	`summer`
`Slug`	No	`summer-collection`
`Description`	No	`Summer 2026 collection`

Attributes

Attributes are more complex. They have:

Name (e.g., Color)
Slug (e.g., pa_color)
Terms (the actual values: Red, Blue, Green)

Creating Attributes

Create the attribute first, then add terms.

Attribute Import File

Name,Slug,Type,Order By,Has Archives
Color,pa_color,select,menu_order,1
Size,pa_size,select,menu_order,1
Material,pa_material,text,name,0

Attribute Term Import

Attribute,Term Name,Term Slug,Description
Color,Red,red,Bright red
Color,Blue,blue,Ocean blue
Size,Small,s,
Size,Medium,m,
Size,Large,l,

Attribute Types

Type	Description
`select`	Dropdown
`text`	Free text

Order By

Value	What It Does
`menu_order`	Use the sort order you set
`name`	Alphabetical by name
`name_num`	Alphabetical, treating numbers as numbers
`id`	Order by creation date

Has Archives

Set to 1 if you want a page like /pa_color/red/ showing all red products.

Wizard step 3 — dry run preview with sample rows and create/update counts The dry run shows exactly which parent categories will be auto-created, which existing terms will be updated, and which rows would error.

Category Images

Upload via URL

Name,Image URL
Men's Shirts,https://example.com/mens-shirts.jpg
Women's Dresses,https://example.com/womens-dresses.jpg

Plugin downloads and attaches the image.

Re-use Media Library

If the image is already in your Media Library, use the attachment URL.

Display Types

Type	Example
`default`	Show both products and subcategories
`products`	Show only products
`subcategories`	Show only subcategory tiles
`both`	Show subcategories first, then products

Custom Taxonomy Fields

For ACF, Yoast, or custom meta on categories:

Name,Meta: category_banner,_yoast_wpseo_title
Men's Shirts,https://example.com/banner.jpg,Men's Shirts - Shop Now

Sort Order

Set the order of categories in menus and product lists:

Name,Sort Order
Men's,1
Women's,2
Kids,3
Sale,4

Lower numbers appear first.

Updating Existing Categories

Use Match Key = Slug or Name in Update Only mode.

Name,Description
Men's T-Shirts,Updated description for the men's tees category

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Categories created at top level instead of nested	Check your separator in Step 2 (default is `>`)
Duplicate categories created	Slug matching is case-sensitive. Use Update mode with Slug match key
Images did not download	Check Settings → Image handling → Download Images is on
Tags not applied to products	Tags must be imported first, OR tags auto-create must be on in Step 3
Attribute term not showing	Attribute must exist first. Import attributes, then terms

Wizard step 5 — import results summary Results screen confirms how many categories, tags, or attribute terms were created or updated — and surfaces any slug conflicts to resolve.

Products Import — Assign categories to products
Column Mapping — Map custom columns
Import Modes — Create vs Update