How to update products that are not listed in a product table during Magento 2 import

Chances are, you faced a situation when your product import file didn’t contain all the items from your Magento 2 catalog, but you had to update every single position on your e-commerce website. The more records were missing, the more work had to be done. Now, you can forever forget about this painful experience. Below, we explain how to update products that are not available in your import table during the Magento 2 import. Spoiler: No manual editing is required! 

Incomplete product import file issue

Usually, a data import file doesn’t contain products that are out of stock. In the case of their zero quantity, it’s easier not to list these products at all. However, you may face a situation when it’s necessary to re-import a product table back to your Magento 2 website. The system updates the records from the imported file but doesn’t do anything with the items that are not listed there. Consequently, you have to apply changes to them manually. The more products are not available in the imported file, the more severe headache you experience. But what if it is possible to avoid it? 

How to update products that are not listed in a product table during the Magento 2 import

You can use the Improved Import & Export extension for Magento 2 to update products that are not listed in a product table during import to your e-commerce website. The module lets you choose one of the following options: 

• Set products as out of stock, if they are not available in the import file;
• Set products stock to 0, if they are not listed in the import file;
• Set products as out of stock and apply qty=0 to them, if they are absent in the import file;
• Disable products, if the import file doesn’t contain them. 

Follow these steps to update products that are not listed in a product table during the Magento 2 import:

1. Open the Improved Import & Export extension;
2. Open a new import job;
3. Select Products as your import entity;
4. Configure job’s settings;
5. In the ‘Import Settings’ section, choose a corresponding option for the  ‘Update Products that are not in the import list’ feature:
   
   1. Set products to ‘Out of stock’ status;
   2. Set products qty to 0;
   3. Set products to ‘Out of stock’ status and set products qty to 0;
   4. Disable products.
      

In addition to the ability to update products that are not listed in a product table during the Magento 2 import, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension lets you import and export data according to a cron-based schedule, use different file formats (such as CSV, XML, XLSX, and JSON) and sources (Google Sheets, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.), apply mapping to third-party data, run API-based import and export, etc. You can also use this module to import and export all core Magento 2 entities or establish connections with external platforms, such as ERP, CRM, or accounting systems. You can learn more about the extension here: 

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension

Also, check our Magento 2 Cookbook for more useful tips.