Attributes unlinked after importing products

Hello proaufs,

Thank you for contacting Woo support.

I understand you are facing an problem where product attributes unlinked after importing products.

Would it be possible for you to share the CSV file you used for the importing process?
I would like to review the CSV file contents and try importing it on my test site.

This will give me a clear understanding of the issue.
Looking forward to your response. ??

Best regards.

Hello,

You can find the CSV here: https://we.tl/t-wydhvd9kkp

Thank you!

Hey, @proaufs!

Thanks for sharing the file.

As I understand the issue is only happening with the brand attribute, correct?

On the CSV file, after the Attribute 1 column, there are some fields that are not normally added to the CSV.

Was the brand attribute and the CSV file created using only the default WooCommerce plugin or are you using another plugin/custom code for it?

Looking forward to your reply.

Have a wonderful day!

Hello!

“As I understand the issue is only happening with the brand attribute, correct?” – now that I look at the available attributes in the Attributes section of Woo, I see that all of them are there, but there are no products assigned and terms are missing too – screenshot: https://nimb.ws/hJa4qWS

“On the CSV file, after the Attribute 1 column, there are some fields that are not normally added to the CSV.” – yes, some of those as I understand are created because of the SEO plugin RankMath, but we have been using this plugin for years and haven’t had any issues before. Not sure what’s creating the other “meta” stuff.

We’ve been creating all website attributes with WooCommerce only, by navigating to the Attributes tab and creating what we need there, and then, when uploading a product, we’d select from already created attributes.

Hi @proaufs,

but we have been using this plugin for years and haven’t had any issues before. Not sure what’s creating the other “meta” stuff.

Thanks for sharing further details on this issue.

Just curious, on a staging site, are you able to restore a previous backup that you had before the attributes were unlinked and then go ahead disable your SEO plugin and import your products to see if the issue persists?

This way, we can rule out any plugin interference on this issue.

Hello!

We’ll see what we can do and I’ll come back to you with more information.

Hello @proaufs,

Thanks for confirmation. Please let us know how it goes when you are ready.

Hi!

Unfortunately, at this moment it is not possible to restore a backup on a staging site, we can only restore a backup to the live website.

Hi @proaufs

If you can’t create a staging site at the moment, another way to troubleshoot this issue could be to create a local copy of your site. This would allow you to test things out without affecting your live site.

Once you have a local copy, you can disable all plugins except WooCommerce and re-import your CSV file. If the issue persists, it’s likely not a plugin conflict. If the problem is resolved, you can then reactivate each plugin one by one to identify which one is causing the issue.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this process, or if there’s anything else I can assist you with.

Hi again!

We managed to clone an earlier version of the website to a subdomain and we tested disabling all plugins and importing the CSV with products – no issues here, attributes show up normally.

We also enabled the plugins one by one and imported the same CSV in between each enabling – no issues here as well. RankMath was enabled last but not connected, so not sure if this is also something to consider.

Hey, @proaufs!

Since the attribute you have the issue with was created with RankMath and you weren’t able to replicate it on a cloned version, can you please reach out to RankMath’s support so they can take a look at the issue and see what they can do?

Please let us know how it goes.

Have a wonderful day!

The attribute we have issue with is not created with RankMath. If you check the CSV (I can upload it again to WeTransfer) you’ll notice that RankMath creates some meta columns for their data but not attributes.

We’ve been creating all product attributes with WooCommerce only and manually, not by importing them but by navigating to the Attributes tab in the sidebar and creating what we need there. Then we upload products manually one by one and select attributes from the drop down for each product page from already existing/created attributes.

The issue we have is with Attribute 1 more so than anything else, it’s a global attribute for Brand(s) and is created with Woo.

Upon the initial import of updated products via CSV described in my opening comment, Attribute 1 is visible in the individual product page here: https://nimb.ws/f6I7YDb and in the front end but the attribute is not connected/is not a link to an actual attribute term here: https://nimb.ws/cqwiPdg (currently they are connected and brand links are visible/clickable from the live product page as we’ve restored a previous backup, but our initial issue made it so attribute terms were “unlinked” – for each brand/Attribute 1 term there were 0 products assigned).

When the issue appeared, we tested to edit a product – remove the inactive Attribute 1 value, and re-select it from the drop-down menu of attributes — this seemed to work and the attribute “connected”/became active.

Let me know if I’ve misunderstood you and excuse the lengthy explanation. I can also shoot you a video of the issue if it’ll help to visualize it better.

Hi @proaufs,

If I’m understanding this correctly, the issue is that the attribute count here is not getting updated to reflect the products having the attributes, correct? You do see the attribute on the frontend and backend product, but the count is not updating, or the attribute is not linking, right?

To make sure we’re on the right page: the attribute count was ok before, then you exported your products, made some edits, and imported them back in, and the attribute count is now off. Moreover, this only happens with the imports; if you edit the products and add the attributes manually, they work again, or if you create new products, the issue doesn’t happen, correct?

I wanted to test this on my site but the WeTransfer file already expired. Can you share it again, please?

Additionally, can you do a quick test for a single product (it can be a new test product) uploading it without the additional meta fields? If it still doesn’t work, can you also try it with RankMath disabled? Again, just one test product to learn more about the issue.

Thanks!
-OP

Hello!

WeTransfer link here: https://we.tl/t-oSKaJgwZKB

Yes, the attribute count does not update where the screenshot shows. And yes, the attribute is visible in the live product page and in the WP dashboard if you select to edit the product – the attribute is not clickable (so it’s disconnected/not liked).

Yes, the attribute count was ok, then we exported the products, made some changes to prices, then imported the CSV back and the attribute count disappeared (attributes were disconnected). And yes, we tested to manually edit a product after, remove the disconnected attribute and select it back from the drop-down options – this way the attribute worked/was connected and it was reflected in the total count of the specific attribute.

We imported a new test product from a CSV containing just a couple of columns and no additional meta data fields and it works properly – attribute is visible/conntected/clickable and the product is reflected in the total count of products in this attribute.

Hi again!

We cleaned the CSV of all meta columns and imported the products to the website – everything is working properly and there are no attributes missing.

Consider this solved and thank you for your assistance!