Categories¶

Since 1.1. Import and export categories by path: the names from the root category down, joined with / (Default Category/Men/Shoes). A slash inside a name is written \/. Paths are matched ignoring case; the first segment must be a root category of the shop.

Import¶

Entity Categories (openimport_category), behaviours Add/Update and Delete (Replace is refused: Magento would delete and recreate the categories with new ids).

Column	Meaning
path	identifier; parents that do not exist yet are created on the way (active, in the menu, named after the segment)
name	a new category is named after the last segment of its path (a different name is refused, it would make the next import create a duplicate); for an existing category the name column renames it, and its path changes with it
url_key, description, meta_title, meta_keywords, meta_description, custom_design, page_layout	texts
is_active, include_in_menu, is_anchor	1/0, also yes/no, true/false, ja/nein
position	whole number
display_mode	PRODUCTS, PAGE or PRODUCTS_AND_PAGE

Only the columns a row has are changed, and an empty cell leaves the value as it is (__EMPTY__VALUE__ clears a default value, as in Magento's import; a name or URL key cannot be cleared). Store-view values are saved one attribute at a time, so a German name does not regenerate the category's URL rewrites (change url_key for that). Store-view values work like everywhere in OpenImport: map a file column to store:<store view code>:<field> (name_de → Store view de, field name) and the row sets that store view's value. A shop with only one store view keeps every value in the default scope (that is how Magento saves), so there store-view rows are reported as errors: map the column to the default field instead. The dry run shows the categories that would be created and every field that would change; delete runs count the children too and wait for the typed confirmation above the safety threshold.

Writes go through Magento's category model and repository (URL rewrites, indexers and events happen as in the admin), never through raw SQL. Products are assigned to categories through the product import (categories column), not here.

Export¶

Entity Categories, one row per category with its default values, plus one row per store view that overrides any text (store_view_code set, only the overridden columns filled). Export option category_rows = default writes default rows only. The file imports back as it is.