Importing Item Notes in Counterpoint SQL

Through Professional Services, it’s possible to upload additional item information from Counterpoint, such as Meta Description, Meta Keywords, Google Product Category, and a host of other attributes. Some of these attributes can contain longer text that will fit in an item attribute or item profile field. In these cases, product information can be stored in an item note. Often, the easiest way to get this additional information into Counterpoint is by importing it en-masse.

Create a text file in any word processor with each item number, the note ID, and the corresponding note content. You will save the file in .txt or .csv format.

Turn off Smart quotes

If you use Microsoft Word to prepare your item notes, you probably have "smart quotes" turned on (the curly, typographer's quotes that "curl in" towards the quoted words). Smart quotes imported into item notes will cause strange characters, so they should be turned off while creating item notes. To turn off smart quotes in MS Word:

1. Go to the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect Options ...
2. Click the Auto Format tab.
3. Deselect the checkbox next to Replace "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes."

Format of import data

The format should be as follows:

"Item number","Item note ID","Item note content","Item note content"

Example:

"123ABC","METAKEY","Meta keywords for item #123ABC with each keyword separated by commas","Meta keywords for item #123ABC with each keyword separated by commas"

"123ABC","METADESC","Meta description for item #123ABC.","Meta description for item #123ABC."

"234BCD","METATITLE","Meta title for item #234BCD.","Meta title for item #234BCD."

The item note content must be entered on one line, and cannot contain any line breaks or HTML tags.

The Item note content has to be included twice in the import file for each item, because there are actually 2 places where this information resides – one location is the plain-text note (without any formatting), and the other is the formatted note (Rich Text formatting, * not * HTML). This note content should be repeated exactly (identical in each of the 2 fields in your import file).

Importing of formatted notes is an advanced topic not covered by this article. Don’t attempt to import formatted notes unless you are an expert in Rich Text and understand exactly what you’re doing! We do not provide any support for importing of formatted notes.

Note: Do not include double-quotes in your note content. These will produce undesirable results in NCR Retail Online (NRO). Instead, use only single-quotes, or no quotes.

Import file into NCR Counterpoint

Counterpoint SQL - System / Utilities / Database Import

1. Select IM_ITEM_NOTE
2. Uncheck Use header line field format
3. Click the Field Definitions button, and use the dialog to move Item number, Note ID, Note, and Plain Text Note into the Mapped fields list (in that order).
4. Select the file you saved
5. Check the boxes for Add new and/or Update
6. Click Import to update the data (or Verify to preview any potential issues without performing the import)