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Mapping columns
Map spreadsheet columns to titles, content, categories, tags, dates, custom fields and more.
The basics
- How mapping worksMapping connects your spreadsheet's columns to the destination's fields, once: the editor's sections, four ways to fill a field, automatic matches and the preview.
- Value modes: column, fixed value, template, default, keep, removeThe six ways a field gets its value, and what each does when an item is created and when it is updated: column, fixed value, template, default, keep existing, remove.
- Translate the values of a columnWhen a file says 1 where the site says Published, say what each value means. A field with a list of choices reads the values of its column through your table.
- Templates and {{ placeholders }}Combine fixed text with column values in titles, slugs, texts and bodies: the {{ placeholder }} syntax, the rich HTML template editor, escaping and what a placeholder inserts.
Fields
- Title, slug and aliasThe title is required; the slug (WordPress) or alias (Joomla) is the item's web address. How each is saved, the length limits, and why you may want to keep the slug.
- Content, excerpt and HTML bodiesMap the body of your items from a column that holds HTML, or build it from several columns with the rich editor. Intro and full text on Joomla, excerpts on WordPress.
- Status, dates and authorsPublish items as drafts, published or archived, per row or for all; set publish dates; choose authors by name, ID or email. The choices each platform offers and the errors.
Taxonomies
- Categories: columns, paths and parent categoriesMap categories from a column, a path such as Destinations > Malta > Gozo or a parent column; how missing categories are created, and Joomla's one-category rule.
- Tags: several per item, from one or two columnsMap tags from a column of comma, semicolon or pipe separated values, merge two tag columns, add fixed tags and create missing ones. Joomla's nested tags too.
Behaviour
Fields
- Custom fieldsFill the extra values a site stores with each item: post meta, Joomla and Advanced Custom Fields, several values in one cell, fields made of parts, and rows.
- Map an image columnChoose the column that names each item's image, add alt text, a title and a caption, or use one image for every item, and see what each choice does on update.
Behaviour
- Updating content that is already publishedWhat happens to an item you published earlier when its row changes: the review lists the changed fields, every mapped field is sent, and the address and ID stay.
- Read only some of the rows of a fileA file can hold items of several kinds. Choose the rows a configuration reads, such as the rows where Type is variation, and see how many the review left out.
- Preview a record before anything is saved or sentSee any of the first 50 rows of your sample as it would be published: every field, the rendered body, terms, images and custom fields. A preview never sends anything.
- Mapping errors and common mapping mistakesEvery message the editor shows when you save a mapping and every message a row can get for a field, with the fix, plus the mistakes behind most surprises.