How can I bulk upload zip files and associate them with the right products on my e-commerce site?

[dcs-larina]

Hello, we have a large e-commerce site that sells digital downloads (almost 10,000 products).  We are looking at Excelify for the bulk import of the product descriptions and images which is great.  The problem is that we have 11,000 zip files that need to be uploaded in bulk, and have their file name attributes attached to the correct product through some sort of automated process.  

Question:  Does Shopify through some alternative method (shipped USB drive, special FTP, etc), or does an available app allow:

1. Bulk upload of approximately 11,000 zip files?  The total size for all files is around 90gb.
2. Bulk import of zip file names so that the zip files are associated with the correct products.  Many of the products have multiple zip files so it's not just a one to one match.

It is not possible to simply create 10,000 products manually as that would take several years to accomplish.  

If we can make this happen, we could very well be a Shopify customer.  Please advise.

[productsync]

Hi

I had a look if you could use another method but looks like there is no API for uploading zip files to digital products.

The other limitation you may have is:

Can I upload multiple files to the same product?

No. You can only upload one file per product. If you need to attach more files, then you can use a .zip file or another type of archive file that can contain files within it. You can't upload file folders.

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/digital-service-product/digital-downloads#multiplefiles

The only thing I can think of is providing a link through email to a third party location that the buyer could then download the zip file. Probably not ideal but would be easier to match up zip file to products that way.

Regards

Tom

[dcs-larina]

Thanks for taking a look.  

Hoping this can be a feature request for Shopify and/or a developer to create it!

[Renars]

Hi @dcs-larina 

Amazing to hear that you have been enjoying Excelify.

Such files would normally be stored either outside of Shopify or in Shopify Files in your admin, but Shopify API indeed does not allow apps to access the Files section to upload the data.
Even more - I believe that the Digit Downloads app does not use the Files section and stores the data somewhere outside of reach for everybody but the app.

You sure could look into other Digit Download apps, and some might have such a solution, hopefully, somebody can suggest such an app if there is one.

If you need any Excelify related assistance, then please let us know here or contact us directly.

[productsync]

Hi

If you are still working on moving to Shopify then we can develop a solution for you as we already do product information management for Shopify clients.

Probably best to discuss via email as there are security and access requirements that would need to be scoped out. If you would like to chat further you can send me an email to tom@channelup.io

Regards

Tom

[dcs-larina]

Hi Tom, just sent you an email.

[DeborahCarney]

Sounds like there a a large number of people that would use Shopify if this were able to be done. I know I would open multiple storefronts to handle the niches I have digital downloads to sell in but for now if I have to do it all manually I will use my own hosting. 

I have a script that will build an entire website in hours using as many files as I have and link them to Amazon AWS. I prefer Shopify for stability but guess I will have to stay with my own hosting and this script.

[dcs-larina]

Just wanted to follow up and see if this feature was added by chance?

[DeborahCarney · Accepted solution]

Not that I have found. There are supposed to be updates coming to the digital downloads plugin but I haven't seen specifics and I don't think they are fixing this. 

[dcs-larina]

Thank you.