Categories

Create and update BigCommerce categories using Shift.

Check out our step-by-step guides for how to import & export.

Quick start

The best way to get started is to run an export and use the file as a guide to the format required.

However, you can also download the category template.

Import & export columns

Basic columns

Column	Description
Name	The category name. This field is required to create a new category. It must be fewer than 50 characters and it must be unique between its siblings in the category tree.
Category ID	This is the unique identifier provided by BigCommerce for existing categories. It's unique per BigCommerce store. This field is required to update existing categories. It is a read-only field.
Parent ID	The ID of the parent category. If no parent category is provided, then a Tree ID is required
Tree ID	The ID of the Category Tree that this category belongs to. You cannot update the Tree ID of a category. It can only be sent when creating a category. It is required if no parent ID is provided.
URL	The storefront URL for the category. If not provided for new categories, one will be auto-generated based on the category name,
Category UUID	This is an alternative BigCommerce unique identifier for the category. It is a read-only field.
Description	The category description which can be displayed on the storefront. This fields supports HTML formatting.
Views	The number of page views this category has. This field is read only.
Sort Order	When this category is displayed in the navigation menu, sibling categories are ordered in ascending order using this field. This means that lower sort orders are shown earlier.
Page Title	The SEO title. This field must be shorter than 255 characters.
Meta Keywords	The SEO keywords. These should be pipe-separated `\|` .
Meta Description	The SEO meta description
Layout File	The file to use to render the category in Blueprint powered storefronts. This field is read only for Stencil & Catalyst powered stores.
Image URL	The image to use for the category on the storefront. The image should first be uploaded to WebDAV content directory and then the public URL imported into the spreadsheet. Find our more about importing images. Example value: `https://store-abcdef123.mybigcommerce.com/product_images/hypa-logo.png`
Is Visible	Whether the category is visible on the storefront. Example values: `1` `0` `Yes` `No` `True` `False`
Search Keywords	A comma-separated list of keywords that can be used to optimise the onsite search to ensure categories are suggested where appropriate.
Default Product Sort Order	The default order that products are shown in when viewing this category. Allowed values: `use_store_settings` `featured` `newest` `best_selling` `alpha_asc` `alpha_desc` `avg_customer_review` `price_asc` `price_desc`

Metafield columns

Fields Description

{namespace}.{key}

You can create and update category metafields by adding a column named after the metafield namespace and metafield key separated by a . . If the metafield already exists for the category, it will be updated, otherwise, it will be created.

The metafield namespace and key each must be fewer than 65 characters

Metafield values can be up to 65,535 characters long. An empty string or a string with only whitespace is not a valid metafield value.

All metafields will be created with write and storefront access permissions so they can be queried via the storefront GraphQL API.

As we don't know the names of metafields in advance, you can only select all metafields when exporting.

Export filters

You can filter categories exports to only include specific categories.

As you reduce the number of items in your export, or change what data should be included, the estimate of the number of records and duration of the export will be updated