How to create CSV files in Magento?

There are many tools in Magento which allow you to generate or view and download different reports. Magento system has integrated tools for CSV and XML files generation. It will help in the situation when you need to just export a list of structured data or generate a report for some feed.
It is known that a comma separated value or.csv file type is the best for importing your categories, products and other data too your store. However the process of .csv creation is not so easy and fast. Very often the requirements are not clear and this causes difficulties while preparing your import file. There is a list of tips for proper .csv file creation. Here is how to create CSV files in Magento.

Undoubtedly, the best and simple way to get into the requirements is to have a model pattern. All you need to do is to export some products from your store into a comma delimited file. In order to do this

• Click System in your Admin Panel and then Export in the Import and Export menu.
• Then you can choose products from the Entity Type drop-down. The system now creates a list of product attributes.
• You can click Continue to export the products you have selected as all the attributes are exported into the .csv file.
• You can now open your file in any of your favourite spreadsheet application and use it for your own .csv

Make Your Attributes Optimized

To optimize an attribute means to remove all the attributes that you are not going to use and create those you will need. There are different types of attributes:

•  General Attributes
• Meta Information Attributes
• Price Attributes
•  Images Attributes
• Gift Cart Specific Attributes
•  Design Attributes
•  Preloaded Attributes
• Custom Attributes

All the attributes except of Custom and Preload are required by Magento shopping cart for product management and functionality that is why they cannot be removed.

Import .CSV

There are several things you need to remember while creating your import .csv. Every new product should be on a new line. All the attributes should be in the same order as the first row. Each product will be placed on a new line in case you are editing your products in Microsoft Excel. The attributes which you define will fall into the column that is listed in the very first row. It is very important to select Yes when Excel asks you what file format you wish to save, in order to leave out incompatible features.

Invalid values and missing values are the most common problems store owners experience while creating import .csv files. In case you have this kind of error you will be informed which rows and items are missing or invalid. Another common problem is duplicated products. If you try to import a file already existing in your store catalogue product it will be duplicated. Ensure that you are importing it either to an empty catalogue or be sure that you are not importing products that are already exist in your store In order to avoid this mistake.