Pics.io plugin for Shopify streamlines your product image upload process, as it automates the most cumbersome part of the process - the need to copy-paste direct image URLs into import Excel/Google Sheets one by one.
The plugin for Shopify indexes your Pics.io account and automatically maps all images to products and their variants as long as both have a matching SKU either in filenames or in values of custom fields. Do the preparatory work described below to make indexing and upload work for your Shopify store.
To follow the step-by-step instructions, you’ll need a Pics.io account. If you don’t have one, make sure to sign up through the link at the login screen. If you’re already using Pics.io, use the same email and password to log into the plugin.
Please note that you can connect Pics.io to one of the following storage providers (Google Drive, Amazon S3, Pics.io storage) if your product images are currently stored there to not re-upload files to Pics.io once again.
Here are the steps you'll need to perform to make the plugin work:
install the plugin from the Shopify App Store;
sign up for an account at Pics.io if you don't have one yet;
upload product images to Pics.io (or to a storage Pics.io can work with and run a synchronization so your new files appear in Pics.io UI);
rename files so they match SKUs or create a custom field to tag your products with SKU values;
open the plugin, choose the matching criteria, and start the matching process.
You can find the details on each process below.
How do I add the plugin to my Shopify store?
Open Shopify App Store;
Click the link or search for Picsio: Product Images Import plugin;
Add the app to your store and log in to your Pics.io account within the plugin.
What should I do once the app is installed?
Now, it's time to decide what criteria you'll use to match your product images with products on the Shopify end.
You can use Filenames and Custom Fields for this process. The main idea here is to name your files the same way the SKUs of your products are named on the Shopify end. If the SKU of your product is OB354C, the image you expect to match this product should have the same OB354C name. The same works with product variants. You can have OB354C as the SKU of the product, consequently, the variants will be OB354C1, OB354C2, and OB354C3. The variants image filenames should have the same SKU, i.e. OB354C1, OB354C2, OB354C3.
Then, you can start uploading images to your Pics.io account by following this instruction:
Log in to your Pics.io account;
Start uploading your product images either by dragging and dropping a folder with images from your local space directly to the Pics.io tab or by creating a new collection and clicking the Add assets button.
Also, please mind that you can sync your product images residing in Google Drive and Amazon S3 just by connecting Pics.io to this storage vendor if you would not like to upload them one more time.
In case you wouldn't like to rename your files, here is how you can match product images by Custom Fields:
Log in to your Pics.io account and upload images of products you'd like to appear in Shopify to any collection in Pics.io. If the product images are already stored in Pics.io, navigate to a collection where they reside.
Create a special metadata field in Pics.io that will be used for matching (e.g. Stock_Keeping_Unit) with the field type set to "Text."
Apply the SKU of your products or their variants to the images (e.g. OB354C2, OB354C3, etc.) by opening the Info panel on the top right corner of your asset and adding a product SKU in its appropriate metadata field.
Once you’ve done this with all images, it is time to begin the importing process with the custom field.
How do I upload images and videos from Pics.io for my products and their variants in Shopify?
Open Shopify Admin view. Select Apps from the panel to your left and navigate to the Pics.io upload plugin.
Type the name of a concrete collection that you want to upload images from or just run the search across a whole library by clicking 'My collections'.
NB! Search in all account files is selected by default.
Select the matching criteria in order to match product SKUs by Filenames or Custom Fields:
NB! We recommend our customers follow these tips for their SKU naming convention:
-- Stay between 8 and 12 characters
-- Begin the SKU with a letter, such as the first letter of the supplier or brand
-- Never use zero or special characters like !, @, or &
-- Create a unique, easy-to-understand format
All assets that have the same filenames/Custom fields and the corresponding SKUs will be shown on the results screen, where you can select how many assets you want to upload (one, two, or all images).
You will see all the compatible assets for products and their variants below corresponding products.
Before matching assets with products you can select the main image for the product by clicking on the "Set as the main image" checkbox. Additionally, you can select and change the product variants.
💡 Tip: You can easily open image previews by clicking on the image.
Select your assets and click the Upload selected assets to Products button at the bottom of the page, and wait until the upload is complete.
Once the upload is complete you can check the result in your Shopify account.
NB! As of now, Pics.io can only add images to the Media section of your products, but not replace them.
When it comes to adding variants to a product, the variant image will be replaced. Since Shopify cannot store multiple images for one variant, the former variant's image will not be deleted but will end up in the product's media library.
Video assets cannot be attached to product variants. They will be automatically added to the product's shared media.
In case your connection is lost, or for any other reason, your compatible files fail to upload, you may click the Retry upload failed assets button to try re-upload them.
NB! There is a restriction of 250 media files per product that can be uploaded. Additionally, it's important to note that during the Trial period, before purchasing a Pics.io subscription plan, you can match only 20 images to test our plugin.
In which order do images appear?
The images are sorted out by their update date, which determines the order in which they appear. The latest uploaded images to your Pics.io library will appear in the matching results at the top.
I need to upload several pictures of my product. What can I do about that?
Matching by Filename:
Rename the needed images in bulk by inserting the SKU value to their filenames (e.g. 1st image > OB354C2-1, 2nd image > OB354C2-2, 3rd image > OB354C2-3);
Start the matching process and select Partial match.
Matching by Custom Fields:
Apply the Custom Field value of the product SKU to your pictures in Pics.io;
Start the matching process and select Partial match.
The imported images will appear in the Media section of your product.
How to upload my product images from Shopify to my Pics.io library?
Sometimes you may need to upload your products in reverse order: from Shopify directly to the Pics.io library. This will allow you to switch between platforms quickly and manage your assets in a time-efficient manner.
To upload files from Shopify to Pics.io, perform the following steps:
Navigate to the installed apps in your Shopify account and open the Pics.io: Bulk Image Upload application.
Use your Pics.io credentials to log in to your account (if you are asked to).
The root collection of your Pics.io library will appear under the search bar. Should you want to find a particular collection, type its name and click the blue «Search» button.
When the necessary collection is found, select it and click the «Upload file to Pics.io» button, and choose the file.
After the file is uploaded, feel free to go to your Pics.io library and manage your file.
NB! As for now, only one file can be uploaded to your Pics.io library at a time.
How do I change product SKUs in bulk?
If you've decided to follow the advice above (if you'd like to keep everything as it is, go to the next step), here is how you can quickly edit your product SKUs:
Log in to the admin panel of your Shopify store and select products you'd like to upload/update images for.
Click the Edit products and within the SKU column, select product SKUs that contain a dot, a hyphen, or an underscore to remove. To do so in one go, click on the first item in the column, hold Shift and then select the last item.
When all items are selected, remove the unsupported character from one of the SKUs and the changes will apply to the rest of the selected SKUs.
How do I change filenames in bulk?
Now you need to exclude an SKU separator from the product image filenames before uploading them to Pics.io.
For macOS users:
Open Finder and find the folder containing the product images you want to upload;
Select all images in the folder and select the Rename option from the right-click menu;
Insert your SKU separator in the Find field and leave Replace with empty;
Rename all items.
For Windows users:
Open the folder with images in Explorer and right-click on the empty space to trigger the options menu.
Select Open in Terminal or PowerShell and paste the following command there get-childitem *JPEG | foreach {rename-item $_ $_.name.replace("_","")}, where *JPEG is a format of your images and the underscore character in name.replace("_","") can be replaced with a separator you use.
Press enter to run a command and rename all items.
Troubleshooting issues
The request failed with status code 404
If you encounter a login error: Request failed with status code 404, it means that some old information about the previous version of the plugin is stuck in your local storage. Please follow the steps below to resolve the issue:
In Chrome
Open the Google Chrome Console by pressing the F12 key.
Open “Application” in the console’s top menu.
Find “Local Storage” in the console’s left menu and open the drop-down menu.
Right-click all sites and click Clear to delete the local storage.
In Firefox
Open the Developer Tools by pressing the F12 key.
Open “Storage” in the developer’s top menu.
Find “Local Storage” in the developer’s left menu.
Right-click all sites and click delete all.
In Safari
Click the Develop menu (at the top) and choose Web Inspector.
Open “Storage” in the top menu
Find “Local Storage” in the developer’s left menu
Click all sites and click the trash icon at the top.
If the app doesn't start, try uninstalling it by clicking 3 horizontal dots within the
Pics.io: Bulk Image Upload line -> Uninstall. Once done, install the app once again and try opening it.
Error loading products
There is a temporary limitation when it comes to multiple users utilizing our Pics.io plugin simultaneously. When several people use the plugin, it works for one user while displaying an error message for the other user. Therefore, the current functionality of the app restricts its usage to one user at a time. To fix the problem, please reinstall the application in your Shopify store: https://apps.shopify.com/pics-io-import-plugin