thread Re: how do i move existing items to variants? in Payments Troubleshooting

Put items in as variations. Can I use square template to move the variation field to the item field.

ABJ — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 13:31:21 GMT

INventory was mistakenly entered under variations.

Example: Creative Coop was entered as Create Item and each item from that vendor was entered under variation. All sizes and colors were entered within the variation entry instead of using the option sets and variations.

How can I solve this issue quickly. Can I export the data and change the info from a variation field to a create item field and then add the option sets and variations. I need help. There is a large inventory and I hope to solve this without having to reenter all inventory manually.

Put items in as variations. Can I use square template to move the variation field to the item field.

ABJ — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 12:34:07 GMT

All inventory was mistakenly entered as variations. The item was created with the vendor name and all items within that vendor category were entered as variations. I want to move the variation field to the create item field for each of these items. I do not want to reenter every item as there are a huge number to reenter. Can I use the template to export info. and copy paste into a different field?

Re: Put items in as variations. Can I use square template to move the variation field to the item...

Valentina — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:49:37 GMT

You should be able to correct this by exporting a CSV file of your Item Library, and modifying the file within Excel, @ABJ. Once you've made the changes to the file that you'd like to see, you can import the file back into your Item Library.

This article from our Support Center should get you to a good place, but definitely let us know here if any questions come up as you get going!

Re: Put items in as variations. Can I use square template to move the variation field to the item...

ABJ — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:46:51 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. I don't have access to excel at this time at home and am using a chromebook, with google docs, sheets, numbers. I am ordering a laptop and should receive any day.

Another problem just occurred when I tried to delete a variation and all of the variations (items) were deleted. Can I recover this data?

Re: Put items in as variations. Can I use square template to move the variation field to the item...

Valentina — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 01:03:59 GMT

Congratulations on the new laptop - that's always really exciting!

Not so exciting to hear about the deleted variations, on the other hand, @ABJ 😣 When you tried to delete the variation, was it deleted from an exported CSV file, or did you delete the variation right within your Square Dashboard?

how do i move existing items to variants?

OrganicLarder — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 21:22:57 GMT

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: how do i move existing items to variants?

I have 30 sku's that are all from the same product line. they are currently individual items in square. I would like to make all of them a variant under one item heading. how can i do this using the bulk process in CSV/Excel?

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

Valentina — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 21:21:51 GMT

I've moved your post over to this thread where someone had the opposite question, as you'll want to reference the same support article to accomplish this, @OrganicLarder.

Take a look at the Best Answer here, and please let us know if any questions come up once you've taken a look at the article that outlines how to modify an Excel file.

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

OrganicLarder — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 00:04:52 GMT

I already tried that support article. I'm not creating a new account, and removing token, results in duplication of items with variants underneath them. I've gone through nearly the entire database to find an answer. hence why I asked the question - separately. I'm looking to move items to a variant, not variants to an item. If I move them in the XMS/CSV - all that happens is a nested item/variant for every item that I move, not a list of variants under one item. There is no community Q&A for this issue that I can find. There is also VERY little by way of Square Up support on the use and management of items/variants.

So there is the problem:

- I've downloaded the item database

- I move 29 items into the variant column and make sure the items are all the same name

- I upload it back into square

- Every item has been created as a nested item/variant for all 30 rather than an item with a list of 30 variants

This happens whether I remove the tokens or not.

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

OrganicLarder — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 00:43:57 GMT

So I got it to work. After you've updated your items/variants and checked all fields, then you have to remove ALL tokens for every single item in the spreadsheet (not just the ones you've changed). This was not clear in the support article. You must also REPLACE your library, not modify. Hope this helps someone else as this has been an ongoing challenge for sometime with a fair bit of frustration. cheers.

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

OrganicLarder — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 05:35:46 GMT

Also word of warning - it wipes your stock history - so you lose all of the ins/outs of your stock. Not great and really not happy about it.

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

secretshopper — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 21:33:12 GMT

I have that question. I would like to take items and turn them into variants. Is that article still available?

Re: how do i move existing items to variants?

frances_a — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 21:57:47 GMT

Hello @secretshopper and welcome to our Seller Community, we're thrilled to have you join us!

Yes, the article is still available and it walks you through how to export and import your library.

You'll want to export it and move the items you'd like to turn into variations to another column for variations.

You can find a couple of example in the article I linked above.

Let me know if you have any questions, thank you!