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Bulk Connect listings (without changes)

Written by Daniela

Bulk Connect Without Changes is the right starting point when your listings already have the variant structure you want, and you simply need to connect those existing variants to Artelo products. We created this tool for sellers who just wanted to quickly connect their listings without making any changes.

This matters because it lets you bring existing listings into Artelo without changing option names, option values, or the overall listing setup your customers already see.

What The Tool Does

When you complete this flow for a listing, Artelo does the following:

  1. Creates a new product set for the listing (based on the template you assigned to the listing). The product set name is set to the listing title as the base name, and a suffix is added if that name already exists.

  2. Creates the matching Artelo products inside that new product set.

  3. Applies any image assignments you included for products that require artwork.

  4. Imports image URLs into Artelo if you used direct URLs in the image assignment step.

  5. Connects each selected marketplace variant to the matching new Artelo product.

  6. Leaves the marketplace variant structure in place instead of rebuilding it.

Note: No changes are made to Etsy listings (or its variants) during this process.

For Shopify Listings, it also keeps the listing structure unchanged, but it may generate SKUs for variants that do not already have them, and it assigns connected variants to Artelo for fulfillment.

When To Use It

Use this tool when:

  1. Your listing options are already finalized.

  2. You want Artelo connected without recreating or restructuring listings variants.

  3. You are moving listings into Artelo in bulk and need a spreadsheet workflow.

  4. You want to keep marketplace-side changes to an absolute minimum.

When To Use It

Use this tool when:

  1. Your listing options are already finalized.

  2. You want Artelo connected without recreating or restructuring marketplace variants.

  3. You are moving listings into Artelo in bulk and need a spreadsheet workflow.

  4. You want to keep marketplace-side changes to an absolute minimum.

What To Prepare Before You Start

  1. Know which listings you'd like to bulk connect

  2. Create templates with the corresponding variant structure for those listings

  3. Decide which template each listing should use.

  4. If you'd like to upload your design images you can but it is optional, you can always do that in bulk using the bulk image assign tool.

Tutorial Walkthrough

Step 1: Assign Templates

This first step tells Artelo which template to use for each listing you want to connect. You are not connecting variants yet. You are simply choosing the correct template for each listing, so Artelo knows which product structure to use when it creates the matching product set and products on the Artelo side.

  1. Open Bulk Connect Without Changes.

  2. Select your store.

    1. In most cases, keep Exclude ignored listings and Exclude inactive listings on.

    2. Turn on Exclude connected listings if you only want to see listings that are still unconnected.

  3. Generate the Step 1 workbook.

  4. Open the listings sheet and update only the rows you want to process.

  5. Set Operation to Update for every listing you want to connect.

  6. Choose the correct Template for each of those rows.

  7. Leave rows blank if you do not want to process them yet.

  8. Upload the completed workbook back into the tool.

The important columns you edit in this step are:

  1. Operation

  2. Template

The rest of the columns are reference columns, including listing image, variation tree, listing status, and template grouping. Do not edit these.

Once your template assignment file has been accepted, Artelo now knows which template belongs to each listing you selected. The next step is to connect each individual marketplace variant to the correct product inside that template. Step 1 chooses the structure for the listing. Step 2 completes the actual variant-to-product mapping.

Step 2: Connect Variants

This step is where you map each marketplace variant to a specific Artelo product from the assigned template. By the end of this step, Artelo knows exactly which product each selected size, frame, orientation, or other variant option should connect to.

  1. Generate the Step 2 workbook after your template assignment file is accepted.

  2. Open the Updated Variants tab.

  3. Use the Template Variants tab as your lookup sheet for what each template can connect to.

  4. In Updated Variants, set Operation to Update for each marketplace variant you want to connect.

  5. Choose the matching Product for each row.

  6. Keep the Template column unchanged. It must stay aligned with the listing’s assigned template.

  7. Make sure the same Artelo product is not assigned to multiple variants within the same listing unless that is explicitly intended and supported.

  8. Upload the workbook.

The main columns you edit in this step are:

  1. Operation

  2. Product

The main reference columns are:

  1. Template

  2. Option Values

  3. Listing ID

  4. Variant ID

  5. Listing URL

  6. Artelo URL

After your variant mapping file is accepted, the connection structure is in place. Artelo now knows which products each listing and variant should connect to. The final onboarding step is image assignment, where you decide whether to attach artwork now, for some of the products now, or later in a separate bulk image workflow.

Step 3: Image Assignment

This step is where you assign artwork to the products being created in Artelo. You do not need to upload every image right now. In fact, you can completely skip this step. You can assign all of them, some of them, or none of them during this step, depending on how ready your artwork is.

The image assignment sheet is flexible. Many sellers use it to onboard images in batches instead of all at once. For example, you may want to:

  • Upload only the images for the listings you are launching first.

  • Group products by aspect ratio and assign the same artwork set to matching products.

  • Skip some designs for now and come back later with Bulk Update Images once more artwork is ready.

Note: You can always use the Bulk Image Upload tool separately to upload images.

If you'd like to upload images now, here are the steps:

  1. Generate the Step 3 workbook if the tool shows the Image Assignment step.

  2. Open the Image Assignment sheet.

  3. Set Show Previews to true for rows where you want workbook previews.

  4. Fill the Design File URL or Upload Name columns with the correct image source for each row.

  5. Adjust Design Fit Style or Design Fit Canvas only if needed.

  6. Upload the completed workbook.

If you decide not to finish all image assignments during onboarding, that is fine. The connection work can still move forward, and you can always return later with Bulk Update Images to standardize, replace, or complete artwork assignments across existing product sets.

Step 4: Submit And Verify

  1. Submit the flow once all required uploads are accepted.

  2. Verify the first few listings before processing the full batch.

  3. Confirm the correct template and product connections landed in Artelo.

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