Product images cause more failed WooCommerce imports and exports than any other field, and the failures often surface only after the products go live. Some of the failures that could occur include variation photos attaching to the wrong variation, a broken URL, or an image missing or duplicated.
WP All Import and WP All Export remove these risks. The drag-and-drop interface makes it swift and easy to import and export WooCommerce products with images in minutes.
This guide covers import first, then export, starting with the straightforward workflow before covering the cases that trip most imports up.
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What You Can Do with WooCommerce Product Image Import and Export
The need to import and export WooCommerce product images goes well beyond a one-time product catalog setup.
On the import side, some of the things it’s useful for include:
- Populating a new store catalog with products and images in one pass
- Standardizing image galleries across product variations
- Correcting or adding alt text and SEO fields to existing product images at scale
- Syncing product images from a supplier feed or ERP system
- Restoring product images after a site migration
On the export side, its uses include:
- Backing up a full product catalog with its linked media
- Feeding product images and image data to a new site during a migration
- Producing a spreadsheet for a bulk image metadata edit
- Syncing product images to a marketplace or external system
How to Import WooCommerce Products with Images
What Makes Importing WooCommerce Product Images Different
Unlike other WooCommerce product fields that import as static values, product images are more nuanced and import differently. This is because there are two main problems that apply to image imports that don’t apply to any other product fields.
The first is location. A product title or description arrives as a text field and maps directly to the provided text field. An image, on the other hand, has to first be found; either as a URL to download, a filename already in the Media Library, or a filename already uploaded to a server folder, before it can attach to any product.
The second is order. When a product has multiple images, they need to be correctly separated in the source data, and the import needs to know which image will be the featured image and which will serve as gallery images.
WP All Import addresses both problems in the Images section of the product fields mapping screen before running the import.
The Basic WooCommerce Image Import Workflow
Importing WooCommerce products with images takes only a few steps with the WP All Import plugin. Try out this workflow on your own using our free sandbox and choose WooCommerce store as the site option.
- Create the import. Navigate to All Import → New Import from wp admin. Upload your import file and select WooCommerce Products as the import type, then click Set Up Import.
- Map the product-specific data. Start by mapping the product Title and Description fields on the Drag & Drop screen. Then expand the WooCommerce Add-On panel to map product-specific fields such as price, SKU, attributes, etc.
- Map the image source data. The Images panel contains three built-in options for where product images should be pulled from. These are: download images from a URL, match filenames already in the Media Library, or match filenames already uploaded to the wpallimport files folder. A store with images scattered across all three sources maps them in the same section, in the same pass.
- Preview, configure, and run. Click Continue to Import Settings to configure the import settings (unique identifier, how the import behaves on future runs, etc), and then run the import from the Confirm & Run screen by clicking Confirm & Run Import.
A check under Products → All Products confirms that everything landed where it should.
What Image Data You Can Import into WooCommerce with WP All Import
WP All Import maps the following image data during a product import:
- Image URL (downloads from an external source)
- Media Library filename (matches an existing upload)
- Server folder filename (matches a file pre-uploaded to wp-content/uploads/wpallimport/files/)
- Image title, alt text, caption, and description (SEO & Advanced Options)
- Featured image vs. gallery position
- Additional variation images (compatible plugin required)
Advanced WooCommerce Product Image Import Workflows
Multiple product images packed into one data element
Oftentimes, source files will include links to all the images for a WooCommerce product within the same field. This can create an ordering problem if not handled properly. WP All Import includes a mechanism to split the field content using a specified separator character. This eliminates the need to reorder images manually after an import is complete. See Variable Number of Images Per Post.
Images tied to specific product variations
With variable products, the image mapping part of the import process can be seem a bit complicated. This is because each product variation can have its own set of images that are separate from the parent product. WP All Import handles the variable product parent-child structure scenario seamlessly in all of the common instances. Details on this is covered in full in How to Import and Export WooCommerce Variable Products.
More than one image per variation
By default, WooCommerce limits each variation to a single image. For stores that take photos of multiple angles for each product variation, this can be a real constraint. WP All Import’s gallery image hook in combination with a compatible plugin removes this restriction. See Import Multiple Images per Variation.
How to Export WooCommerce Products with Images
What Exporting WooCommerce Product Images Includes
WP All Export does not download the actual product images during a WooCommerce product export. Instead, it includes the URL for each image, which points to where the image is hosted, along with its title, alt text, caption, and description. Any importing system reading the file simply uses the URL to fetch the image.
This export format offers a direct benefit for metadata work. Specifically, editing product image details like the image title, alt text, descriptions, etc., across a full catalog becomes easy. Once the edits are complete, a simple re-import of the file updates the data across the WooCommerce store; a workflow the next section covers in detail.
The Basic WooCommerce Image Export Workflow
The process runs in five easy steps explained below:
- Create the export. From the WordPress admin, navigate to All Export → New Export and select WooCommerce Products as the Specific Post Type.
- Filter if necessary. Add filtering options to narrow the export down to specific products based on various criteria, or skip this step to export the full product catalog.
- Customize the export file. Click Customize Export File to open the Drag & Drop screen, where fields to include in the export are selected. The Available Data panel on the right organizes all fields by category. To select the product Images field and all its metadata, expand the Media category, then drag the Images fields group into the column selection area on the left.
- Choose the export format. Expand the Export Type panel to choose a format for the export. Select Spreadsheet to choose either CSV or Excel, or Feed for XML.
- Configure and run. Click Continue to access the Export Settings screen where scheduling, batch size, and other advanced options are available. Click Confirm & Run Export or Save & Run Export, then download the export file once it is ready.
What Image Data You Can Export from WooCommerce
WP All Export supports the following fields for product images:
- Image URL
- Image ID
- Image title
- Description
- Caption
- Alt text
- Featured image status
- Gallery position
Advanced WooCommerce Product Image Export Workflows
Orphaned product gallery images
There are instances where some catalogs carry images that are still linked to a product in the database but that don’t show up on the WooCommerce product edit screen. This usually happens after a theme change or a previous migration. WP All Export resolves this issue by providing a custom code snippet to capture those orphaned attachments during export alongside the images that are actively displayed. This ensures that catalogs with such legacy image data don't lose it in the process. The snippet can be found in the advanced topics section of the images export documentation.
Multiple image URLs in one field
By default, the URLs of all the images related to a product are exported into a single field, separated by a delimiter. WP All Export adds a custom export field feature that enables separating that data into its own column per image. This makes it easier to manipulate the export data in Excel compared to if it were a single delimited string. See How to Export the Images Separately.
Exporting one product’s images vs. the whole catalog
For situations where only one product’s images are needed and not the full catalog, WP All Export includes filtering options that make it possible to narrow down an export. This way, an export is never an all-or-nothing experience.
Making bulk updates to images SEO metadata
When corrections need to be made across the image titles, alt text, descriptions, etc., for an entire catalog, a data export makes it more time-efficient. The export file can be edited in a spreadsheet and reimported to update the metadata of several images at once.
Recurring image-inclusive exports
Scheduling works the same for an export that includes images just like it would for any other export, using cron jobs or the Automatic Scheduling Service. To learn more, see Run WordPress Export on a Schedule.
Final Thoughts
Images for real WooCommerce product catalogs are rarely sourced from just one place. They are often pulled from multiple sources such as the supplier’s own URL, manually added to the media library, or already existing there. Using a tool that is built around a single sourcing method means spending time conforming to that method before a clean import can be done. WP All Import doesn’t impose such a constraint. It handles importing and exporting WooCommerce products with images seamlessly through a workflow dictated by the catalog, not the other way around.
Import and Export WooCommerce Products with Images — Frequently Asked Questions
To export WooCommerce products with images, run a WooCommerce Products export in WP All Export, then include fields from Available Data › Media › Images when customizing the export file. The resulting file includes image URLs and metadata for the exported products, structured for easy editing in a spreadsheet.
You can import products with images in WooCommerce using WP All Import. After setting up a WooCommerce Products import, map product image data in the Images section of the Drag & Drop screen, after the Title & Description and WooCommerce Add-On sections. Images can be sourced by downloading from a URL, matching a filename in the Media Library, or matching a filename in the wpallimport files folder. All three options are included in that section..
Importing WooCommerce products can be done with WP All Import: create a new import, select WooCommerce Products, and map the source file's fields to WooCommerce's product fields through the Drag & Drop screen. Exporting works in a similar way in reverse with WP All Export: create a new export, select WooCommerce Products, and choose which fields to include. Both processes support images, variations, custom fields, and more, without requiring a separate tool for each field type.
