A field comes out blank or wrong for one of a few reasons: it isn't mapped, its source column is empty for some products, or a rule overwrote it. Diagnose it on the Mapping tab — is the field mapped, and what's its Fill %? — then Trace a product to see exactly where the value came from.
Start on the Mapping tab: is the field mapped?#
The first thing to check is whether the field has a source at all. Open the catalog from your project's Catalogs list, choose the Mapping tab, and find the field in the Catalog fields table.
If the field has no source, nothing fills it — it's empty for every product, with no error. A required field left unmapped is counted in the "{N} required missing" chip at the top of the table. The fix is to give it a source: map a feed column onto its row. See Mapping your feed to catalog fields.
Read the Fill column: empty for everyone, or just some?#
Once a field is mapped, the Fill column tells you how complete it is — the percentage of products in your last import that got a value. That single number separates two very different problems:
- A low or zero Fill means almost no product gets a value. Usually the field is mapped to the wrong column, or to a column that's empty across your feed.
- A partial Fill — say 60% — means the field works for most products but the source column is blank for the rest. Those products need a fallback (below). A required field with partial coverage also shows a warning tone and an "N empty" note on its row.
One caveat: the Fill number comes from your last import, and imports run your published configuration. If the number is dimmed with an asterisk, you've edited the field's mapping since that import, so it describes the old mapping, not your draft. Publish and re-import to refresh it. Fill is explained in full in Mapping your feed to catalog fields.
Trace a product to see where the value came from#
When a field is wrong rather than empty — or when the Mapping tab doesn't make the cause obvious — Trace a product shows you exactly where the value came from. It's on the toolbar of both the Rules tab and the Mapping tab.
Pick the product whose field looks wrong. Trace walks it through your rules as step-cards, each marked "applied" or "didn't apply", and ends in a "Catalog output" table with the final value of every field. Read the field you're chasing:
- If it carries a "set by {rule}" note, a rule wrote that value. That rule is your suspect.
- If it shows a plain value with no note, the value came straight from your mapping — untouched by any rule. The source column is your suspect.
That one distinction points you at the fix. The full walkthrough is in Feed runs, warnings, and tracing a value.
Fixing an empty field#
An empty value in your feed means "not provided" — Renable falls back to whatever you've set up next. A blank cell, an empty tag, a column that isn't there at all: they all count the same, so one fallback covers every one of them.
An empty field has one of two shapes, and the Fill column told you which:
- Empty for every product — the field is unmapped, or mapped to a column with no data. Map it to the right column on the Mapping tab.
- Empty for some products — the source column is blank for those products. Stack a fallback: a second source used only when the first comes back empty. Map the field to your primary column, then fall back to a second column, a fixed value, or a value looked up from another feed. Fallbacks are covered in Mapping your feed to catalog fields, and pulling a fallback value from a stock or supplier feed is in Joining another feed.
If you'd rather guarantee a value for a whole group of products, a rule can set a fixed default when a condition matches — see Fixing your feed data with rules.
Fixing a wrong value#
Trace told you which suspect to chase:
- A rule overwrote it (the field showed "set by {rule}"). Open that rule on the Rules tab. Rules run top to bottom and each sees the result of the ones above it, so if two rules write the same field, the last one wins. Adjust the rule's conditions so it stops catching this product, or change the value it sets. See Fixing your feed data with rules.
- The source column is wrong (the field showed a plain mapping value). Either the field is mapped to the wrong column — remap it — or the column's raw value needs cleaning. Add a value step with "+ Add step" to trim, replace, re-case, or reformat the value as it maps. Value steps are covered in Fixing your feed data with rules.
Publish, then re-import#
A fix you make on the Mapping or Rules tab stays in a draft until you Publish — and imports process your last published configuration, not your draft. So after you map a column, add a fallback, or change a rule, publish the catalog, then re-import (choose Publish & import so the new configuration is applied). Until then, the field's Fill still describes the old setup, because it comes from that last import. Trace is the opposite — it runs against your current draft, so you can Trace a product to confirm your fix worked before you publish; only Fill needs a publish and re-import to catch up. This trap is covered in full in Transforming your feed.
FAQ#
The field is filled in Renable but still missing or wrong in my ads — why?
Two common reasons. First, publish and re-import if you haven't — and remember ad networks pick up feed changes on their own schedule after that. Second, a barcode value (GTIN, EAN, or UPC) whose check digit doesn't match imports normally but is dropped before the feed reaches any ad network, so the product ships without it. Fix it at the source or with a rule. See Feed runs, warnings, and tracing a value.
The field is right for most products but empty for a few — what's the fix?
That's a partial Fill: the source column is blank for those products. Add a fallback so a second source fills in when the first is empty. See Mapping your feed to catalog fields.
Or ask Aimée#
You don't have to hunt for the cause yourself. Ask Aimée why a field on a specific product is empty or wrong — she can replay that product's import end to end and tell you which column, fallback, or rule decided the value. She can also fix it for you: set the mapping, add a fallback, declare a column's type, or build a rule, then publish once you approve.