If your store can't give you a feed URL — but you can export your products to a file — you can upload that file to Renable directly. It works for your main product feed and for an auxiliary feed you look up values from. Renable stores the file and reads it exactly like any other feed.
When to upload a file instead of using a URL#
A feed URL is the best source when you have one, because Renable re-fetches it every hour and stays current on its own. Upload a file when there's no URL to point at — a one-off export from your shop or ERP, a supplier price list someone emails you, a spreadsheet you keep by hand. A published Google Sheet is another good option when your data lives in a sheet.
Which files you can upload#
You can upload a product feed as CSV, TSV, XML, JSON or plain text, up to 200 MB. Renable detects the format from the file itself, so you don't have to tell it whether the file is XML or CSV — it reads the columns and shows you a preview before you save.
Upload a file#
- Open the catalog and go to the Data sources tab.
- To use a file as your main product feed, open the product feed source and set Source to File upload. To use one as an auxiliary feed, click + Add auxiliary feed and choose File upload.
- Click Choose file and pick your file. Renable uploads it and shows a preview of the columns and rows it found.
- Save the source, then Publish the catalog to start using it.
An uploaded file never updates on its own#
This is the one thing to remember about uploaded files, and it's different from every other source: an uploaded file only ever changes when you replace it. A feed URL and a published Google Sheet are re-fetched every hour, so they stay current by themselves. An uploaded file can't be — Renable has no way to reach back to wherever the file came from. The products, prices and stock in your ads stay exactly as they were in the file you uploaded until you upload a new one.
So whenever your products change — new items, price changes, stock updates — you need to upload a fresh file. If your data changes often, a feed URL or a Google Sheet is the better source, because those keep themselves up to date.
Replacing the file#
To update an uploaded feed, open its source again and click Replace file, then pick the new file. Renable stores the new file in place of the old one, and because the source changed, the next import re-reads it and regenerates your affected channels — the same as any other feed change. As always, the change lives in your draft until you Publish the catalog.
The card for an uploaded feed shows the file name and when it was uploaded, so you can always tell which file is currently in use and whether it's the latest one.
Publish to start using the file#
Like every catalog change, uploading or replacing a file lives in your draft and doesn't take effect until you Publish the catalog. "Import now" uses your last published configuration, so publish first, then import. The draft-and-publish model is covered in Transforming your feed.
Where to go next#
- Import your first feed — using a feed URL, the source that stays current on its own.
- Connecting a Google Sheet — another good option when you don't have a feed URL.
- Keeping your feed fresh — how Renable stays current, and why an uploaded file is the exception.
- Joining another feed — look up values from an auxiliary feed, including an uploaded one.