Attribute Management & Import/Export

Item attributes let you record structured plant (or product) information — light requirement, mature height, bloom color, and anything else you define — on every inventory item. Attribute values can appear on item signs, on your website, and in attribute-based inventory searches.

Attribute work happens in three places:

Inventory > Attributes — search your inventory by attribute values.
Edit Attribute Types (linked from the Attributes page) — define the attributes themselves: their names, types, choices, and where they display.
Inventory > Import/Export — export items with their attributes to Excel, edit in bulk, and import the changes back.

To view or change attribute values on a single item, use the Attributes tab on the item page — see Item Attributes.

Search inventory by attribute

The Attributes search page finds items by their attribute values — for example, every evergreen that tolerates full sun and matures under 6 feet.

Go to Inventory and click the Attributes tab.
Fill in one or more attribute filters. Each attribute you have defined appears as a field: choice attributes show a dropdown (Choose...), numeric attributes and text attributes show a text box. Leave a field blank to ignore that attribute.
Optionally check In Stock? ("Only include items that are currently in stock.") to hide out-of-stock items.
Optionally pick a Department (or a department/sub-department combination) to limit the search.
Click Search.

The Search Results list groups matching items together with each size, its price, and the quantity on hand, alongside the item's attribute values and photo. Each size links to the item page. The results are print-friendly: printing the page hides the search form and shows your company name as the heading, so the list can be handed to staff or customers.

How each filter matches depends on the attribute's Match Method setting — see Attribute type settings below.

Add or edit attribute types

Attribute types are managed on the Edit Attribute Types page:

Go to Inventory and click the Attributes tab.
Click Edit Attribute Types.

The page lists every attribute with its Name, Type, Category, Choices, Sort, Match Method, Online, Sign, and Web Name.

To add an attribute: click + Attribute Type, fill in the fields, and click Create.
To edit an attribute: click the pencil (edit) icon on its row, make your changes, and click Update.
To delete an attribute: click the trash icon on its row and confirm.

Changes take effect immediately — the new or updated attribute appears on every item's Attributes tab, in the attribute search, and as a column in the Import/Export spreadsheet.

Attribute type settings

Each attribute type on the Edit Attribute Types page has these settings:

Name — the attribute's label throughout VMX. The Import/Export spreadsheet always uses this name as the column header, even when a Web Name is set.
Type — what kind of value the attribute holds:
- Number — a numeric value (heights, widths, spacing). Numeric attributes are commonly created in Min/Max pairs (for example "Mature Height Min" and "Mature Height Max") so items can carry a range.
- Text — free-form text.
- Single Choice — one value picked from a list you define in Choices.
- Multi Choice — any number of values picked from the Choices list.
Category — groups attributes into tabs on the item page's Attributes tab. Attributes with the same Category appear together under a tab with that name; attributes with no Category land in an [Other] tab (if no attribute has a Category, the tabs are skipped and attributes appear as a single list). Use a / to nest (for example Plants/Bloom creates a Bloom tab inside Plants).
Choices — the allowed values for Single Choice and Multi Choice attributes. Enter one choice per line, or separate them with commas.
Sort — a number controlling the display order of attributes (lowest first). Leave it blank to sort the attribute to the end. Entering anything other than a whole number shows the error "Sort must be a number".
Match Method — how the attribute behaves as a filter on the Attributes search page:
- For Number attributes: >= matches items whose value is at least what you type; <= matches items whose value is at most what you type.
- For Multi Choice attributes: AND requires items to have every choice you select; OR matches items with any of them.
- For Text attributes: [None] matches items whose text contains what you type; setting a match method requires an exact match.
Online — Yes shows this attribute with the item on your website.
Sign — Yes includes this attribute on printed item signs.
Web Name — an alternate label that replaces Name wherever the attribute is displayed: on your website, on the item page's Attributes tab, in the attribute search, and on signs. (The Import/Export spreadsheet column keeps the regular Name.) Leave blank to use the regular name everywhere.

Some stores also use dynamic attributes, whose values are computed from a template instead of entered by hand (shown in the Dynamic column). Dynamic attributes are configured per-client by VMX — contact help@vmxllc.com if you're interested.

Export inventory and attributes to Excel

The Import/Export page (go to Inventory, then click the Import/Export tab) downloads your inventory — including all attribute values — as an Excel file you can edit in bulk.

In the Export Inventory Data panel, optionally select Departments to limit the export. Leave the selector blank to include every department. You can also pick individual sub-departments.
Use the Columns to include picker to choose which columns end up in the file. The default is all columns; use the All / None buttons to select or clear every column at once. Some columns are marked (required) and are always included. Your column selection is stored in the page URL, so you can bookmark the page after picking to save the selection.
Click Export. The file downloads as Attributes_<Store Name>.xlsx.

The export contains one row per item, with columns for item details (PLU, Name, Variety, Color, Size, descriptions), pricing, vendor and brand, quantities, web fields, one column per attribute you have defined, and a Time Stamp column used for conflict detection on import. Numeric Min/Max attribute pairs are combined into a single column (for example "Mature Height Min" and "Mature Height Max" export as one Mature Height column holding a range).

Import inventory and attributes from Excel

The Import/Export page updates items in bulk from an edited export file. The recommended workflow is: export, edit that file, preview the import, then import for real.

Export first (see above) and make your edits in that file. Don't add or remove columns, don't modify the Time Stamp or PLU columns, only edit the first sheet, and save in .xlsx format.
Go to Inventory, click the Import/Export tab, and in the Import Inventory Data panel choose your file.
Leave Actually save the changes unchecked and click Upload. This runs a preview — the page reports "Not actually importing..." and lists every change it would make, row by row. Review it for errors or unexpected changes.
When the preview looks right, upload again with Actually save the changes checked. Changes are applied immediately; changes to items shown online reach your website through its regular sync.

Notes:

Saving changes requires the Edit Inventory employee permission. Without it, the Actually save the changes checkbox is disabled and you can only preview.
Progress is shown as rows are processed. Large imports can take several minutes — don't close the browser window until you see "Import Complete!".
Department, Vendor, and Brand columns match existing records by name (capitalization doesn't matter). Create the department/vendor/brand in VMX first if it doesn't exist yet.
The import never changes quantity on hand — uploading a new On Hand value is ignored by design. To update counts, go to Reports > Inventory > Worksheet, download the worksheet, enter the new quantities in the Phys. Qty column, and click Upload.

Attribute value formats in the import spreadsheet

Each attribute is a column in the import file. How to fill in values depends on the attribute's type:

Numeric attributes (ranges) — for Min/Max attribute pairs, the spreadsheet has a single combined column that accepts:
- A range: 10-15 sets Min to 10 and Max to 15.
- A single value: 10 automatically creates a range 20% either side (Min 8, Max 12).
- Feet and inches: values containing " are read as inches; values containing ' are read as feet. For example 30" or 5'-6'.
Single Choice attributes — enter exactly one of the attribute's defined choices, spelled exactly as defined. Entering more than one value fails with an error ending in "--only select 1".
Multiple Choice attributes — enter one or more defined choices separated by commas or slashes, for example Red, Blue or Red/Blue.
Text attributes — enter free text.

A value that isn't one of the attribute's defined choices is rejected with the row error "invalid [Attribute] choice 'X'. Choices: [...]" — the error lists the allowed values. To add a new allowed value, first add it to the attribute's Choices on the Edit Attribute Types page.

Create new items through the import

The Import/Export tool can create items as well as update them:

In your import file, leave the PLU column blank for the new row (or fill in the specific PLU you want the new item to have and add a Match column with the value ADD).
Fill in the Department column — it's required for new items and must match an existing department name.
Fill in the rest of the row (name, price, attributes, and so on) as usual.

During preview, new rows are reported as "New item"; on an actual import the item is created and the row's remaining columns are applied to it. If the department is missing or doesn't match, the row is skipped with "'Department' required to insert new item." or "Department 'X' not found — required to insert new item.".

Import conflict protection: the Time Stamp column and "SKIPPING"

Every export includes a Time Stamp column recording when the export was made. On import, VMX compares each field's last change date in the system against that timestamp:

If a field was changed in VMX after your export, the import shows that field as SKIPPING and leaves the newer value alone. This prevents a stale spreadsheet from overwriting work done since the export.
Only fields whose last change is older than your export are updated.

Because of this, never modify or delete the Time Stamp column. If the column is missing or empty, the import warns: "No 'Time Stamp' column found, so any conflicting item changes made in VMX (since export) may be overridden" — it will still run, but without conflict protection.

If fields you do want to change show as SKIPPING, export a fresh copy, re-apply your edits to it, and import that file.

Common import errors and fixes

Errors are reported per row in the import preview/results:

"PLU 12345 not found in database" — the PLU doesn't exist. Correct the PLU, or to create a new item leave PLU blank and add a Match column with the value ADD.
"'Department' required to insert new item." — a new-item row has no department. Fill in the Department column.
"unknown Dept value 'X'" / "unknown Vendor value 'X'" / "unknown Brand value 'X'" — the name doesn't match any existing record. Use the exact name from VMX, or create the department/vendor/brand first.
"invalid [Attribute] choice 'X'. Choices: [...]" — the attribute value isn't one of the allowed choices. Use only the values listed in the error, or add the new choice on the Edit Attribute Types page first.
"SKIPPING ROW X -- WRONG NUMBER OF COLUMNS" — the row has a different number of columns than the header row. Don't add or remove columns; check for merged cells or stray data to the right of the table.
"Error: .[extension] files are not supported. Please save your file as .xlsx or .csv and try again." — the file format can't be read. Re-save the spreadsheet as .xlsx and upload again.
Fields showing SKIPPING — the field was modified in VMX after your export; see the Time Stamp section above.

For help with attributes or imports, contact help@vmxllc.com.