Uploading Catalog Content

With a subscription to the 3D Warehouse catalog features, you can upload a whole catalog of product details with a single .csv file and manage those details efficiently. Whether you’re uploading or modifying 5 models or 500 models, you can create, update, delete, and organize your models and collections quickly and easily.

Tip: If you don’t already subscribe to the 3D Warehouse catalog features but are interested in adding these features to a 3D Warehouse collection, contact the Sales team for the 3D Warehouse and manufacturers.

Before you start adding product details to the .csv file, you'll find it helpful to understand the following concepts about adding and organizing catalog content:

  • Organize your catalog by collection. In the following figure, you see how the Modloft catalog has a collection for each line of furniture. This helps users browse for related products.
  • Add collection details. You can add a thumbnail image and description to brand your catalog pages. Add a URL so that users can easily click through to the most relevant pages on your website.
  • Add a product description for each model. The model page is where users can download a model of your product. Take care to use simple, descriptive text that helps designers find your models.
In the 3D Warehouse you can organize your products into collections and subcollections

Now that you understand how catalogs are organized within the 3D Warehouse, you’re ready to create your .csv file and upload your catalog content. Whenever you want to edit or update your catalog, you can simply download and update the .csv file. The following steps walk you through an overview of the process:

  1. Sign in to the 3D Warehouse.
  2. From the user menu, select Manage Content.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • If this is your first time using the bulk content manager or you want to simply upload new models and create new collections, click the Get Blank CSV Template option to download a template file.
    • If you want to edit catalog content that you’ve already uploaded, click the Get CSV of Your Content option. This option downloads the template that contains your existing 3D Warehouse model and collection data.
  4. Edit the .csv as explained in Editing the data in the .csv file, later in this article.
  5. Upload the .csv file and all the other files it references to the 3D Warehouse, as explained in Uploading files with the bulk content management tool later in this article.

Tip: If you don’t have access to the catalog features or want to update only one item, you can add or edit a single collection or model page without using the bulk content management features. See Uploading Models and Creating and Sharing Collections.

Table of Contents
  1. Editing the data in your .csv file
  2. Uploading files with the bulk content management tool

Editing the data in your .csv file

To successfully upload all your catalog data in bulk, you need to fill out the .csv template that you downloaded from the 3D Warehouse. You can open and edit this file in any spreadsheet program.

Tip: Be sure that you use the Import feature of your spreadsheet application to import the CSV and make sure to properly specify Comma as the delimiter. In non-US versions of spreadsheet software, the default may be a semicolon, which will not work with our CSV file.

For a model, you must enter data in the following fields, and the remaining fields are optional:

  • Action
  • Type
  • Title
  • SketchUp Filename
  • Containing Collection(s)

Note: If you leave the Containing Collection(s) field blank, you won’t seen an error when you upload your .csv file. However, because the catalog structure is based on collections, make sure you fill out this field.

For a collection, the following fields are required:

  • Action
  • Type
  • SketchUp Filename

Tip: To see an example of how to fill out the .csv file, check out this spreadsheet.

The following table explains how to fill out each field with valid data and what happens in if you leave an optional field blank.

Column Name in .csv File Possible Value Use It To …
Action create Upload a new model or create a new collection.
update Modify an existing model or collection.
delete Delete an existing model or collection. Because this action deletes data and analytics for the catalog item, you may prefer to use the update value and change the item’s privacy from public to private, which retains the item’s stats.
none Indicate that you don’t want to change a model or collection.
Type model Indicate the row data is for a model.
collection Indicate the row is for a collection.
Title The model or collection’s name Gives the model or collection a name that appears in the 3D Warehouse.
SketchUp Filename Name of a SketchUp file stored on your computer, such as MyModel.skp Tells the 3D Warehouse which file users can download on the model page. If this is a collection, leave this field blank.
Thumbnail Filename A filename for a JPG or PNG image file on your computer, such as image.jpg or image.png Add a thumbnail image to a collection. The row’s Type value needs to be collection.
Description Any text Provide a detailed description of your model or collection, such as product descriptions from other online or print catalogs. Use the # symbol to turn any word in your description into a hashtag, which makes your model easy to find via searches for that term.
Containing Collection(s) Title of one or more collections. Use a comma to separate multiple collection names. You must surround each collection title in double quote (") characters. Add the model or collection to the collection(s) specified in this column. For example, if you have a collection with the Title Sofas, and want to add the model in this row to that collection, type "Sofas" in this column. To add the model to the Sofas collection and the Sofa Beds collection, type "Sofas", "Sofa Beds".
Allow Comments Yes Enable other 3D Warehouse users to leave comments on the model details page. A blank field defaults to Yes.
No Prevent users from commenting.
Information URL A valid URL beginning with http:// Direct users to a website where they can learn more about the model.

Warning: You see four additional columns at the end of the .csv template: ID, Date Modified, Time Modified, and URL. Do not edit these fields. 3D Warehouse uses these fields behind the scenes to manage your uploads and updates. If you add or modify data in these fields, 3D Warehouse may not be able to process your updates.

For the curious, here’s what these additional fields do:

  • ID: When you create a model or collection, the 3D Warehouse assigns it an ID. When you download a .csv to edit your catalog, this field contains the model or collection ID, which the 3D Warehouse uses to identify which model or collection to update. You should never need to edit this column.
  • Date Modified: Reflects the calendar date and year of the most recent modification.
  • Time Modified: Contains a timestamp for the most recent modification. The timestamp is recorded in your local time zone.
  • URL: This field holds the 3D Warehouse URL for the model or collection details page.

Uploading files with the bulk content management tool

After your .csv file is complete, follow these steps to upload all your content:

  1. In the 3D Warehouse, return to the Manage Content page where you downloaded the .csv template. The page looks like the following figure. If you don’t see the option to drag and drop files on this page, simply download a template to make the file upload options reappear.
    To upload a catalog of SketchUp models to the 3D Warehouse, use the Manage Content page
  2. Drag onto the page your completed .csv file and any .skp, or image files that you referenced in the .csv file. Or click Browse for Files and select the files to upload in the dialog box that appears.
  3. Fix any errors that appear in the actions table, as shown in the following figure. In this example, a filename for a SketchUp model is missing, so you’d need to fix the .csv file and upload the corrected version.

    The 3D Warehouse bulk content management tool validates each row of your CSV file

    Tip: The Manage Content page validates each row in your .csv file. Use the row number in the actions table to find the row that you need to fix in your .csv file.

  4. After you resolve all the errors in the actions table, click the Process Actions button. After you click this button, the 3D Warehouse begins changing your catalog. As your files upload, the actions table displays the status of each row, and a progress indicator displays the upload’s overall progress. This is a great time to grab a coffee and celebrate your hard work!
  5. When the Process Complete page appears, click the Go to Your Profile button to view all the content you uploaded. The 3D Warehouse may need about one minute display all your changes throughout the website.