WP CSV to Database Plugin | Tips and Tricks

WP CSV to Database Plugin – Import Excel file content into WordPress database (MySQL)

Categories: Wordpress Plugin

WP CSV to Database plugin allows you to insert CSV file content into WordPress database. Useful when you want to bulk upload data from your CSV file (e.g. product details) to the WordPress database (MySQL) in one go.

If you didn’t know what a CSV file is then you can learn more from Wikipedia. You can use Microsoft Excel to enter all your data and then save the file as a CSV file.

Many of my WordPress Shopping Cart users have requested me to add an option so that they can bulk upload their product details into the database from a CSV file (really useful when you have hundreds of products). Hopefully this plugin will satisfy that need and in addition you will be able to use it to bulk upload any data into your WordPress database to save you time and effort.

Installation of the Plugin

Unzip and Upload the folder ‘wp-csv-to-db’ to the ‘/wp-content/plugins/’ directory
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

Usage of the Plugin

Access the plugin’s User Interface in the WordPress dashboard under the “Settings” menu after installation and do the following:

Specify the general options.
Specify the input file (Upload the CSV file or specify the location of a pre-uploaded CSV file)
Hit the “Import to DB” button to import the CSV file content into the database table.

Download Latest Version (v1.8)

Download the CSV to DB plugin.

How to Use This Plugin to Bulk Upload WP eStore Products

How to Bulk Upload eStore Products from a CSV File

How to Use This Plugin to Bulk Upload WP eMember members

How to Bulk Upload Member Details from a CSV File

Special Note

If the cell values in the CSV file have special characters like apostrophe (‘) or quotes (“) then don’t forget to use a backslash before them (e.g Karen\’s book). You shouldn’t need to do this anymore if you are using v1.5 or above.

Video Tutorial

The video tutorial on the following page might also be a good resource for importing data into your WordPress database table:

How to easily import data into WordPress database table

If you have any issues with the plugin please leave a comment below.

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Tags: CSV to DB , Web development , Wordpress Plugin

#1 by Kevin Gibson on April 14, 2010 - 1:59 pm

Thanks for the reply, yeah I’ve tried it with just one entry into a table with only one column and I’m getting the same thing, the page loads until just after the end of the left hand menu then nothing else, so no footer either.
.-= Kevin Gibson´s last blog ..Pink =-.

#2 by admin on April 14, 2010 - 3:28 am

Maybe you have too many entries that’s throwing the error so it’s banking out.

Can you try with a few entries first to see if it goes in fine?

#3 by Kevin Gibson on April 13, 2010 - 10:38 am

Thanks, I’ll give it a whirl. Currently I’m getting a problem importing to the database, no error code or anything, just a blank screen loads up. Any ideas what could be causing it to do this?

#4 by admin on April 13, 2010 - 3:40 am

Nope, it won’t check for duplicates (you can tweak the code to add this checking).

#5 by Kevin Gibson on April 12, 2010 - 10:02 am

I have a database of gigs listings that I want to be able to add to, but not duplicate. Will this plugin check for duplicate entries?
.-= Kevin Gibson´s last blog ..Pink =-.

#6 by Tcodes on April 12, 2010 - 1:22 am

thank you. i used this plugin imported more than 16000 records into the DB
.-= Tcodes´s last blog ..Welcome to Tcodes =-.

#7 by Fiz on April 4, 2010 - 9:43 pm

thnx admin for getting back to me.
I tried that and that’s why i got the fopen() error. I FTP’d the file.
So i guess my server is the cause of the above error

#8 by admin on April 4, 2010 - 9:34 pm

Hi Fiz, looks like your server does no allow PHP fopen functionality. You can upload the file to your server using a FTP program then use this plugin to import the content into the database. Just specify the URL of the file in the “Specify the file URL ” field after you upload it.

#9 by Fiz on April 4, 2010 - 7:26 pm

I tried uploading the csv file to my server and got these errors:

Warning: fopen() [function.fopen]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /wp-content/plugins/wp-csv-to-database/wp-csv-to-db.php on line 27

#10 by Fiz on April 4, 2010 - 7:19 pm

Im tryin to upload the csv file and it’s coming up with
‘There was an error uploading the file, please try again!’

I’ve converted all ‘ and ” to \’ and \”

what else do i need to do?

#11 by admin on March 30, 2010 - 8:57 pm

@Ed, There seems to be bug in the code for when you don’t specify the “column names”. I have updated it… please download the latest version from this page and give it a go.

#12 by Ed on March 30, 2010 - 9:00 am

When I hit the button import to database I see the following error,
INSERT INTO wp_name_table () VALUES (‘Auto Reinigings Produckten zuur ;Velgen reiniger;801110;Velgen Reiniger 750ml ;? 4′,’60;50;0′,’8;0;0′)
.-= Ed´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.

#13 by admin on March 25, 2010 - 7:14 pm

@Paul, It only adds the data to the database so your existing data stays intact.

#14 by Paul on March 25, 2010 - 5:05 am

….how about an ‘undo’ option

#15 by Paul on March 25, 2010 - 5:04 am

Does this add to or overwrite existing items in the database?
(Having nightmare visions of someone wiping their database by testing a single entry, or ending up with double everything….)

#16 by admin on March 24, 2010 - 8:07 pm

Hey Darren, you always have to come up with good ideas, don’t you?

Bulk-export feature sounds very useful… I will put it on my to do list.

#17 by Darren (Green Change) on March 24, 2010 - 5:42 pm

Wow, so simple and yet so useful! I bet people are going to be thinking of all sorts of uses for this plugin.

Do you have any plans to add bulk-export functionality? Once you have your products uploaded, you might want to edit descriptions etc. It’d be great to be able to bulk-export the data, update it, and then re-upload them.
.-= Darren (Green Change)´s last blog ..Soil Blockers =-.