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FAQs & Troubleshooting

FAQs​

What are the system requirements for cobby?​

Here you can find an overview of all system requirements for cobby.

Windows

It runs with all Windows versions. If Excel runs, so does cobby.

Mac or Linux

cobby requires Microsoft Windows and Excel from version 2007. If you want to use cobby on a non-Windows system, this only works with a virtual machine. On the Mac this can be Parallels or VMware fusion, under Linux for example Virtual Box.

Excel

  • from Excel 2007 (exception: Excel Starter)
  • recommendation: Excel 2016 bzw. Office 365 / 64 bit version

Excel for Mac and Open Office is not supported.

Magento

  • Magento 1 Community Edition from version 1.6 and Enterprise Edition from version 1.12
  • Magento 2 Community Edition and Enterprise Edition from version 2.3

Which URLs are used by cobby in the shop?​

Until cobby version 1.40

cobby must reach the following URL for communication with our services:

  • Protocol/ShopURL/index.php/api/mash2/json

After cobby version 1.40

cobby must be able to reach either

  • Protocol/ShopURL/index.php/api/mash2/json or
  • Protocol/ShopURL/api/mash2/json

For Magento 2

cobby must be able to reach the following URL:

  • Protocol/ShopURL/index.php/rest/

If the URL rewrites are used, it should be ensured that this URL is not redirected in your shop. The URL should be excluded from rewrites.

Which Microsoft Office version do I have?​

It is helpful to know which version of Microsoft Office is installed on your computer. This is how you find out which Microsoft Office version is currently installed.

1. Open Excel: Open Excel, select any Excel folder and click File in the upper left corner.

2. Open account settings

  1. Now go to Account in the left column.
  2. Then go to Product Information Microsoft Office.

3. Info about Excel:

If you need more information, click on the button with the question mark Info about Excel.

How can I uninstall cobby?​

To change from cobby 1.0 to cobby 2.0 it is necessary to uninstall cobby completely once. In cobby 2.0 it is so that every newly created workspace gets an automatic license assignment.

To uninstall cobby 1.0, do the following:

  1. Open your local settings on your computer.
  2. Go to Apps → Apps and Features.
  3. Go to cobby uninstall.

Can I launch Excel without cobby?​

Yes. Having installed several Excel add-ins can make your work more efficient, provided most of the add-ins are used on a daily basis. However, this is not always the case. If you want to know how to start Excel without any add-ins such as cobby, keep reading.

Why is it useful to launch Excel without add-ins?

Excel add-ins may cause Excel to launch significantly slower. Since most users do not work with all add-ins regularly, it can be smart to adjust the Excel settings accordingly. This way Excel does not have to launch all add-ins and thus starts much faster.

How to: Launch Excel without cobby or other add-ins

To launch Excel frequently without add-ins, please proceed as follows:

  1. Launch the File Explorer, or Windows Explorer. Then search in the upperright corner for Excel.

  2. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the Type column and check the Application box.

  3. Right-click the application in the File Explorer and select Send to desktop (create shortcut) in the popup menu.

  4. If you right-click on the shortcut, you can select Properties and then adjust the shortcut on your desktop.

    Add " /s" at the end of the target path in the Target field in the Shortcut Properties dialog box.

  5. Optional: In order not to mix up your Excel shortcuts, you can rename the new one without add-ins on your desktop.

Magento message "Integration not secure" - do I need to do something?​

In short, no. This is perfectly normal and is not a problem, so you do not need to do anything else.

Magento has made a change for all versions from version 2.4 onwards, which should cause the connection to the integration to be made as automatically as possible. We have not yet developed this automatism for cobby, so the keys are entered manually. This manual input causes Magento to display the message "Integration not secure".

💡 You can read more about this change in Magento here in this Adobe Developer article.

Best Practice: How can I increase performance?​

Requirements for optimal use of cobby

  • Excel 64-bit version
  • good hoster: the system always adapts to the performance of the hosting. When we import data, first "a lot" of data is transmitted and based on the speed/response time, the size of the transmitted partial dataset is decreased or increased, so the speed of processing the datasets depends on the hoster and not on us.
  • if necessary, ignore formula relations (cobby tab → Settings button): By activating the option, formula relationships that refer to areas outside the row will be ignored. Formula relationships are preserved, only the product status no longer changes to yellow when a linked cell is modified. Mass changes are calculated faster by activating the option.

When should this function be used?

  • if the linked data is not changed after setting the formula
  • when working only with formulas related to the own product attributes/row.
  • if necessary, set calculations in Excel from automatic to manual (Formulas tab → drop-down menu of calculation options "manual")

With this option enabled, formulas are not automatically recalculated due to value changes in a cell, but the user must select the "Calculate workbook" option. This function can lead to a significant time saving and a reduction of the calculation effort.

Troubleshooting​

Problems while installing the cobby add-in​

If you receive an error message like this, please check the following:

Make sure that all the latest Windows and Office updates have already been installed on your computer. The cobby installer accesses these files and needs the latest versions to run smoothly.

Click in your "Control Panel" on "System and Security ". There you will find the item "Windows Updates". Install the pending updates.

If the problem is still not solved after that, please install the Security certificate of the setup file in the Trust Center of Office. Proceed as follows:

  1. Right-click on the cobby installation file and select "Properties" and then the "Digital Signatures " tab.
  2. Mark here the entry "mash2 GmbH & Co. KG" and then click on "Details".

  1. In the "Digital signature details" window, select "Show certificate ".
  2. In the "Certificate" window select "Install Certificate " and follow the certificate import wizard.
  3. When asked for the certificate store, please select "Store all certificates in the following store " and select the entry "Trusted Issuers" via the "Browse" button. Confirm with "OK", then click on "Next" and then "Finish".

Things to consider when using Varnish​

If you use Varnish, you have the option to enable or disable automatic flushing of the Varnish cache in the cobby settings of your Magento backend.

Auto-empty will only delete affected entries from the external cache. However, automatic emptying during saving can have a strong negative impact on the runtime of saving processes, especially if products are extensively linked or assigned to many categories.

We therefore recommend deactivating this setting for large catalogs.

Flush Magento cache​

You need administrator rights to perform this operation.

Procedure:

  1. Open the Magento backend.
  2. Navigate to System > Cache Management.

  1. Click Clear Magento Cache at the top right of the page.

  1. Save the cobby configuration.

cobby IP .htaccess Authentification​

If a .htaccess protection has been enabled in Magento, the connection between cobby and Magento will not work. To work with an activated .htaccess protection, there are two variants to connect cobby with Magento.

Variant 1: IPs

Please store the following IP addresses for access from cobby:

  • 78.46.90.150
  • 138.201.83.227
  • 157.90.208.180
  • 157.90.208.174

Variant 2: API-Route hinzufügen

To make the connection to the API work despite active .htaccess protection, the default Magento API routes can be removed from the password protection.

  • Magento 1: shopurl/index.php/api
  • Magento 2: shopurl/rest/

More information about the implementation can be found here:

https://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.4/rest/bk-rest.html

Note: Once .htaccess protection is active, images cannot be viewed, downloaded or imported. In this case, the image preview will not be displayed correctly in the Task Pane.

In order for the images to be displayed and imported in the image preview, the .htaccess protection for the images must be removed. For this purpose, a rule can be created so that the folder media/import or all files with the extension .png or .gif .jpg are excluded from the protection.

Domain change in cobby​

A domain change in cobby is generally possible. In this article you will learn what has to be considered.

Magento 2

The domain can be changed in the Magento backend in the following way. First log in to your Magento backend and proceed as follows:

Step 1:

  • Stores (1) → Configuration (2)
  • Web (1) → Base URL (2) → Save Config (3)

cobby

Now the new URL must be stored in the customer portal. Please do the following:

  1. Log in with your access data at https://app.cobby.io.
  2. Click on your workspace and go to Shop (1).
  3. Click on the "Edit" button (2) under Configuration to enter the new Shop URL (3).
  4. Click on "Save" (4).

Error message "Sorry, we couldn't find..."​

If this error comes up, you can simply confirm it with "Ok". It occurs only once and only if you have uninstalled and then reinstalled cobby. After confirmation, close Excel and open it again. It should now work again.