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How to Match Categories Between Systems

Goal: Create a category matching table to map old categories to new categories when migrating between stores or updating category structures.

Prerequisites​

  • Excel with cobby installed
  • Access to both old and new category structures
  • Source data containing categories to be matched

Steps​

1. Prepare Your Category List​

  1. Open your source data and locate the categories you want to match
  2. Select and copy all categories
  3. Paste them into a new empty Excel sheet
  4. Add two column headers:
    • First column: Name for old categories (e.g., "Old Categories")
    • Second column: Name for new categories (e.g., "New Categories")

2. Convert to Excel Table​

  1. Select all rows and columns for your category data

  1. Navigate to Home tab and click Format as Table
  2. Choose a table design

  1. In the dialog box that appears, verify the range and click OK

3. Remove Duplicate Categories​

  1. Navigate to Data tab and click Remove Duplicates

  1. In the Remove Duplicates window, uncheck the empty second category column
  2. Click OK

  1. A message box will confirm the number of duplicates removed

4. Clean Up Empty Rows​

If Excel leaves empty rows in the table:

  1. Click Data and then click the Sort A-Z button to group empty rows together

  1. Select all empty rows
  2. Right-click on the row number and click Delete

5. Load Products in cobby​

  1. In the same Excel workbook, click Load products to load your store products

  1. Select a product from the store view that matches your category structure
  2. If unsure, select a product from "All StoreViews"

6. Assign New Categories​

  1. Click on the Images column cell for your selected product
  2. The cobby Task Pane will open on the right side

  1. For each row in your matching table:

    • Select the matching categories in the Task Pane
    • Copy the category cell
    • Navigate to your matching table
    • Paste into the "New Categories" column
    • Return to the product and select the category cell again
    • Delete the cell content
    • Repeat until all rows are filled

  2. After completing all matches, select the category cell again

  3. Click Reset Product to restore the original state

7. Use the Matching Table with Formulas​

Apply the matching table using the INDEX and MATCH formula:

=INDEX(CategoryMatchingTable[New Categories]; MATCH([Old Category]; CategoryMatchingTable[Old Categories]; 0))

Replace:

  • CategoryMatchingTable with your table name
  • [New Categories] with your new category column name
  • [Old Categories] with your old category column name
  • [Old Category] with the cell reference containing the old category

Troubleshooting​

Empty rows remain after removing duplicates

  • Manually select and delete empty rows using the steps in section 4

Categories not appearing in Task Pane

  • Verify you selected a product from the correct store view
  • Try selecting a product from "All StoreViews"

Formula returns error

  • Verify table name matches your Excel table name
  • Check that column names are spelled correctly
  • Ensure the old category value exists in your matching table

Next Steps​

Once your matching table is complete, you can:

  • Apply the formula to all products requiring category updates
  • Use the matching table across multiple workbooks
  • Update the table as your category structure evolves