Paste items in bulk
This is the tool that turns a spreadsheet into a menu. It creates items that do not exist and updates items that do, in one paste.
Where
Under the menu type: Bulk create/update. The heading reads Bulk create or update … from Excel, and the screen explains the method: paste the values from your spreadsheet into the table to create or update your items.
The screen
- Assign category — the category applied to every row in this batch.
- The table, with one column per field for that menu type and a delete control per row.
- Update posts — the save action, at the bottom.
There is no file upload. The table is filled by pasting or by typing.
Paste
- Open the menu type's Bulk create/update screen.
- Choose the category for this batch.
- In your spreadsheet, select the data rows — not the heading row.
- Copy.
- Click into the first cell of the table and paste.
- Check that the values landed in the columns you expect.
- Select Update posts.
- Read the confirmation: Process complete. N new items created, M items updated.
The screen keeps your table between visits and warns you when there are unsaved changes, so an interrupted session is not lost.
What happens to each row
| Row | Result |
|---|---|
| Title that does not exist in this menu type | A new item is created, published, with the pasted prices, in the chosen category, at the end of the menu order |
| Title that already exists | That item is updated with the non-empty cells, put in the chosen category, and moved to the end of the order |
| Empty title | Skipped entirely |
| Empty price cell | Skipped — the existing value is left alone |
The three behaviors to internalise
New items arrive published. An import is not a way to stage content quietly. If the menu should not change yet, draft the items afterwards.
Matched items move to the end. Order the menu after importing, never before.
Empty cells never erase. To clear a price you must empty the field on the item, or inline on All items.
Editing in the table
Cells are editable in place, so you can correct a value after pasting and before saving. The control at the end of a row deletes that row from the table — it does not delete an item.
Batch size
Paste batches you can actually review — one category at a time is the natural unit. A very large paste is slower, harder to verify, and produces a result nobody checks.
Bulk saves purge the site's page cache once when the batch finishes rather than once per row, so the public menu updates in one step at the end.
After saving
The screen redirects to All items for that menu type. Then:
- Confirm the reported counts match what you expected.
- Confirm Uncategorized Items is empty.
- Set the order of the imported section.
- Complete the items — descriptions, photos, allergens — on their own screens.
- Read the menu signed out.
What is not imported
Descriptions, subtitles, long descriptions, photos, videos, allergens, featured marks and translations. Every bulk import produces a skeleton that still has to be finished.