With the product filter, you select the products for which Xentral transfers data to your sales channel. A properly set filter prevents unwanted publications and unnecessary error messages. The following four rules apply to all integrations.
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Navigate to Settings > Integrations.
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Click on the gear icon for the desired integration.
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In the tab Configuration > Article assignment under Configure filter, define your condition: IF · field · operator · value, for example a product number, a tag, or the link to the sales channel in the online shop options of the product. You add further conditions via Add single condition.
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Click on Save and apply. Beforehand, Xentral displays the number of matches for confirmation and creates a new product list from it. Under Previously applied filters, you see the previous runs with the number of products and the date.
The selection applies to all workflows of the integration. Without a filter, Xentral synchronizes all products, including blocked ones. Therefore, always set a product filter.
Include in the filter only products that you actually offer in this sales channel.
Why: For every product in the filter, Xentral tries to transfer stock levels, prices, or master data. If the product does not exist in the sales channel, error messages occur, for example “No product with productNumber … found in shop”. For integrations that create products in the sales channel, a filter that is too broad can also cause products to be published unintentionally.
Example: You have 5,000 products in Xentral but offer only 300 of them on OTTO. Mark these 300 products, for example with a dedicated tag, and filter by this tag in the integration. Choose the filter condition so that it matches exactly these 300 products.
If you remove a product from the filter, Xentral does not delete it in the sales channel. Xentral simply no longer updates the product there.
Why: The filter only determines whether Xentral sends updates for a product. It is not a delete command. This way, you do not lose listings in the sales channel just because you change the filter.
Example: A discontinued product drops out of the filter. In the sales channel, it remains with the most recently transferred stock level and price. If you no longer want to offer it there, activate the option Product inactive in the product under Details > Online shop options while the product is still in the filter, and save. See the article Removing products from the shop/marketplace offering.
Caution
When a product drops out of the filter, Xentral also no longer transfers stock changes. A stock level that you no longer have can then remain in the sales channel. Before removing it, check whether the product can still be sold in the sales channel.
Xentral automatically adds new products that match your filter condition to the product assignment overnight. This applies as soon as the integration is active (Channel active switch).
Why: Xentral compares the filter condition with your entire product master in an automatic overnight run.
Example: In the morning, you create a new product with the tag of your sales channel and want to sell it right away. Do not wait until the next day. Instead, open the product and click on Synchronize products under Details > Online shop options. Xentral then adds the product to the filter immediately.
The fact that a product is in the filter does not trigger a transfer by itself. Xentral synchronizes a product as soon as something changes on it in Xentral, for example stock level, price, or master data. This change triggers an internal event, and only this event starts the transfer.
Why: During live operation, Xentral exchanges product, stock, and price data event-based, that is, only when a record changes.
Example: You extend your filter by 200 products that already exist in the sales channel. Xentral updates their stock levels only when something changes on these products. If you want to synchronize them immediately, filter them in the journal and click on Synchronize filtered. See the article Import/export journal.