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Square Online Item Sync

When you first set up Square Online in your Square account, item information will sync between your Square Item Library and Square Online. After the initial setup, syncing will continue automatically in the background with some exceptions.

Learn more about creating items and categories in Square Online, and creating and managing items online from your Square Item Library.

What Syncs

Item descriptions

Changes to item descriptions automatically sync between Square Online and your Square Item Library when you have description sync turned on. Both catalogues also support rich text styling (e.g. bold, italics, links, lists, etc.).

Starting on 12th December 2023, item description sync will be permanently enabled for you if you have it turned off. You’ll no longer see the option to turn this sync off once enabled, so be sure to specify the source of your item descriptions (from either Square Online or Square Item Library) before that date. If you don’t select a source:

• and you’ve been actively using Square Online within the last twelve months, the item descriptions from your Square Online catalogue will automatically become your source of item descriptions throughout Square.

• and you haven’t been actively using Square Online within the last twelve months, the item descriptions from your Square Item Library catalogue will automatically become your source of item descriptions throughout Square.

To choose your source before 12th December 2023:

  1. From your Square Online Overview page, go to Items > Item Sync or Shared Settings > Item Sync.
  2. Under ‘Custom sync settings’, Enable the description sync option.
  3. Choose either the Online or Item Library option, and select Enable item description sync.

Once you choose a source, all item descriptions will be the same throughout Square, including your website and Square Point of Sale.

Note: Item descriptions as they appear in Square POS won’t display rich text styling.

Item images

Item images found in your Square Item Library are synced across multiple platforms including Square Online. When you update or delete an item image in one place, you’ll see the change reflected in every place your item is visible (such as your website).

Item variations and modifiers

Items with variations and/or modifiers applied will sync the same as other items. You can add and edit variations or modifiers after an item has already synced, and those changes will sync over to the item in Square Online.

Item weights

Item weights are important for setting up shipping, and can be updated in either Square Online or your Square Item Library.

Stock

Inventory decreases automatically in your Square Item Library when customers buy items from Square Online. Learn more about managing stock in Square Online.

Deleted items

Deleting an item in Square Online will also delete it from Square Item Library. If you want to remove an item from your website without deleting it from your Item Library, you can mark it as unavailable instead. To do so:

  1. From your Square Online Overview page, go to Items > Site Items.
  2. Select any amount of items using the checkboxes.
  3. Select Bulk edit > Mark as unavailable.

This will remove the items from your website so they can’t be purchased. If you change your mind later, you can mark them back to Visible using the same method.

Sales and orders

When customers purchase items from your website, the customer and order information syncs between your Square Online Overview page, and your Order Manager in Dashboard and Square POS. You can view and access orders from all of these locations.

Business locations

Location information from your Square account syncs to your Square Online settings. Learn more about managing multiple locations with Square.

What Doesn’t Sync

Sale prices

Sale prices you set on items in Square Online only apply to purchases made on your website.

Tax and delivery settings

Taxes and delivery for your website will need to be set up in your Square Online Overview page. Learn more about setting up taxes and delivery in Square Online.

Other Sync Settings

Custom sync settings

You have the option to automatically add new items to your site. When this setting is turned on, items that you create in your Square Item Library or POS will be automatically added to your site.

Note: This setting is supported if you only have one site in your account. If you have multiple sites, you’ll need to manually assign items from your Item Library to each of your sites.

Item visibility settings

You can set the default visibility setting for newly created items that sync over from Square Item Library to Square Online. To start:

  1. From your Square Online Overview page, go to Items > Item Sync or Shared Settings > Item Sync.
  2. Under ‘Item visibility settings’, choose either Visible, Hidden or Unavailable.

New items that you create from scratch in Square Online will be Visible by default. You can also update visibility for multiple items that you’ve already added to Square Online using the bulk editing method, or update it directly from your Square Item Library by selecting an item and editing the Visibility under ‘Square Online settings’. Learn more about creating and managing items in your Item Library.

The available item visibility settings are as follows:

  • Visible: Your item is visible online and available for purchase, and will show up in navigation and site search results.
  • Hidden: Your item is available for purchase online but only to those who have the direct link to it (useful for exclusive items).
  • Unavailable: Your item isn’t visible online and can’t be purchased (useful if you aren’t ready to sell the item).

Troubleshooting

If items aren’t syncing between Square Item Library and Square Online:

  1. From your Square Item Library, check your item variations and be sure there aren't two or more items with the same name.

  2. If there are (even if these items have different prices or SKUs), differentiate them by adding a ‘.’ (full stop), ‘-’ (dash) or ‘/’ (forward slash) at the end of one name.

Doing this will cause items to resync.

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