To import the categories please go to System > Import.

Entity Type: Select the Categories in the dropdown list of Entity Type.

• Import Behaviour:
  • Select the options you want to apply while importing categories.
  • There are 3 options available for you to select.
• Add/Update:
  • This option allows you to add new categories of the website.
  • Also Update the categories if any of that category is already exists.
• Replace:
  • This option will replace the old categories with the new categories.
• Delete: This option will delete the categories.
• Validation Strategy:
  • Select one of the options from the dropdown list to set validation strategy.
  • There are two options available: Stop on Error and Skip Error Entries.
  • Stop on Error: The system will stop importing the categories when there are errors.
  • Skip Error Entries: The system skips the errors and continues to import categories.
• Allowed Errors Count:
  • Enter the maximum number of errors you want to allow while importing.
• Field Separator:
  • Enter the separator marker to separate the fields in the column.
  • Default value for field separator is “,”.
• Multiple Value Separator:
  • Enter the separator marker to separate the multiple values in cell of single column.
  • Default value for field separator is “,”.
• Empty attribute value constant:
  • Enter constant for empty attribute value.
  • Default value is _EMPTY_VALUE_.
• Field enclosure:
  • Click the checkbox to enclose the value in the column.

• Select File to Import: 
  • Click choose file to select imported categories file.
  • The file format must be CSV.
• Images File Directory:
  • If the imported files contains a path to the product image, in case the Images File Directory is empty, include your image in the directory with the path: var/import/images/product_images.

• Before importing the categories via CSV file, you need to prepare a CSV file with necessary information.
• You can download a sample file by clicking the Download Sample File link near to the Entity Type field.

• Sample file includes information like category id, name, store id, is_active, image, display mode and so on.

• After entering all the above information, click on the Check Data button at the top right to check if the added data are correct.
• It will check the data and if the data is valid then the import button will display, you can click on the Import button to import the categories.

• In another case if the imported file is not valid or the import process is wrong then after clicking on the check data button, it will give you error.
• Solve that error and try again.

When the import process is complete it will give you a successful message.