Guide
Getting a supplier PDF price list into WooCommerce
The PDF looks like a table. Copied into Excel it becomes brand headings in the wrong column, descriptions split across two cells, prices with and without VAT side by side, and a page total that looks like a product. This page goes through those spots one by one.
Short answer
Upload the PDF as it is. The reader recognises the table on each page, keeps brand headings as context rather than rows, joins split descriptions, picks the net price column, converts pack prices to unit cost and drops totals. Each row gets a certainty mark, and the uncertain ones are shown first on the review screen before anything reaches WooCommerce.
Scanned PDFs work too, with lower certainty per row. The second price list from the same supplier reads faster, because the layout is remembered. Click the numbered spots on the page below.
Northline Trading
Wholesale price list for resellers
Issue 09/2026
Page 3 of 7
| Code | Description | Pack | Net | Incl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Household textiles | ||||
| AX-2210 | Bath towel 70x140 white | 1 pc | 3,45 | 4,28 |
| AX-2231 | Ceramic mug 350 ml matt glaze, dishwasher safe, boxed | 4,10 | 5,08 | |
| AX-2299 | Tealight candles | 12 pc | 10,20 | 12,65 |
| AX-2304 | Kitchen cloth 3-pack | 1 pc | 1,90 | 2,36 |
| Page total | 19,65 | 24,37 | ||
Prices in EUR, ex works. Valid until further notice. Errors and omissions excepted.
What the reader takes from this spot
The description continues on a second line and the pack column is merged into it. Copy-paste yields two rows: one with a code and no price, one with a price and no code. The reader joins them back into one row and marks it as worth checking, because a join is a judgement.
- Code
- AX-2231
- Name
- Ceramic mug 350 ml, matt glaze
- Unit
- 1 pc
- Cost
- €4.10net
Worth checking rows come first on the review screen. You confirm the name in a glance.
Measured, not promised
One real supplier PDF, timed
A seven-page PDF price list from a real wholesaler, with brand headings, split descriptions and pack prices. Read, normalised and matched against a store catalogue, end to end.
- 0
- rows read and matched
- 0
- seconds, upload to review screen
- 0
- PDF pages in the supplier's own layout
The same run is shown on the home page. Your files will differ; scanned pages and unusual layouts take longer and produce more rows marked worth checking.
Step by step
From PDF to review screen
Four steps. The first two are automatic, the last two are yours.
Upload the PDF or forward the email
Any layout, any number of pages. On the Pro plan you can forward the supplier's email to your import address and the attachment enters the queue by itself.
The reader turns pages into rows
Four pages at a time, with progress shown as it goes. Each row gets a code, a name, a unit and a net cost, plus a certainty mark. Arithmetic such as pack division happens in code, not in the language model.
Uncertain rows are surfaced first
Joined descriptions, damaged codes and unusual pack sizes are marked worth checking. They open first on the review screen, next to the original line from the PDF, so confirming takes a glance.
You approve what reaches WooCommerce
The review shows every row against your product, with the new margin. Nothing is written until you approve, and every push can be undone.
What it does not do
Where a PDF reader has limits
Poor scans need more of your time
A photographed or faxed price list is read with OCR. It works, but more rows will be marked worth checking, and a few digits may need your correction on the review screen.
The language model does no arithmetic
It reads text. Pack division, VAT and margins are computed in code from integer cents. This is a limit by design, so a model error cannot become a wrong price.
Product photos in the PDF are ignored
Only the text table is read. Images embedded in catalogues are low resolution anyway and are not imported into your store.
Questions people ask before trying it
Related guides
The same price list usually raises more than one of these.
Guide
How to update WooCommerce prices from a supplier price list
The four steps from the file your supplier sent to approved prices in your store, and how each method compares.
Read the guideGuide
When your supplier sends part numbers instead of your SKUs
How a row with no common code still finds its product, and why you only match it by hand once.
Read the guideGuide
How to compare an old and a new supplier price list
Increases, decreases, new and discontinued items in one table, with what each change does to your margin.
Read the guide
Try it on your own price list, not ours.
Start the 14-day trial, connect your store and upload the last file a supplier sent you. Nothing is written to WooCommerce until you approve it.
No card. Every change can be undone.