Term Descriptions
Find duplicated, templated and boilerplate category and tag descriptions, rewrite them in a spreadsheet, and import them back with Super Speedy Imports. An add-on for the paid edition, coming soon.
Find repeated category and tag descriptions, fix them in a spreadsheet, then import them back
An add-on for Super Speedy Imports
Category and tag pages are often the pages a shop most wants people to land on, and on a large catalogue their descriptions are the text nobody got round to. Some are missing, some are a few words long, and some are the same sentence copied across many terms, or one template with each term’s name swapped in. Fixing them in wp-admin means opening one term’s edit screen at a time.
Term Descriptions turns that into a spreadsheet job. Super Speedy Imports’ Data tab already finds missing and short descriptions. The add-on adds the checks for duplicated, templated and boilerplate descriptions, and the import type that brings your rewritten descriptions back in. Download the terms you want to fix as a CSV, rewrite them in your spreadsheet, and upload the file with + New Import. Super Speedy Imports recognises it as term data, chooses the Term Descriptions import type and configures the import for you.
Only what changed gets written. A description you did not touch is not written again, an empty cell keeps the description already there, and running the same file a second time changes nothing.
Term Descriptions is not on sale yet. Leave your email at the top of the page to hear when it is.
What Term Descriptions gives you back
- The repeated descriptions, in one list. The Data tab checks a whole taxonomy for duplicated, templated and boilerplate descriptions, alongside Super Speedy Imports’ own missing and short checks, with a link to each term’s edit screen.
- Your descriptions, written where you like to write. Edit the file in a spreadsheet or a text editor, then import it back.
- An import that sets itself up. Upload the file and the columns, the matching and the options are chosen for you, ready to check and run.
- Good descriptions stay as they are. An empty cell never blanks a description, and a cell holding only spaces counts as empty.
- Never the wrong term. The taxonomy is always part of the match, and a slug that belongs to more than one term stops the import before anything is written.
- Safe to run again. A second run of an unchanged file changes nothing, so the same import can be kept and rerun as you work through the list.
- Your HTML, exactly as typed. Paragraphs, links and bold text arrive the way they are written in the file.
- It runs like any other import. Save it, load it, keep its history, schedule it, or run it from WP-CLI.
From weak descriptions to fixed ones
Find them
On the Super Speedy Imports Data tab, choose a taxonomy and tick the checks you want. Term Descriptions adds the checks for repeated descriptions to the missing and short checks already there. You set how many characters counts as short, and you can skip terms that nothing uses yet.
Download them
Select the terms you want to fix and click Download CSV. The file has one row per term, with its ID, taxonomy, name, slug, parent path and the description exactly as stored, HTML included.
Rewrite them
Change the descriptions you want to change. Leave a cell empty to keep that term’s current description, and delete any rows you do not want to touch.
Import them
Click + New Import and upload the file. It is recognised as term data, set up as a Term Descriptions import, and run from the browser, on a schedule or with
wp ssi <import id>.What it does
Finds repeated descriptions
Adds checks to the Data tab for descriptions that repeat across a taxonomy: the same text on more than one term, one template with each term’s name swapped in, and boilerplate that most of the description shares with other terms. Each finding links to the term and can be selected for the download.
Matches every row to the right term
A download from the Data tab on the same site matches on taxonomy and term ID. Any other file, including a download from another site, matches on taxonomy and slug, so term IDs from another site are never used. If a slug belongs to more than one term in its taxonomy, which translation plugins and direct database edits can cause, the import stops before writing anything and names the terms involved.
Writes descriptions as they are in the file
Descriptions are written exactly as they appear in the file, HTML included. Only descriptions that differ from the stored one are written, and a change of case counts as a change. The WordPress term cache is cleared for every term the import touches.
Updates term names, if you ask it to
Turn on Update term names and the name column is written to the matching terms as well. Names are stored the way WordPress stores a name typed in wp-admin, an empty name cell keeps the current name, and slugs never change.
Creates missing terms, if you ask it to
Turn on Create missing terms and a row that matches no existing term creates one, with the name and slug from the file. A slug another term in the taxonomy already uses is never taken over; that row is listed as an issue instead. In hierarchical taxonomies such as product categories, the parent path places the new term:
Clothing > Hoodies creates Hoodies under Clothing. Parents are created before their children, whatever order the rows are in.Imports term lists from anywhere
A file does not have to come from the Data tab. Any CSV with a
taxonomy column and a slug column can be imported, and name, description and parent path columns are mapped when they are present.Tells you what it could not do
Rows that could not be imported are listed under the run’s issues with the reason, and are included in the error report: a row that matches no term, a parent that cannot be found, or a taxonomy that is not a content taxonomy on the site.
Leaves everything else alone
Slugs, the parents of existing terms, term meta, posts, products, their category and tag assignments, and term counts are not changed.
Key features
- Product categories, product tags, post categories, post tags, WooCommerce attributes and other content taxonomies
- Data tab checks for duplicated, templated and boilerplate descriptions
- Works alongside Super Speedy Imports’ missing and short description checks
- A link to each term’s edit screen from the findings
- One CSV row per term, description exactly as stored
- The edited file is recognised and configured automatically
- Match on taxonomy and term ID, or taxonomy and slug
- An empty cell keeps the stored description
- Unchanged descriptions are not written again
- Optional term name updates, slugs untouched
- Optional creation of missing terms under their parents
- Rows that cannot be imported are listed with the reason
- Save, load, history and scheduling like any other import
- Run it from WP-CLI with
wp ssi <import id>
Why choose Term Descriptions
Built on the importer you already have
Term Descriptions is an import type inside Super Speedy Imports, not a separate tool. It uses the same import screens, the same ways to run an import (in the browser, on a schedule or from WP-CLI), the same run history and the same recovery when a run is interrupted.
Careful by default
Out of the box it only updates descriptions of terms that already exist. Changing names and creating terms are separate options, both off until you turn them on, and anything ambiguous stops the import rather than guessing.
The same file both ways
The file the Data tab downloads is the file the import expects. There is no column mapping to work out and no format to convert between.
Bulk, not one edit screen at a time
Descriptions are written in bulk rather than one term at a time through the WordPress term editor, so fixing a whole taxonomy is one import rather than a visit to every term’s edit screen.
Documentation
Super Speedy Imports Knowledge Base
View full Knowledge Base →- Adding compatibility for other plugins
- Architecture Overview
- Building an Import Type Add-on: the Term Descriptions Case Study
- Building change-listener integrations: the back-in-stock notifiers
- CLI reference
- Creating Add-ons for Super Speedy Imports
- Creating Custom Templates for Super Speedy Imports
- Run your own code when an import completes
- Can I attach images already on the server without downloading them again?
- Can I be notified, or run code, when an import finishes?
- Can I delete what an import brought in?
- Can I import into a custom post type, not just posts and products?
- Can I import XML?
- Can I preview before running the whole file?
- Can I run several supplier imports at the same time?
- Can I run SSI imports from a cron job?
- A tour of the import mapping screen
- Automatic column mapping
- Choosing your unique identifier
- Complete Guide to Updating Stock & Prices with Super Speedy Imports
- Controlling Super Speedy Imports with MCP
- Delayed Image Import: what happens to your images on each import
- Handling duplicate term slugs
- Import modes and what each stage writes
Questions
Can I buy it yet?
Not yet. Term Descriptions is coming soon. Leave your email in the form at the top of this page and you will hear when it goes on sale.
Do I need Super Speedy Imports as well?
Yes. Term Descriptions is an add-on for the paid edition of Super Speedy Imports, which provides the Data tab, the term download and the import engine. It does not work with Super Speedy Imports Lite: without the paid edition it shows a notice in the admin and adds nothing.
Super Speedy Imports already imports term descriptions. What does this add?
Super Speedy Imports sets term descriptions, term meta and term images while it imports posts or products, one product per row, through the Term data control on each taxonomy. Its Data tab also finds missing and short descriptions. Term Descriptions finds the repeated ones, and imports a file where each row is a term rather than a product, so the descriptions of terms that already exist can be updated without importing any products. It can also update their names and create missing terms.
Which taxonomies does it work with?
Product categories, product tags, post categories, post tags, WooCommerce attributes and other content taxonomies registered on the site. Rows for anything else, such as menus or product types, are skipped and listed as issues.
Will it overwrite descriptions I have already written?
Only when the file gives that term a different description. An empty cell, or one holding only spaces, keeps the current description, and a description that matches the stored one is not written again.
Can I import descriptions written somewhere else?
Yes. Any CSV with a
taxonomy column and a slug column can be imported, with name, description and parent path columns mapped when they are present. Such a file matches terms on taxonomy and slug.Does it change my products or my slugs?
No. It does not change slugs, the parents of existing terms, term meta, posts, products, their category and tag assignments, or term counts.
Will my other plugins notice the change?
Descriptions and names are written in bulk rather than through the WordPress term editor, so plugins that react when a term is edited in wp-admin are not notified of those changes. New terms are different: each one fires the same WordPress actions as a term added in wp-admin, so plugins that keep their own records of new terms, such as WooCommerce’s category lookup, stay up to date. The WordPress term cache is cleared for every term the import touches.
Can I preview an import first?
Preview first item does not apply to Term Descriptions imports. Run the import on a small file first if you want to check the result before importing everything.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Every Super Speedy plugin carries a 60-day money-back guarantee. See the refund policy.
One fixed price
Term Descriptions is an add-on for Super Speedy Imports, and it is not on sale yet. It finds duplicated, templated and boilerplate category and tag descriptions, downloads those terms as a CSV for you to rewrite, and imports the fixed descriptions back.
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