How to show product photos by SKU in Excel

Prepare a small example

Start with a few product codes and a folder containing their photos. For example, put SKU001 in a cell and use a photo whose filename contains that code. This is an illustrative code; the matching rules must fit your actual filenames.

Keep codes with leading zeros as text in Excel. If 00125 becomes 125, it may no longer match the code in your catalog. Confirm that you can open the photo folder using the same Windows account that runs Excel.

Connect the folder and check matching

1. Open SkuGallery Settings → Catalog. Choose the folder source and select your local folder or network share.
2. Include subfolders when needed and check the allowed photo extensions and exclusions.
3. Apply the settings and run Reindex. Wait for indexing to finish.
4. In Settings → Photos, test a sample filename and check the detected SKU. Adjust the naming rules to match your catalog.

Indexing reads your existing files; it does not move or rename the originals. Run Reindex again after adding, moving or renaming photos, or changing the matching rules.

Browse a product and insert its photo

1. Select a cell containing a product code, without the column heading or a description.
2. Choose Show Photo. With automatic panel updates enabled, selecting another code updates the panel.
3. Choose the thumbnail for the colour or view you need. Zoom in to check details.
4. To put the photo in the workbook, check Settings → Panel → Insert photo, choose the destination and use the insert command with the required size. Save the workbook.

Viewing a photo in the panel and inserting it into the sheet are separate actions. If changing the selected cell changes the photo before insertion, use a relative destination or switch the panel to manual updates.

If a photo does not appear

Compare the cell value with the SKU detected from the filename. Then check the indexed folder, file extensions, exclusions and any season filter. A network path must remain accessible from your computer.

If photo paths are stored in a database, use the database source described in the complete guide. Access to the database and access to the returned image files are both needed.