What is Advanced data source management?

Why it matters for categories

Sending categories through a supplemental data source is the cleanest route when your store platform cannot set google_product_category per product. Every step of that route starts on the Supplemental sources tab, and the tab is only there once this add-on is on.

Turning it on does not alter the data in your existing primary source; it makes additional data-source management available.

Turning it on

1. Open Merchant Center and go to Settings.
2. Choose Add-ons.
3. Find Advanced data source management and add it.
4. Return to Settings → Data sources; the Supplemental sources tab is now listed.

Merchant Center’s menus change over time. If the labels differ, search the Merchant Center help for the add-on by name.

What you can do once it is on

With the add-on active, the Supplemental sources tab lets you add product data from a file, a Google Sheet or the API, linked to the primary data source it modifies. For categories, the file needs only two columns: id and google_product_category. The Bulk Mapper writes a file in exactly that shape when your upload includes an ID column.

The same tab is where attributes that change often are usually kept — custom labels, seasonal titles — because editing a supplemental sheet never touches the store or the primary feed.