Akeneo Connector Overview

Summary

The Akeneo Connector links Supplier Data Manager (SDM) to your Akeneo PIM. It serves two main purposes:

  1. Sync the PIM configuration — fetches your PIM's catalog structure (Families, Attribute Groups, Attributes, Categories) and applies it to your SDM workflow automatically.
  2. Push product data — once a job is finalized in SDM, the connector pushes product data and assets to your Akeneo PIM via the API.

How is the connector set up?

Your SDM Business Consultant sets up the Akeneo Connector during your SDM onboarding phase. The connector can be linked to your Akeneo PIM Production Environment or Test Environment.

How the Akeneo Connector works

1. Configuration sync

The Akeneo Connector fetches your Akeneo PIM's catalog structure — including Families, Attribute Groups, Attributes, and Categories — and applies it to your SDM workflow. This sync runs automatically on a cron schedule configured during setup.

What the sync affects: The sync overrides the SDM project configuration only. Individual step configurations are not overridden.

Attribute naming conventions: SDM generates separate attributes based on scope and localization:

  • Scopable attributes: One version per targeted channel, named ${attribute_name}-${channel_name}.
  • Localizable attributes: One version per activated locale.
  • Scopable and localizable attributes: One version per channel-locale combination, named ${attribute_name}-${channel_name}-${locale}.

Categories and hierarchies: Attribute Groups in PIM become display groups in SDM. Families and categories are modeled as hierarchies. By default, all synced categories are grouped into a single hierarchy called categories.

Configuration customization: Your Akeneo Business Consultant can configure the connector to target specific channels, locales, or product Families during setup.

If your SDM project is connected to the Akeneo Connector, do not change the project configuration manually — manual changes are overridden during the next sync.

There can be a delay between when SDM last synced the PIM configuration and when you finalize a job. If new Attributes were added to your PIM after the last sync, SDM will not recognize them yet. SDM will not add or overwrite any value in your PIM for Attributes it does not recognize.

The screenshot above shows the Akeneo Connector configuration sync status in SDM, including the last synchronization date.

Trigger a manual sync

To apply PIM configuration changes immediately without waiting for the next scheduled sync, you can trigger a manual synchronization from SDM.

  1. Go to Workflows in SDM and open the workflow connected to Akeneo PIM.
  2. Click Settings in the left navigation, then click Connector.
  3. Click Synchronize.

SDM fetches the latest PIM structure immediately. The status changes to In progress and updates to Done once the sync is complete, showing the new last sync date.

2. Exclude Attributes from the Akeneo Connector

SDM admin users can exclude specific Attributes or Attribute Groups from the connector sync, and configure which Attributes allow creating new options in Akeneo PIM directly from the SDM Value Mapping interface.

The option to create new PIM options applies only to the following Attribute types: Simple select, Multi select, Reference entity, Reference entity collection, and Table.

To access the Attribute configuration in SDM:

  1. Open the workflow that has an Akeneo Connector.
  2. Click Settings in the left navigation.
  3. Click Akeneo PIM Connector.
  4. Select the Attribute configuration tab.

After making changes, click Synchronize to apply your new selections to the connector.

The screenshot above shows the Attribute configuration tab in the Akeneo PIM Connector settings, listing Attributes with options to include or exclude them from the sync.

Some Attributes cannot be excluded because they are required for SDM to function correctly:

  • Identifier: Product identifier Attributes (e.g., SKU) — required for product identification.
  • Variant Axis: Attributes used as variant axes in product models — required for variant structure.
  • AI Source: Attributes used as AI data sources — required for AI-powered features.
  • Dependency trigger: Attributes used as a triggering condition in a dependency.

3. Product push

When a job in SDM is finalized, the Akeneo Connector pushes product data (simple products and variants) and assets to your Akeneo PIM.

If SDM detects a new product, it is created in your PIM with all recognized Attributes and their values.

Empty Attributes in SDM are not pushed to PIM. An empty field in SDM does not overwrite an existing value in PIM.

The connector uses override mode for non-empty values. Work with your Akeneo Business Consultant or integrator to configure the right validation rules before performing any push.

For a full list of supported Attribute types and their behavior during push, see PIM Attribute handling and limitations.

Related resources

Want to find out more? Take a look at these related articles