Your product data is your most valuable digital asset. Yet, most sellers have no backup of their backend keywords, bullet points, or subject matter tags. If a hijacker wipes your listing, or if you accidentally overwrite your data with a bad upload, it’s gone. The Category Listings Report (CLR)—technically known as the Reverse Feed—is the ultimate backup. It exports every single attribute of your catalog in the exact format of an inventory flat file. This guide shows you how to automate this critical backup. We'll cover how to automatically pull your CLR directly into Google Sheets to build a live "Catalog Master File."
How to Automatically Sync & Import the Category Listings Report to Google Sheets (The Hopted Way)
Using an Amazon to Google Sheets integration like Hopted, you set up the connection once, and your data flows automatically.
Step 1.
Install the Hopted browser extension and sign in using your Google Account.
Step 2.
Securely connect your Amazon Seller Central to Google Sheets using Hopted's integration wizard.
Step 3.
In Google Sheets, from the list of available Amazon Seller Central reports, select "Category Listings Report".
Step 4.
Select the critical columns for content auditing: item_name, product_description, bullet_point1 through bullet_point5, generic_keywords, main_image_url, and brand.
Step 5.
Set your schedule. Choose how often you want to export and refresh your catalog data. We recommend a Daily schedule. This ensures that if Amazon makes a "stealth change" to your listing, or if a contribution from another seller overwrites yours, you have a dated backup of your version to restore from.
Step 6.
Save your data pipeline. This will export your product attributes from Seller Central into spreadsheets instead of dealing with CSVs or Seller Support. The products in your spreadsheets will be up to data forever.
What is the Amazon Category Listings Report (CLR)?
The Category Listings Report is the most detailed inventory report Amazon offers. While the "Active Listings" report gives you Price and Title, the CLR gives you everything.
It is literally a "Reverse Feed." It takes the data currently live on Amazon and spits it back out in the format of a Flat File (Inventory Loader).
This includes "invisible" backend data that drives SEO, such as:
generic_keywords(Backend Search Terms).target_audience_keywords.subject_matter.Compliance attributes (Country of Origin, Hazardous Material).
This makes it the single source of truth for answering questions like:
Do my top-selling ASINs actually have backend keywords indexed, or are the fields empty?Did the "Subject Matter" fields get wiped during the last API update?How can I download all my product data to move it to a new Amazon account or Shopify store?Is my Brand Name consistent across all 500 SKUs (e.g., "Nike" vs "Nike Inc")?
How to Analyze & Track Your Catalog Data in Spreadsheets
Now that you have a live feed, you can move from data entry to data analysis. This is the real power of analyzing your Amazon Seller Central data in spreadsheets and building your Amazon excel-like template.
Here are 3 Amazon spreadsheet template ideas you can build immediately:
Template 1: The "SEO Health" Auditor
You spend hours doing keyword research, but are those keywords actually in the listing?
Ingredients: Columns
generic_keywords,bullet_point1...bullet_point5.The Check: Use the
LEN()formula to count characters.The Logic:
If
LEN(generic_keywords)< 200: Yellow Alert (You are under-utilizing the 250-byte limit).If
LEN(generic_keywords)= 0: Red Alert (You are invisible for backend search).
What it shows you: A prioritized list of ASINs that are missing backend keywords, allowing you to boost traffic instantly by filling the gaps.
Template 2: The "Bulk Update" Generator (The Reverse Feed Workflow)
You need to update the bullet_point1 for 100 products for a holiday sale. Doing this manually in Seller Central takes hours.
The Workflow:
Sync the CLR to Google Sheets using Hopted.
Use "Find & Replace" or formulas in Sheets to update the text in the
bullet_point1column.Download as TSV: Download the sheet as a "Tab Separated Value" file.
Upload: Upload this file directly to Amazon's "Add Products via Upload" page.
What it shows you: You just used the CLR to turn Google Sheets into a Bulk Listing Editor. Hopted fetched the current data, you modified it, and you pushed it back.
Template 3: The "Content Compliance" Scorecard
Amazon suppresses listings that violate style guides (e.g., Titles > 200 characters, ALL CAPS bullets).
Formula:
=IF(LEN(item_name)>200, "Title Too Long", "OK").Formula:
=IF(EXACT(bullet_point1, UPPER(bullet_point1)), "ALL CAPS VIOLATION", "OK").What it shows you: An automated compliance audit. It flags listings that are at risk of being suppressed beforeAmazon catches them.
Common workflows this report unlocks
Account Migration: If you are selling your brand or moving to a new Seller ID, the CLR is the only way to export your entire catalog's data to import into the new account.
Cross-Channel Sync: Use the clean product descriptions and bullets from this report to populate your Shopify, Walmart, or eBay listings.
Hijacker Restoration: If a malicious actor changes your product images or title to something offensive, you can open the Hopted backup from yesterday, export the TSV, and re-upload it to overwrite their changes immediately.
FAQ about Category Listings Report (CLR)
Q: How do you download a Product attribute spreadsheet? The "Product Attribute Spreadsheet" is another name for the Category Listings Report. To download it use Hopted connectors for Amazon Seller Central.
Q: Why is this report considered "Hidden" or Beta? Amazon restricts this report because it puts a heavy load on their servers (it exports everything). They typically only enable it for 7 days upon request. However, by connecting via the API (like Hopted does), you can often access this data stream more reliably.
Q: Can I use this report to update prices? Technically yes, but it is overkill. The CLR contains hundreds of columns. If you just want to update prices/quantity, use the Price & Quantity file. Use the CLR for updating Content (Title, Bullets, Description, Keywords).
Q: Does this report show A+ Content? No. The CLR shows the text for the "Old Description" field. A+ Content (EBC) is stored in a separate system and does not appear in standard inventory reports.
Q: How is Hopted different from other Amazon seller software? Most Amazon tools force you into their rigid dashboards and pre-built reports. You have to change your workflow to fit their software. With Hopted it is the opposite. It’s a flexible data automation layer that works directly inside your existing spreadsheets (like Google Sheets). Instead of forcing you to learn a new system, Hopted brings all your scattered Amazon data (sales, inventory, catalog attributes) right to you. You can build the fully custom audits and backups you need, not the ones a rigid tool dictates.
