Total Import PRO – Category / Subcategory Import Problem

I’ve been using Total Import PRO for a while now to import products from a spreadsheet to my OpenCart database. The extension was working fine until recently when I needed to re-import a batch of products. What I noticed was that the import settings I had specified the last time I did an import (which was several months ago) had all been reset, and I had to redo everything on the Step 4 page (categories on the Link tab, and product options on the Option tab). Note that previously I was NOT loading a Settings Profile (but it seemed that all my previous settings were being stored and retrieved every time I did a new import regardless).

I reapplied all of the import settings, but now I’m not getting my category/subcategory structure to import properly. Instead of getting only level-1 subcategories, the import is creating a chain (level-1 and level-2).

Here’s what I have on the spreadsheet:
category subcategory_1 subcategory_2
“Notepads” “All Notepads” “Striped Notepads”

Here’s the result I’m looking for:
Notepads
Notepads > “All Notepads”
Notepads > “Striped Notepads”
In other words, each subcategory_n is a level-1 subcategory of the top level category Notepads.

Here’s what I’m specifying in Step 4:
category subcategory_1
category subcategory_2

Here are the results I’m getting:
Notepads
Notepads > “All Notepads” > “Striped Notepads”

Here’s what I see in the settings when I go back and do another import:
category subcategory_1 subcategory_2
category
In other words, I don’t see the same settings I entered (looks like the system is interpreting what I entered and thinks I want a chain of subcategories instead of two level-1 subcategories).
I’ve read the documentation (http://helpdesk.hostjars.com/entries/21 ... categories) and I understand the difference between specifying categories horizontally versus vertically. And, I know I had this working correctly before because I have hundreds of products in the database which are setup exactly the way I’ve described.

Has anyone else had this same problem?
How do I specify the category/subcategory structure in Step 4 to achieve what I want?

If I were to restore the database back to my last backup (done several months ago), shouldn’t the TIP settings I was using at that time be restored as well?

By the way, I reported this problem via the Hostjars HelpDesk over two weeks ago and have not had any response. I also called them at the number shown on the bottom of their website and left a message.

Thanks.

David