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A product import file follows a fixed shape. There is a set list of columns, each one holding a single product or variant field, and a product that comes in several variants spreads across several lines. Getting that shape right is most of the work of an import, and the template is that shape ready to fill in. Download the template from your store, enter your products with a spreadsheet, and upload the result to create or update products and their variants in one go. It is worth doing whenever you are loading a catalog from a supplier list or another system, or changing many prices at once. For one or two products, the product form is quicker. The template comes from the store you download it from, so the columns at its end are that store’s own product custom fields. Download a fresh one after adding a custom field, or its values will have nowhere to go. An export is laid out differently. It carries three columns the import does not accept (product_id, seller_name and labels) and none of the customs or packing columns, so see Import & Export if you are starting from an export rather than the template. To get the template, navigate to Products in the admin dashboard and click Import.

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How to Download the Template

  1. Go to Products and click Import.
  2. In the Import from CSV panel, click Download CSV template.
The Import from CSV panel with the Download CSV template button The same panel also offers Download an example CSV, the Column separator dropdown, and the drop zone where you upload the finished file.

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The Columns in the Template

The template carries 45 fixed columns, then one more for each product custom field your store has defined. Only Slug, SKU, Name and Price have to be mapped; every other column can be left out of the file.

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The Four Required Columns

Four columns have to be matched to something before an import can start. Every other column can be left out of the file altogether.
  • slug - The key tying every line of one product together. All of a product’s lines carry the same slug.
  • sku - The variant’s own product code. A line whose SKU already exists in the store updates that variant rather than adding a new one.
  • name - The product’s name, which only needs filling in on the line carrying the product’s details.
  • price - The price in that line’s currency.
If your file has no column for a required field, the import stops at the matching step, which names the missing field, and Start import is disabled.

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How to Fill In a Product With Variants

Every line of the file is a variant, and all of a product’s lines share one slug. The product’s own details go on one of those lines, and the rest carry only what belongs to their variant.
  1. On the product’s first line, fill in slug, sku, name, price and status, along with the description, categories and anything else that belongs to the product as a whole. Give that line its own option1_name and option1_value, because it is a variant too.
  2. On each following line, repeat the slug, give the variant its own sku and price, and fill in its option1_name and option1_value.
  3. Leave name, description and the other product columns empty on those lines.
Keep the line carrying the product’s details first. The other lines find their product by slug, so they fail if the product is neither already in the store nor created by an earlier line. An option value the store does not have yet is created as the line is imported, so a line with the value Bronze adds both the variant and a new Bronze value to the store’s Color option.

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How to Fill In Prices in More Than One Currency

Each currency is a line of its own.
  1. Fill in the variant’s line in your store’s default currency.
  2. Add another line for the same variant, carrying the same slug and sku, the price in the other currency, and that currency’s code in currency.
Those extra lines need nothing else. A file carrying only your default currency’s lines changes only those prices and leaves the others as they were.

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How to Write Values

Columns of the same kind expect the same format.
Check your price and count columns before you upload. A price written with a comma for the decimal mark, such as 12,50, is read as 1250.00, and a word in a price or count column is read as 0.

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How the Template’s Columns Are Matched on Upload

After you click Continue, the Map columns step lists every import field for you to match against a column of your file.
  • Field - the import field, with Required beside Slug, SKU, Name and Price.
  • File column - the column from your file. It is filled in for you when your column’s header equals the field name, and reads Not mapped otherwise.
  • Example - the value in that column on your file’s first data row.
Every template header is one of these field names, so every column you kept from the template is matched for you. If you renamed a column, open its File column picker and choose your header from the list. The Column separator dropdown in the upload panel opens on Comma (,). Change it when your spreadsheet saved the file with semicolons, pipes or tabs. When you click Start import, the result gives the number of lines imported and the number that failed. That count covers lines that created products and lines that updated them together, so open a product afterwards to check the outcome.

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Further Reading

  • Import & Export - Uploading the finished file, and exporting products back out
  • Options - The option values your lines refer to
  • Variants - What the option columns become once the file is imported
  • Adding Products - The same fields on the product form