Format Product Information for Bulk Import
Before you can upload a spreadsheet of your products to the Online Store, it must be formatted based on the guidelines below. You'll also need to download the Online Store starter CSV file as explained in Import Multiple Products. You can upload no more than 1,000 products.
- To see how the guidelines below should be applied to your products, open the starter CSV file that you downloaded from the Online Store's Import Products Page.
Note: If you have relatively few products to import, you can manually copy and paste them into the starter file, remove the four rows of example products, leave the rest of the file as is, and skip to Step 7.
- Open your own product spreadsheet and save it as a copy of your original spreadsheet.
- Rename the appropriate columns in your own product spreadsheet to match those listed below.
- Rearrange the order of the columns in your spreadsheet to match the order they’re displayed in the Online Store starter template CSV file.
- Remove any columns from your spreadsheet that are not included in the Online Store starter template CSV file.
- Proceed column by column in your spreadsheet to format your data according to the formatting rules in the guidelines below.
- Once that’s done, re-save your spreadsheet as a CSV file. See Upload Your Product Information to move the spreadsheet data into your Online Store.
Note: Do not save your spreadsheet as a CSV file if it contains lots of UTF-8 characters, such as the accented é in resumé. (Other examples of these "extended" characters include ñ, ü, superscripts, fractions, and currency symbols other than the U.S. dollar, such as the euro symbol €.) Instead, see Prevent Extended Character Errors.
Product Spreadsheet Guidelines
Product Name (Required) | ||
---|---|---|
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
The name of the product, which also appears when visitors browse the store | Can be text, numbers or special characters | Acme Rocket Skate |
SKU | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
A unique identification number to keep track of your inventory |
|
10001 or 10001A |
Price (Required) | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Price of item |
|
7 or 7.50 |
Sale Price | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
If entered, it will strike out the original price and show this value as the sale price. |
|
5.99 |
Description | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Brief description of product. |
|
|
Track Inventory | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Set to TRUE if you want to track inventory on this product |
|
TRUE |
Qty (Quantity) | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Set the quantity of inventory for this item |
|
5 |
Backorder | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Set to TRUE if you want to allow customers to backorder this product when Quantity reaches 0 |
|
TRUE |
Weight | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Item's shipping weight |
|
1 or 1.2 |
Featured | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Set to TRUE if you want to add this product to the site’s featured products display |
|
TRUE |
Taxable | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Set to TRUE if you want to charge taxes for this product (assuming you have added one or more tax locations in Online Store) |
|
TRUE |
Hidden | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
Determines whether product is displayed to site visitors. If marked TRUE, product cannot be seen by store visitors or search engines |
|
TRUE |
Category | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Examples |
Links product to one of your categories |
|
|
Image URL | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Example |
When importing, you may assign up to 1 image per product. You can add more manually once added to Online Store. |
|
|
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Examples |
Field allows you to specify SEO-specific text for search engines |
|
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Options | ||
Explanation | What's Allowed | Examples |
Allow you to specify dropdown options for products, such as sizes or colors. It does not support type-in text options (e.g., monogramming) or product variations. Up to 3 options are allowed for each product. |
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