Exporting products

You can export your products to a CSV file to help with several tasks:

  • Creating a backup of your products.
  • Moving your existing products to a new Shopify store.
  • Editing your products in bulk using a spreadsheet.

Any changes that you make to the products in your product CSV file appear in your store's product list if you import your product CSV file into the Shopify admin.

Export your products

If you export up to one page of products (up to 50 products), then the CSV file is downloaded by your browser. If you export more than one page of products (51 or more products), then the CSV file is emailed to you. If you aren't the store owner, then the file is sent to the store owner's email as well.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
  1. Click Export.

  2. From the dialog box, choose the products that you want to export:

  3. Select which type of CSV file you want to export:

    • CSV file for Excel, Numbers, or another spreadsheet program. Use this format if you plan to use a spreadsheet program to edit your product CSV file.
    • Plain CSV file. Use this format if you plan to use a plain-text editor with your product CSV file.
  4. Click Export products.

Access your product image files

If you move your products to a new website and plan to close your current store or delete some of its product listings, then you need to upload your product CSV file to your new store while your old store and its product listings remain viewable.

When you export your products, the images associated with each product are not included in the CSV file. If you import the products to a new store, then the product images are generated only if they remain viewable on a publicly accessible website.

To ensure that your product images remain accessible to you, leave your original store and its products intact until you finish the import process. This allows your new store to assign the correct product image to each listing.

Use a text editor to edit your products CSV file

If you don't have a spreadsheet program, then you can edit CSV files using a text editor.

Most computers have text editors that can open CSV files. You can also use a program like Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text to edit and debug your CSV file.

When you format your CSV file in a text editor, observe the following considerations:

  • Column headers must be separated by commas (for example, First Name,Last Name,Email,Company,Address1).
  • The list of tags must be wrapped in quotation marks (for example, "tag1,tag2,tag3").
  • Tags are not case sensitive.
  • Different records must be separated by line breaks.

Filter and export your products list

You can use filters to organize your products list before exporting. If you need to change only some of your products, then you can add a filter. It could be easier to edit your products using a shortened CSV, rather than your entire product list.

Steps:

  1. On the Products page in Shopify, add a filter using conditions that list only the necessary products.

  2. Export your products list, and make sure that you select the option to export only the products matching your filter.

A CSV file containing only those products in your filtered list will export.

After you make any changes to your exported product CSV, you can import the edited CSV file back to Shopify.

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