Open or edit a CSV file

This section provides you with some general guidance on using CSV files. If you need details about using CSV files with products, then see Importing and exporting products. If you need details about using CSV files with inventory, then see Exporting or importing inventory with a CSV file.

CSV files

CSV stands for comma-separated values, a file format (.csv) for spreadsheets. You can use CSV files to import and export products, customers, inventory, orders (export only), and discounts (export only).

They can be useful in many situations, such as when you are switching to Shopify from another ecommerce platform, need to import a list of customer accounts, or want to upload products by using a spreadsheet.

CSV files might seem intimidating at first, but after you understand their format and how they work, you might decide to use them for a variety of tasks.

Your CSV files must use UTF-8 encoding.

In a CSV file, each entry represents a cell in a spreadsheet, each line represents a new row, and each comma indicates where one entry ends and another one begins.

For example, the entries in this customer CSV file:

look like this in a spreadsheet program:

Import CSV files into Google Sheets

When you export a CSV file from your Shopify admin, it opens as a .csv file in your computer's native text editor. You can also use an alternative text editor, but it's recommended that you use a spreadsheet program to view and edit your CSV files instead.

Steps:

  1. Log in to your Google account.

  2. On the Google Sheets page, click Blank in the Start a new spreadsheet section.

  3. From the Untitled Spreadsheet page, go to File > Import...:

  4. Locate and select the CSV file that you want to edit.

  5. In the Import file dialog, select your preferred options under the Import action, Separator character, and Convert text to numbers and dates sections.

  6. Click Import.

From here you can edit your CSV. When you are done, you can export it from Google Sheets as a .csv file.

Export CSV files using Google Sheets

When you are done viewing or editing your CSV file in Google Sheets, you can export it as a .csv file to your computer.

Steps:

  1. From your CSV spreadsheet page, go to File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv, current sheet).

Your CSV file is exported to your downloads folder.

Use a text editor to edit your 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.

Advanced: CSV product imports with shipping required and taxable variants

If you need to edit the settings for a large number of products, then you might want to do a bulk update. For this, export the products that need to be updated as a .csv file, then edit the columns shown in the table:

Product CSV columns to edit
Variant Requires ShippingSet to TRUE if the variant is a tangible item. Otherwise, set to FALSE or leave blank.
Variant TaxableSet to TRUE if the variant is taxable. Otherwise, set to FALSE or leave blank.
Variant Grams

Enter a non-zero value if Variant Requires Shipping is set to TRUE.

Leave blank or set to zero if Variant Requires Shipping is set to FALSE or is blank.

When you've finished editing your .csv file, import it to your store. Be sure to check the option Replace any current products that have the same handle.

Ready to start selling with Shopify?Try it free