Format Product Information for Bulk Import

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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	Combination of letters and numbers onlyNo special characters; no decimals	10001 or 10001A
Price (Required)
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Example
Price of item	Numbers or decimals onlyMaximum of 2 decimal places allowed, but not requiredDo not enter currency signDo not enter a comma for thousands	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.	Entered as numbers and decimals onlyMaximum of 2 decimal places allowed, but not requiredDo not enter currency signDo not enter a comma for thousands	5.99
Description
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Example
Brief description of product.	Text and numbers.HTML code as long as you enclose the coded section with opening and closing html tags
Track Inventory
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Example
Set to TRUE if you want to track inventory on this product	TRUE (or YES)FALSE (or NO)	TRUE
Qty (Quantity)
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Example
Set the quantity of inventory for this item	Enter numbers only, no decimalsIf providing Quantity then Track Inventory must = TRUE	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 (or YES)FALSE (or NO)	TRUE
Weight
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Example
Item’s shipping weight	Enter numbers and decimals onlyDo not enter “lb” or “oz”; that’s determined by Business Settings	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 (or YES)FALSE (or NO)	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 (or YES)FALSE (or NO)	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 (or YES)FALSE (or NO)	TRUE
Category
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Examples
Links product to one of your categories	If category doesn’t already exist, it will be added based on the name entered in the cellYou can include nested sub-categories by using a forward slash “/”You can use a maximum of 3 levels of nested categoriesYou can assign a product to multiple categories by separating each with comma	ClothingClothing/T-ShirtsClothing, Outerwear, Travel
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.	Image’s full URL must be enteredImage must be accessible on web (not password protected)Upload only a single image	http://website.com/image.jpg
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Explanation	What’s Allowed	Examples
Field allows you to specify SEO-specific text for search engines	Use SEO Title column as the “title” in search engine results.Use SEO Desc column for product description that will appear below the hyperlink in search engine results.	Metallic Acme Rocket Skates (SEO Title)These well-made skates are great for reaching high speeds and catching RoadRunners. (SEO Desc)
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.	Use Option Name column for name customers will seeUse Option Values column for options customers choosesSet Option Required column to TRUE if you want to require customers to choose this option before they can checkout	Size (Option1 Name)Small, Medium, Large, XXL (Option1 Values)TRUE (Option1 Required)

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