How to Export Products From Shopify

How to export products from Shopify

The export is built into every Shopify admin. The steps below follow Shopify's export products help.

1. 1
   In Shopify admin, go to Products.
2. 2
   Click Export.
3. 3
   Choose which products to export (see the table below).
4. 4
   Choose the file format: CSV file for Excel, Numbers, or another spreadsheet program, or Plain CSV file.
5. 5
   Click Export products.

Pick the spreadsheet format if you'll open the file in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Pick plain CSV if you'll work on it in a text editor.

When Shopify emails the file instead of downloading it

With The current page of products or Products you have selected, your browser downloads the file. The exception is when any single product in the export has more than 100 variants: then Shopify emails it. With the other two options, the file is emailed to you.

If you aren't the store owner, Shopify also sends the file to the store owner's email address.

Export only some products

You don't have to export everything. On the Products page, filter or search the list first, then click Export and choose Products that match your search and filters. For a handful of products, tick them and choose Products you have selected.

What the export file contains, and what it doesn't

The file is Shopify's product CSV: the same layout you use to import products. A product with several variants or images takes several rows, tied together by the same handle. Columns include the title, description, vendor, type, tags, status, options, SKU, price, compare-at price, image URLs and SEO fields.

The inventory quantity column in the product CSV is only for stores with a single location. For stock at several locations, export from Products → Inventory instead. That file is covered in how to import inventory to Shopify.

Open and edit the file safely

You can open the export in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. Shopify recommends Google Sheets for viewing its CSV files, and Google Sheets saves in UTF-8 automatically. UTF-8 is the only encoding Shopify accepts.

• Excel: you can export Shopify products to Excel by opening the CSV there. When you save it again, save it as CSV, check that the file uses commas between values, and check that it's UTF-8. Shopify notes that other spreadsheet software can need an extra step for UTF-8.
• Don't sort the file. Sorting can separate variants and image URLs from their product. Shopify warns that importing a sorted file might overwrite your products with bad data that can't be recovered.
• Don't touch the handle column. The handle is the unique identifier for each product, and Shopify uses it to match rows on import. Handles can contain letters, numbers and dashes, but no spaces.
• Keep the header row as exported. Change cells, not column names.
• Keep an untouched copy. Save the original export under another name before you edit anything.

Use the export as a backup before a bulk edit

Shopify lists backing up as one of the reasons to export, and its import help tells you to have a backup of your product data before you start an import. An import can't be cancelled once it begins, so export first.

Know what this backup is. It's a file of product data with image links. It has no image files and no collections, and it covers products only, not the rest of your store. It's a product backup, not a copy of your shop.

Bulk edit prices and re-import

For quick changes, Shopify says the easiest way to edit several products at once is the bulk editor in the admin. A CSV round trip suits bigger jobs, such as repricing a whole catalog with a spreadsheet formula.

1. 1
   Export the products and keep an untouched copy of the file.
2. 2
   Change the price cells in the spreadsheet. Don't sort, and leave the handle column alone.
3. 3
   Save the file as a UTF-8 CSV.
4. 4
   In Products → Import, upload it and tick Overwrite products with matching handles.

With that box ticked, the values in your file replace the values in the matching columns of the existing products. Without it, products whose handle already exists are ignored.

The product CSV can't be larger than 15 MB. The import steps, variants and common errors are in the Shopify CSV import guide, and you can check a file first with the free CSV validator.

Move products to another Shopify store

An export from one store imports into another: export here, then use Products → Import there. Add a Collection column if you want the products placed in collections, and keep the original store open until the images have come across.

If you manage both stores, 1Click is another route: it copies products and whole collections from a link, converts the source currency to the new store's currency and can apply a price multiplier. It copies once and doesn't sync the stores afterwards, and it isn't a backup tool.

If the export fails

The message "There was an error exporting your products" usually means the export timed out. Shopify says this can happen when the file would contain thousands of variants. Filter your products in the admin and export them as several smaller files instead.