Exporting a CSV to clean
CSVwise works with any CSV that's roughly shaped like Shopify's product CSV. This article shows how to get one out of the most common sources.
From Shopify (existing products)
To update products you already have in Shopify:
- Go to Products in your Shopify admin.
- Use filters or search to narrow down to the products you want to export. If you want all of them, skip this step.
- Click Export in the top-right.
- Choose All products or Current search, depending on your selection.
- Choose CSV for Excel, Numbers, or other spreadsheet programs.
- Click Export products.
Shopify will email you the CSV (or download it directly for small catalogs). Drop the file into CSVwise to clean any inconsistencies before re-importing.
Common reasons to export and re-import: bulk price updates, vendor renames, tag standardization, refreshing image URLs, converting weight units.
From another platform (migration)
CSVwise has been tested with exports from:
- WooCommerce (via Tools → Export, or a plugin like Product CSV Import Suite)
- BigCommerce (Products → Export)
- Squarespace Commerce (Commerce → Inventory → Export)
- Magento (Catalog → Products → Export CSV)
- Spreadsheet-built catalogs (your own template in Google Sheets or Excel)
All of these produce CSVs with different column names, units, and formatting. CSVwise's AI-assisted column matching handles the rename pass automatically (Stage 2 of your first cleanup). The auto-fix toolkit handles the formatting pass (Stage 3).
The two things you'll usually need to do manually before uploading:
- Save the file with the right text encoding. When you save a CSV from Excel, use Save As → CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). The default Excel CSV format on some computers can break special characters like accented letters and currency symbols.
- Make sure columns are separated by commas, not semicolons. Some spreadsheet apps in Europe default to semicolons. CSVwise accepts both, but commas are safest.
From a spreadsheet you built yourself
If you're building a product catalog in Google Sheets or Excel from scratch:
- Keep one row per product variant. Products with multiple variants (sizes, colors) share the same Handle across all their rows.
- The most important columns to include: Title, Handle, Vendor, Product Type, Tags, Variant SKU, Variant Price, Variant Inventory Qty. The rest can be left blank. CSVwise will add columns as needed for any auto-fixes that fill them in.
- Don't worry about formatting prices (you can leave the currency symbol), weights (CSVwise pulls the unit out of
"1.5 kg"), or yes/no values (CSVwise normalizesyes/no,Y/N,1/0,true/false). - Export your sheet as CSV (UTF-8) when you're ready.
File limits
| Plan | Max rows per file | Max file size |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,500 | 25 MB |
| Pro | 5,000 | 25 MB |
| Studio | 50,000 | 25 MB |
CSVwise accepts files up to 25 MB. Shopify's own product importer accepts CSV files up to 15 MB, so a description-heavy file near the Studio row cap can clear CSVwise and still be too large for Shopify. If your cleaned file lands over 15 MB, email support@csvwise.com and we'll help you work out the best path.
If your catalog is larger than Studio's limit, email support@csvwise.com. Files beyond 50,000 rows are beyond CSVwise's current plans, and we'll help you find the best path.