Errors, warnings, and notes
CSVwise sorts everything it finds into one of four groups. This article explains what each group means and how to decide which to act on before you generate the cleaned CSV.
The four groups
🏪 Store match
A choice, not a problem. These rows match products you already sell (Pro and Studio only). They never block the download. Shopify updates matching products only if you tick "Overwrite products with matching handles" when you import, otherwise it skips them. See What is a store match?.
🔴 Error
Blocks the download. CSVwise can't fix these automatically, so it holds Generate clean CSV until you deal with them. If you override the block, Shopify's importer may reject the affected rows later.
Examples:
- A row has no Handle and no Title (CSVwise can't generate a handle from nothing).
- A weight value isn't a number and can't be read.
- A required column is missing (rare, usually caught earlier in Stage 2).
You should resolve every error before generating. Options:
- Turn on the relevant auto-fix if you turned it off by accident.
- Fix the source row in your spreadsheet and re-upload.
- Remove the affected rows. Use the per-card button, or Remove all N error rows from the cleaned CSV at the top of the Errors section to clear them all at once. See Removing rows from the cleaned CSV.
- Override the block. Open Advanced… next to Generate and choose Download anyway (with errors). CSVwise asks you to confirm, and Shopify's importer may reject those rows.
🟡 Warning
Never blocks your download. Rows with warnings are still included in your cleaned file, corrected when a matching auto-fix is on and left as-is otherwise.
Examples:
- Duplicate handles across multiple rows. Shopify treats these as variants of the same product (see Variant grouping), usually intentional, sometimes a typo.
- A price is negative.
- A Compare At Price is lower than the Variant Price.
Read each one and decide whether it matters for your file. Non-fixable warning cards say what happens on the card itself: "Not fixed automatically. The affected data is included in your cleaned file with this issue left as-is."
Empty cells in columns Shopify really needs (Title, Handle, Variant Price) surface as a {missing} chip in the live preview. Title and Handle also appear in the problem list: a missing Title is an error, and a missing Handle is an auto-fixable warning (CSVwise generates the handle from the Title when that auto-fix is on).
🔵 Note
Just letting you know. Something CSVwise wanted to flag, but it doesn't affect the import.
Examples:
- "23 row(s) have leading/trailing whitespace in Handle, SKU, or Option values."
- "Detected 4 variant group(s) covering 12 rows. Shopify will combine rows sharing a Handle into a single product with multiple variants."
Notes don't need action. They're there so an attentive merchant can review what CSVwise changed without surprise.
The problem list
The problem list on the Fix issues stage has four collapsible sections, in this order. Each one states up front what happens to the rows inside it.
- Store matches (Pro and Studio, when there are any). A decision for you to make, not a problem to fix, and never a blocker.
- Errors. "CSVwise can't fix these automatically, so they block the download. Fix them in your source file, or remove the affected rows to continue without them."
- Warnings. "Warnings never block your download. Rows with warnings are still included in your cleaned file, corrected when a matching auto-fix is on and left as-is otherwise."
- Notes. "Notes never block your download and aren't expected to cause import problems."
Each problem card shows:
- A short message describing what's wrong, including how many rows it affects.
- A Found in: line with sample rows and the value CSVwise saw, for example Row 4 ($24,50). Click any row number to jump the live preview to that row.
- An Auto-fixable badge, with a ? you can hover for the explanation, when a toggle already handles it.
- On errors and store matches, a Remove … from the cleaned CSV button.
Showing and hiding groups
There are no filter controls. Each section has its own Show / Hide button, so collapse the ones you're not working on. CSVwise pre-collapses the low-priority sections for you: Store matches and Errors start open, Warnings start open only when there are no errors, and Notes start closed.
Nothing to accept
There's no accept step. Warnings and notes never block Generate clean CSV, so intentional duplicate handles (genuine variants) need no acknowledgment from you. Read the warning, decide it's fine, and generate.
Only errors block generation, and you clear those by fixing the source file, removing the affected rows, or overriding the block from the Advanced menu.