Product CSV Builder & Fixer for Shopify

About the Product CSV Builder & Fixer for Shopify

A product with 3 sizes and 4 colours is 12 rows in a Shopify product CSV, and every one must repeat the handle, leave the title empty and spell each option the same way. Here you keep a simple sheet instead — one row per product, with Size, Colour or any other option column holding a list such as “S, M, L” — and the builder writes the rows: every combination of the option values, SKUs from a pattern, weights in whole grams, prices as plain numbers, the product’s details on its first row and its images in order. Rows that share a handle or a title become one product, so a sheet with one row per variant, each with its own price, SKU and stock, works too, as does one with the title only on each product’s first row and its variants below it.

The same engine fixes a product CSV that the Product CSV Checker for Shopify found problems in: column names, the encoding, prices, weights, handles, units and rows a sort pulled apart are written again, and anything that needs your decision is left and listed. It also adds image links from a list and splits big files into parts under Shopify’s 15 MB limit without cutting a product in two. Every result comes with a preview, the checker’s verdict on it and a change log. Nothing is uploaded and nothing connects to your store: you import the file yourself. MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify.

Common uses

• Listing a new range from a supplier’s price list without typing a row per variant.
• Fixing an export before re-importing it, after the Checker found problems.
• Adding product photos from a list of image links to an existing export.
• Cutting a large catalogue into files that import under 15 MB.

What the builder writes

• Options: each column used as an option becomes Option1, Option2 or Option3 (up to three, Shopify’s limit), named after its heading. Values are split at commas, semicolons, vertical bars and line breaks, and every combination becomes a variant, the first option outermost: S/White, S/Sage, M/White… A product without options gets Option1 name “Title” and Option1 value “Default Title”.
• SKUs: a row that makes one variant keeps its SKU. A row that makes several gets SKUs from the pattern, in capitals with dashes (accents dropped, letters of other scripts kept): {sku} the row’s SKU, {handle}, {title}, {option1}–{option3}, {option1:3} for the first three letters, {n} for the variant’s number. Two variants with the same SKU are reported.
• Weights: a “Weight” column is converted from the unit you choose (kg, lb, oz or g) to whole grams, as Shopify’s help asks (“5.125 kg → 5125”; “4 lb → 1814”), with 1 lb = 453.59237 g and 1 oz = 28.349523125 g; the unit is kept for display.
• Prices and stock: prices without currency symbols or thousands separators; a quantity sets the inventory tracker to shopify (unless you switch that off), with deny or continue for selling at zero stock.
• Details: the title, description, vendor, type, tags, category, status, SEO fields and collection go on the product’s first row; a plain-text description becomes HTML paragraphs.
• Images: every link of the product’s rows, each once, on the rows in order with its position (Shopify takes up to 250).
• Columns: only the columns that have values are written, so a file you import to update products doesn’t blank out columns you never filled.

What the fixer changes, and what it leaves

The fixer changes only what has one safe answer, and logs each change with its row: column names written exactly as Shopify writes them (and older names renamed if you ask), UTF-8 with commas, characters saved in the wrong encoding repaired, prices as plain numbers, quantities as whole numbers, weights in whole grams, TRUE and FALSE, status, deny or continue, units and fulfillment service handles, handles with letters, numbers and dashes (another product’s handle is never taken), rows whose handle differs only in capitals or spaces joined to their product, each product’s rows put together with the title row first, tags once each, image links with %20 for spaces, empty and repeated rows removed, and Option1 “Title / Default Title” for products without variants when the file has no Option1 columns.

It leaves what only you can decide, and the check of the new file lists it: two variants with the same options, a variant without one of its option values, a barcode Excel turned into scientific notation (its digits are gone), a compare-at price below the price, a category Shopify doesn’t have.

Splitting files under 15 MB

Shopify’s help: “Your product CSV can’t exceed 15 MB”, and a file that errors or stalls can be split and imported one part at a time. The split keeps every row of a product in the same file and starts each file with the column names, so the parts import like the whole file. Choose a size (15 MB is read as 15,000,000 bytes, the smaller reading) or a number of products per file. A single product bigger than the limit gets a file of its own and a warning.

Limitations

• No store connection: it doesn’t read your store or sync products, which needs a Shopify app; you import the file yourself.
• Products only: orders, customers, stock per location and metafield definitions aren’t made here, and converting another shop system’s product export into Shopify’s columns isn’t part of this tool.
• Files up to 80 MB are fixed in this browser; split bigger ones in your spreadsheet first. A product can have up to 2,048 variants, Shopify’s limit.
• Options come from up to three columns. A value that itself contains a comma needs a row of its own (one row per variant).
• The fixer changes only what has one safe answer; the check of the new file lists the rest for you.

Privacy

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot. The spreadsheet reader (SheetJS) and the ZIP writer download from this site once, only when you need them. Your sheet and files stay on your device and are never uploaded.