Re: How to bulk upload images?

Solved

How can I bulk upload images for product import?

albshop
Tourist
8 0 2

I have read you upload them into files directory?

Or you just upload them to your server and then use the path in excel files when you import the products?

Accepted Solution (1)

Allan
Community Manager
411 73 208

This is an accepted solution.

Hey, there!

 

Jason here from Shopify Support.

 

You're on the right track. There're two ways you can upload the images files in bulk.

 

The first method is through the Shopify admin > Settings > Files. Once there, click on Upload files on the top right corner, then you'll be able to upload the image files directly from your device to your admin. You can then use the images while you set up your store/product. For more detailed information, here's a helpful document going through how to upload image files to your store.

 

The second method is through a CSV file. The key to make sure that the files upload correctly is to follow the CSV format accurately. Here's a great document going over what content is required for each field. I've attached a sample template for you so you can take a look and make sure your Excel file complies with the format. If you wish to use the CSV method, the image files need to be uploaded to a publicly accessible URL first. This can be from the links you received after you use the first method or any cloud services, such as DropBox and Google Drive. Keep in mind the server needs to be at a decent speed. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll get timeout while importing the file resulting in import failure.

 

If you run into any issues, or if I misunderstood what you're hoping to set up, feel free to reply back here and I'd be happy to help out!

 

All the best,
Jason

Allan | Shopify Community
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Replies 93 (93)
James_TGP
Shopify Partner
34 2 6
This works but can be extremely tedious for a large amount of products.

Best to use a image host that DOESNT scramble image urls and offers predictable text structures.
Ozkan
Shopify Partner
47 1 5

Hi @albshop , @James_TGP & all,

 

For the Dropbox & Google Drive hosted product images you can use the Smart Bulk Image Upload app. It enables users to bulk upload products according to, 

  • SKU
  • Barcode
  • Product Title, and
  • Product & Variant Metafields

You can also order images by using underscore and numbers at the end of the image names (i.e. SKU1_1.jpg is the first image where SKU1_2.png is the second one) and if there are customization needs to match images & products/variants you can write to live support. 

austin-jeans
Visitor
1 0 0

sir

can i call u to understand how to bulk upload my images as i am having more than 500 producta with 6-7 images each. It would be great help if u support me. My mobile number is 9888017670

carmenhunt
Tourist
3 0 1

Now how hard was that to show someone?

WELL THANK YOU .

 

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Has anyone solved the Dropbox delima?

I am trying to bulk upload images (via dropbox) based on a CSV with <barcode>.png as the formula to match a large number of images.

 

But even in the Shopify image editor "add media from URL" doesn't work with Dropbox.

 

Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 5.52.19 pm.png

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9
ScandiJohanna
New Member
5 0 0

Hi,

It seems like I am struggling with the same problem as everyone else. How do you get the domain to look like https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/?

I am just starting with my image project and thought to try this second. Google Drive didn't work.

 

-H 

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Normal Dropbox link (the one you create when you ctrl click on a file) does not allow direct downloads so if you put that into your spreadsheet, it will fail.

If you replace  "www.dropbox.com/" with "dl.dropboxusercontent.com" it should work.

 

HOWEVER

 

Each file has a different ID slug, so if you plan to use this with 100s of images, it becomes a pain to automate off a file name.

 

ScandiJohanna
New Member
5 0 0

Hi,

 

It works now. Thanks for your help. But we also have 4000+ pics to upload so a faster way would be nice. AirPower might work but we are just thinking if the price becomes too high annually. We are more a pop shop at least for now... 

 

-H

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Are you cataloging your images with SKUs in the filename.?

i would be happy for you to beta trial my app.

 


@ScandiJohanna wrote:

Hi,

 

It works now. Thanks for your help. But we also have 4000+ pics to upload so a faster way would be nice. AirPower might work but we are just thinking if the price becomes too high annually. We are more a pop shop at least for now... 

 

-H


 

Brodieman
Tourist
3 0 1

Hey John, your app sounds awesome! I've got about 500+ images I need to upload and they're already named with the SKUs digitally. I have three questions for you though:

1. I have several pictures of the same product and have been naming them like this:  productnumber-sku-1, productnumber-sku-2, etc. Can you have the same sku on multiple images distinguish them with a 1, 2, 3. . for each individual image? Would that still work or is this set to specifically work with one image per product?

2. Have you developed this to work with windows?

3. If so, can I be part of the beta pretty please?

 

Shaun

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Hi Shaun,

 

Happy to help.

I will answer your questions as numbered.

 

1. Shopify has items classed as "products" and "variant".
Products are essentially a grouping of variants, even if the product only has one. (they hide the variant details if only 1 exists).

Some rules that the Shopify structure has:

  • The SKU is attached at the variant level.
  • Variants can only have 1 photo linked to it
  • Products can have mulitple images linked and include the Variant ones.

 

2. I only have a Mac version at the moment and looking to improve it based on workflows

3. Happy to have beta testers. I need to add authentication into the app so you can add your store details. This is a week or so away.

 

Cheers

 

John

JonWright
Shopify Partner
818 123 364

Hi @StitchShop I'd be happy to beta test it for you as looks really useful, I'm on a Mac and do a lot of messing around with images for Shopify.

If helpful then please Like and Accept Solution

Owner of Neuralcandy Shopify Agency
StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Thanks Jon.

I will get back to you here.

Can i ask, how do you manage the photography process?

Are the products already in Shopify?

Where is the pain points for you?

I want to adjust my application to ensure it meets most photography processes. 

 

Cheers

 

John

Brodieman
Tourist
3 0 1

John,

 

I truly appreciate the help. Or, the attempt I guess. I'm glad there is a great community to reach out to around here.

 

I was up burning the midnight oil and just went through the images manually. It didn't take as long as I thought but now I see Google Sheets cell boxes everywhere I look. o_0

 

Thanks,

Shaun

RobMW
Tourist
10 0 3

THIS is the answer about Dropbox that everyone is looking for.

Instead of dropbox.com/sdgfdgdlfhg/gfdghdfh/hfdfgdh (whatever you get there), just replace the dropbox.com part with dl.dropboxusercontent.com

 

The one with dropbox.com opens a dropbox page from which you can do other things. dl.dropboxusercontent.com opens JUST the image

 

 

it seems you need to use:

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/

 

not https://www.dropbox.com/

hverdagbasics
Tourist
3 0 0

thanks for sharing your thoughts. in my case the first option sounds do-able and closer to my requirements. 


@Allan wrote:

Hey, there!

 

Jason here from Shopify Support.

 

You're on the right track. There're two ways you can upload the images files in bulk.

 

The first method is through the Shopify admin > Settings > Files. Once there, click on Upload files on the top right corner, then you'll be able to upload the image files directly from your device to your admin. You can then use the images while you set up your store/product. For more detailed information, here's a helpful document going through how to upload image files to your store.

 

The second method is through a CSV file. The key to make sure that the files upload correctly is to follow the CSV format accurately. Here's a great document going over what content is required for each field. I've attached a sample template for you so you can take a look and make sure your Excel file complies with the format. If you wish to use the CSV method, the image files need to be uploaded to a publicly accessible URL first. This can be from the links you received after you use the first method or any cloud services, such as DropBox and Google Drive. Keep in mind the server needs to be at a decent speed. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll get timeout while importing the file resulting in import failure.

 

If you run into any issues, or if I misunderstood what you're hoping to set up, feel free to reply back here and I'd be happy to help out!

 

All the best,
Jason


 

tresorsstrand
Tourist
5 0 2

Hi Jason, Can you make a simplier CVS file  for me to bulk upload pictures to shopify only?


@Allan wrote:

Hey, there!

 

Jason here from Shopify Support.

 

You're on the right track. There're two ways you can upload the images files in bulk.

 

The first method is through the Shopify admin > Settings > Files. Once there, click on Upload files on the top right corner, then you'll be able to upload the image files directly from your device to your admin. You can then use the images while you set up your store/product. For more detailed information, here's a helpful document going through how to upload image files to your store.

 

The second method is through a CSV file. The key to make sure that the files upload correctly is to follow the CSV format accurately. Here's a great document going over what content is required for each field. I've attached a sample template for you so you can take a look and make sure your Excel file complies with the format. If you wish to use the CSV method, the image files need to be uploaded to a publicly accessible URL first. This can be from the links you received after you use the first method or any cloud services, such as DropBox and Google Drive. Keep in mind the server needs to be at a decent speed. Otherwise, there's a chance you'll get timeout while importing the file resulting in import failure.

 

If you run into any issues, or if I misunderstood what you're hoping to set up, feel free to reply back here and I'd be happy to help out!

 

All the best,
Jason


 

SilkenLily
Visitor
1 0 0

Does anyone know an easier way to upload images from Google Photo into the media libaray?

Riana
Visitor
3 0 0

HI Jason

I followed these tips as well as the description in the Help Centre. I am trying to upload a product with 90 variants. I left the fields blank as described in the Help.

When importing, it told me that I am about to import 90 products....I thought I would go ahead and see what happens. 

The product uploaded (only one product, not 90), but only with the first variant. What am I doing wrong?

 

Thank you

Riana

CraigHughes
Visitor
2 0 1
Hi,

I got this to work over the weekend, but made sure that I did the following…


1. Created / Imported the product using the Product bulk upload tool
2. Uploaded 1 image for each product the normal way through the settings/admin
3. I then had to create the file for the image as only the SKU number and _1. If I created anything longer, even if it included the SKU number, it wouldn’t match. So my image files are called 10000020_2, 10000020_3 etc

When I’ve made these changes – it works perfectly.

Thanks

Craig
kgrammer
Tourist
38 0 1

We offer an image management tool that allows you to create buckets for your images, upload your Shopify bulk upload image files, and then auto-populate the image URLs in your template file.

Have a look at https://BucketLynx.com.

Owner, https://bucketlynx.com
JohnTNBC
Shopify Partner
4 0 2

Jason -

I know this is an older thread. I had one follow-up question. I am using the second method that you suggested. The functionality works but the image is placed in the description area rather than in the variant area. How do I get it to be in the variant area and not in the product description area?

Thanks!

John

rmanke
Shopify Partner
183 0 59

You need to have the url of the image in the same row as the variant details for it to be attached to the variant.

 

I find the best way to make these types of adjustments is to have one product set up.the way you want in your store, and then export the csv of that product so you can use that to recreate the rest of the products.

Shopify Partner, software developer and designer.
DCS111
Visitor
2 0 0

Is one method better than the other if you have a lot of images? I don't want to make my site slow to load, but of course I want to have tons of images available

rmanke
Shopify Partner
183 0 59

If your theme template is done properly, the number of images shouldn't make any difference because they are "lazy loaded" which means they are only loaded when they appear.  You don't have to be concerned with that on most templates.

Shopify Partner, software developer and designer.
KonoHome
Tourist
3 1 1

I've loaded products (thousands) using CSV file through Matrixify but all without images. I have images in a separate folder. I've uploaded the images through admin settings in files named via the SKU numbers. Now I am wondering, is there a way to bulk upload images to the matching product? Or will I have to continue to do 1 by 1? Or copy and paste the link 1 by 1? Both are lengthy 

iceesocial
Shopify Partner
4 0 0

We  built a public app that does exactly what you guys are looking to do: 

https://apps.shopify.com/photo-finish

We were manually uploading photos to merchants stores and building hacky excel macros and decided to just build something. In order to use it you’d have to upload the images to Dropbox but then the app could match everything by SKU. Once you did this bulk import you could continue to use Matrixify and our app and you’ll never have to upload images one by one.

Happy to answer any questions. 

Renars
Shopify Partner
307 32 365

Hey @KonoHome 

Renars here from Matrixify.

If your image's names are SKUs and already are uploaded to Shopify Files, then you sure can construct a file in Excel with formulas that would import your Images to Products.

All images in Files would have the same URL apart from the actual image name.
Here we do have a great tutorial explaining how you could set up such an import file - https://matrixify.app/tutorials/bulk-import-images-shopify-from-computer/#HowtogetURLsforuploadedfil...

The tutorial explains a general idea on how to do that which should be simple enough if image names are SKUs.
If you need further assistance with it, please reach out to us directly and we will help you with that! 

Matrixify | Bulk Import Export Update | https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import | https://matrixify.app
OluendEN
Shopify Partner
3 0 0

File upload via CSV is a nice feature, but how can we delete these files? They do not show under Files. 

When changing products images, not deleting these files could result in storing a lot of useless files (100,000-200,000 initial image files after some time could easily become millions).

Doesn't this big number of images slow down the store?

Is there any native way to delete these csv-imported images?

Renars
Shopify Partner
307 32 365

@OluendEN Sorry about the late reply.

Product images indeed do not show up in Shopify Files. They are removed from Shopify CDN as the image is removed from the product or the product is deleted.

So you do not need to make any other actions to specifically delete images from the server.

Matrixify | Bulk Import Export Update | https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import | https://matrixify.app
George_C
Trailblazer
162 2 150

In order to bulk delete image files from products, you need to use the Shopify CSV upload feature for Product listings and delete the spreadsheet rows with the images you want to remove. 

 

I noticed in Matrixify that they have a way to specify File deletions in their CSV upload template, but not sure if they have something similar for Product images. 

Monster, creature & cryptozoology patches, buttons & stickers.
George_C
Trailblazer
162 2 150

Yes Matrixify does do image deletion (and more) via CSV for Products

Monster, creature & cryptozoology patches, buttons & stickers.
Renars
Shopify Partner
307 32 365

@George_C 

 

Yes! You sure can only delete specific images if you wish.

This is done by using the `Image Command` column.

For each image in the `Image Src` column, you can set what the app should do with it. So you can set images that you wish to delete to value `DELETE` in the `Image Command` column for that row.

You can also set `Image Command` to `REPLACE` in all rows and only list new images. Then the app will delete all existing images for that product and only add ones from the file.

 

In our documentation, you can see more details about how Matrixify `Image Command` column works.

Matrixify | Bulk Import Export Update | https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import | https://matrixify.app
gigismith
Visitor
2 0 0

Hey Jason!

 

Do you know if there is a way to map one image from my Shopify content folder to multiple products with out having to either :

A. manually add it to each product 

or 

B. add it via CVS product upload, using the shopify image link, which then results in the image being duplicated for every product added.  

 

B. is a bit annoying because I really only want one copy of the image, but mapped to many products.  

 

Any work around aside from adding manually? 

 

Thank you!

Edward-Newgate
Shopify Partner
570 22 61

Hi @albshop 

You can upload images through CSV files. This guide will instruct you on how to do it.

Was my reply helpful? Click Like or Mark it as an Accepted Solution to let me know!

tresorsstrand
Tourist
5 0 2

Jason, I just want a simply CVS file to paste images in to upload to shopify. 

Can this be done ? Jennifer


@albshop wrote:

I have read you upload them into files directory?

Or you just upload them to your server and then use the path in excel files when you import the products?


 

StitchShop
Shopify Partner
20 0 9

Hi Jennifer,

 

Yes it can be done,

you just need a place to store your images that Shopify has access to.

 

If you use Dropbox you need to replace the link domain

from:

https://www.dropbox.com/

to:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/

 

I hope that helps.

farid-movsumov
Shopify Partner
94 5 31

I see it is an old question but I would like to add a reply for the people who are coming to the topic from Google.

We recently created a Shopify App which is solving this problem.

This app can save you a lot of time by automatically uploading all your product images from Google Drive to your products.

Your product images should be names the same as the SKUs of your products. Then it will take just a few minutes to upload all images at once.

We have a free plan take a look into it. https://apps.shopify.com/smart-image-upload 

Morten1919
Visitor
1 0 0

Hey @farid-movsumov
We have been using smart image upload with G drive. Any chance that you will adding Onedrive and Dropbox to options?

StanJewellery
New Member
4 0 0

Try this app https://apps.shopify.com/pics-io-import-plugin , works for any number of images, integrates quickly with your Google Drive (100 images upload limit during trial, keep that in mind). 

farid-movsumov
Shopify Partner
94 5 31

Automating the image upload process is possible using the Smart Bulk Image Upload app. If your image names contain SKU, you can easily upload all your images from Google Drive to products automatically.

 

 

 

rmanke
Shopify Partner
183 0 59
That's way too expensive of an app.
Shopify Partner, software developer and designer.
Ozkan
Shopify Partner
47 1 5

Actually its not because most of the stores which has thousands of product images hire an operator just for digital assets and Smart Bulk Image Upload app makes it in a bulk way to reduce the operational cost 🙂

 

Here you can find a customer review who directly adressed your hesitation:

"Love this App. 10 Stars. It is very easy to use. Allowing me to import hundreds of images with the SKU and override older images. Lets me know if there are items not found. It is truly a game changer. I don't think I could handle updates as quickly as we do if we manually updated the images. Oh and the images are stored in your store not on an FTP that you have to pay for space. So the app pays for itself if you have many images. Thank you CS Smart."

And another one:

Extraordinary app that does exactly and without fail what it promises: Avoid headaches when it comes to uploading more than 15K images.

Ozkan's help is well worth that price, especially to solve the problems that arose when uploading files from my Dropbox that had hundreds of thousands of files. They immediately found a way to do it in a fluid way."

 

Just give it a try and I believe you are going to love Smart Bulk Image Upload app as well 🙂