Product import report - failed lines

[gina_v]

When receiving the emailed batch import report, it shows errors on certain line numbers. These line numbers never match the line numbers on my spreadsheet. Today's import included about 2600 excel rows, but the report comes back with errors in rows 12000+. I have 4 failed products and have no idea which they are with only "Line 12102-12113: can't be blank".  I had other failed items, but was able to find them using additional info given, such as the image URL. Why don't the lines correspond to my spreadsheet? Is there a method to the madness of this numbering system? Please help. Thanks 😃 

[StephensWorld]

Hey Gina,

The formatting of the CSV spreadsheet has to match (exactly) to the formatting listed here:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/import-export/using-csv#product-csv-file-format

Unless your CSV matches up with the exact column names and accepted values, as outlined in the page above, you will get errors. 

If you're working from an export which was generated by another platform, I'd recommend using an app like Excelify, to import the data. The app automatically figures out the formatting of your CSV file and then sorts out the import for you. 

https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import

Best of luck! 🙂

[gina_v]

The import is already complete. I'm talking about the batch report with errors. When it says "lines 1234-1235 can't be blank" and I only have 500 lines, how can I find the product if the line numbers don't match my csv? 

[MELANINMECCA]

Did you ever get a response? I have same exact problem. I don't understand how this can happen if I'm using Shopify's exported file! I just realized that the file that exports from Shopify doesn't even include the column Inventory Qty! I had to add it, SMH. We should be able to export the Shopify file into Excel and make the changes, save it as a .csv file and import it back without issues. There's always a cost and a push to use yet another app! Getting support in chat is a joke, they have ZERO clue and then after 2 hours chatting with no results, they let you know there's a "technical team" they have to forward your issue to who will get back to you by email (never does). What a joke and ripoff of our money. This isn't a free service and we deserve to have immediate support of our issues. 

Penny

[gina_v]

No, but I rarely use the Shopify CSV. We've been requiring our clients to use Excelify. It is greatly superior to Shopify's importing. I recommend it. Yeah, it's another app you have to pay for, but it's so worth it. CS is great, too! Give it a try.

[Hassan63 · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone,

I was just facing the same issue and I might have found a solution for those who might still struggle with this problem in the future.

Shopify's references to the line numbers never match the actual row numbers in our CSVs so basically what you need to do is the following:

1. Go into the CSV file
2. Copy all the elements from the file
3. Paste it into a text editor (eg. Sublime Text for Mac users)
4. And just scroll down to the line number where the error is at

This way you can find what products are causing errors when importing.

*Not my solution, just decided to pass it forward*

[Ivo37]

Hi all,

just open the csv directly with a text editor. (A csv is a text file.)

Cheers

[miq]

Thanks for posting this! It worked!

In my case, it was HTML I am using in the description - it creates a different line in the CSV for some reason. 

[edsonsantoro]

I've figured out that this problem has to do with break lines inside a cell. Example: In my CSV file, there was multiple break lines inside the product description. When I opened the CSV inside a code editor, I saw it. So, if you are using Google Sheets like me, just search using regular expressions for "\n" without quotes and substitue for nothing. Download the file and reimport to now get right indications about import problems.