CSV Import Creates Multiple Images in Files

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A user is experiencing an issue when importing products via CSV file into their Shopify store. Each product listing includes three images: a unique first image and two shared images (color and size charts) across all 40 products.

The Problem:

  • Despite using the same URL for images 2 and 3 across all listings, Shopify created 40 duplicate copies of each shared image upon import
  • The first image was also duplicated for each product
  • This resulted in significant file congestion: 2 copies of each unique image plus 80 total copies of the two shared charts

Current Status:

  • One respondent suggested cleaning the data and using bulk removal of duplicates, but the original poster confirmed they already used single URLs for the shared images
  • The root cause of why Shopify duplicates images despite identical URLs remains unresolved
  • No solution has been identified yet
Summarized with AI on November 1. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

CSV Import Creates Multiple Images in Files

I have just started utilizing CSV files to upload products into my Shopify store. For my first import each listing has 3 photos: 1st picture is unique to each individual listing (I uploaded them into my Shopify Files, then used the link in the CSV file). 2nd and 3rd images are the same across ALL listings, they are color and size charts (I also uploaded them into my Shopify Files, then used the same link in the CSV file).

When I imported the CSV file, it created 40 individual files for images 2 and 3 (they are all the exact same thing, just with different links now). It also uploaded duplicates of the 1st image. So now I have 2 copies of image 1 (for products 1-40), 40 copies of image 2, and 40 copies of image 3. This is making my files extremely congested.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to prevent Shopify from uploading the same image multiple times?

2

The only thing I can think of is to clean your data with a spreadsheet app in Shopify - bulk remove the duplicate image files and use only one image URL for all products.

3

I did only use one image URL for images 2 and 3.