How can I efficiently use CSV files with Shopify without upload errors?

Technical Q&A
1

Hello Experts,

I am about to create various big csv Files and faced some issues. Mostly, because Shopify only accepts CSV Files divided by semicolon, and not by comma.

I can get it to upload, but I realized that every comma, in the descripion for example, leads to a failed upload. Now, I do not think we can completely avoid using Commas.

Another problem is the fact, that even when I edit a file I exported from Shopify as a reference and use the “text in Columns” feature from Excel and choose “Divide Cells with commas”, it does show semicolons instead when i open the File in text editor.

I will show you every step I do to make an Upload successful and I hope you can help me find a more efficient way to do this while being able to use Commas in the Product description:

  1. Export a CSV of the products i need to update
  2. “divide Cells in columns” (I choose the option “commas divide each cell”)
  3. I enter the Information
  4. I check if there are any commas in the cells and replace them with something else
  5. I Save the file and reopen it in Text Editor (because i cannot get it back into the csv format after dividing it into cells)
  6. I press ctrl+h and replace every Semicolon with a comma (even though I chose the correct option in 2. it still Shows Semicolon)
  7. I save it as a CSV file
  8. I import it from Shopify

Best Regards
Chris

2

Hello @Chempel ,

Welcome to Shopify Community!

To avoid issues with commas in the product description, you can try enclosing the description field in double quotes in the CSV file. This will tell Shopify to treat the entire description as a single field, even if it contains commas.

For example, your CSV file could look like this:

Product Name;Description;Price
Product 1;"This is a description, with a comma";10.00
Product 2;"Another description, with multiple commas, and line breaks
like this";20.00

Note that the description field is enclosed in double quotes.

As for the semicolon issue, it’s possible that your machine’s regional settings are causing Excel to use semicolons instead of commas as the delimiter. To change this in Windows OS, go to the Control Panel > Region > Additional settings, and change the List separator to a comma.

Alternatively, you can try using Google Sheets or a dedicated CSV editor to edit your CSV file.

I hope this helps!

Thanks

3

@SocialAutoPost Thank you! In fact, it did help a lot.

Best Regards
Chris

4

Glad to help Chris :slightly_smiling_face:

5

Hi Shopify experts - I hope you can help!

I read the above solution and for me there is an additional problem - I have inch measurements in my description.

e.g.

3½"H x 6"L The quick, brown, fox jumped over the lazy dog.

If I add " at the start and finish as suggested :

“3½"H x 6"L The quick, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” then it seems to get confused when importing the product csv file into excel.

Any ideas please?

Thanks

Tim