Update customers with import deleting their addresses

Shopify Discussion
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Topic summary

Issue: Updating customer tags via CSV import removed all non‑default addresses for the affected customers; only the default address remained.

What happened: The user exported the customer list, edited only the Tags column, and re‑imported the file for two test customers. After import, additional addresses disappeared. Shopify’s help notes each address must appear on a separate row with the customer’s email during import, but the export did not include these additional addresses and there’s no option to include them.

Context: “Tags” are customer labels used for segmentation/search. The import appears to overwrite customer address data with what’s present in the CSV, so omitted addresses may be deleted.

Ask: A safer/easier way to update only customer tags without impacting stored addresses.

Status: Unresolved; no workaround or official method confirmed in the thread.

Summarized with AI on December 25. AI used: gpt-5.
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Hi,

I’m working to update tags for customers via import,

So, I exported the customers list, relace the old tags column with the new updated one only, and import the new file (I did this for 2 customers for testing purposes and to make sure that everything is ok)

but after importing these 2 customers, the other addressed deleted from shopify, only the default one kept in the record.

In the help section, it is mentioned that we have to add each address in a separated row with the email. but I don’t have other addresses since they are not exported and there is no option to include them in exported file…

Any idea or easier way to update tags only?