Why do product handles end with numbers in my CSV file?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Issue: After duplicating products and bulk editing via CSV, some product handles end with numbers like -1 or -2.

Cause: Shopify requires unique URLs. When multiple products share the same base handle, it automatically appends incremental numbers (e.g., -1, -2) to avoid duplicates.

Example: xyz.com/abc, xyz.com/abc-1, xyz.com/abc-2.

How to change: You can manually set unique handles in each product’s “URL handle” field at the bottom of the product page. An attached screenshot shows where this field is located.

Notes: The OP already understood that spaces in titles become dashes in handles. Using distinct product names and/or directly editing handles helps prevent automatic numbering.

Status: The explanation answered the question, and the original poster confirmed the issue is resolved.

Summarized with AI on February 15. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi!

I was duplicating products so I can launch the soonest when I noticed the URLs of each item having the ‘copy of’. So I import the CSV file to edit it in bulk.

I understand that the one in the title will be the one that appears in the handle. The only difference is that in the handle, the space would be represented with a dash. Almost all of my products have ‘handles’ written this way. But I get confused when a number of my products have ‘handles’ ending in numbers.

I have products with ‘handle’ ending in 1 and some ending in 2. What do the numbers mean?

2

Hi @merryprintables

If you have 3 products with the same name then the URL will have 1 & 2 at the end.

For ex: The 3 URLs will be like this

xyz.com/abc

xyz.com/abc-1

xyz.com/abc-2

3

On Shopify, you can edit any of your URLs. At the bottom of each product there is a “URL handle” field, which you can edit at your discretion. It’s the same with the headers, you can change them.

screenshot 2022-06-12 в 13.16.19.png
screenshot 2022-06-12 в 13.16.19.png1593×1196 104 KB

1 and 2 these numbers are added automatically when you have the same url. Write different names and descriptions of your products

1 Like
4

Got it now.

Thank you.

5

Got it now.

Thanks.