Importing & Exporting

OnShop has a built-in product function to Import or update hundreds or thousands of products in your OnShop store with a single CSV. This tool supports all product types, including variations.

First-time store owners get started more quickly by exporting products from their existing system, and importing products directly. Existing store owners can update tens or hundreds of products with new info or place them on sale, or sync multiple storefronts.

Download our Spreadsheet Template explaining all the fields used by this function. This Template is also sent to all new subscribers in the welcome email.

Create your CSV

To import new products or update existing products, you need a CSV containing your product information based off of the template.

General Guidelines

  • CSVs should be in UTF-8 format.
  • The delimiter should be a semi colon, if comma is used all wording should be closed in with quote marks, ie “Your information”
  • Dates should be defined for the store’s local time zone.
  • Use 1 or 0 in your CSV, if importing a Yes or No column.
  • Prefix the id with id: if referencing an existing product ID. No prefix is needed if referencing an SKU. For example: id:100, SKU101
  • Category hierarchy is denoted with >, terms are separated with comma.

Images

  • Images need to be pre-uploaded or available online to import to your store.
  • Add the images to your Media Library, and when viewing each image, use the Copy Link feature at the bottom of the panel on the right, this will highlight the whole link, then you can copy and paste it to your spreadsheet.
  • External URLs are supported and imported into the Media Library if used.
  • You can define the filename if the image already exists in the Media Library.
  • Avoid filenames with spaces or ascii characters like @, &, $, % etc.

Importing New Products

First-time and existing store owners using OnShop can use the CSV to add new products with one upload.

  1. Go to: Products. (Or : Tools -> Import)
  2. Select Import at the top. The Upload CSV File screen displays.

    Upload CSV

  3. Select Choose File and the CSV you wish you use.

    CSV delimiter (Advanced option): Generally CSV elements are separated by a comma, OnShop uses a semi-colon to ensure that commas in other text do not break the upload. Be sure to set the CSV delimiter to a colon, ie “;” without quotes.

  4. Continue.
    The Column Mapping screen displays, and OnShop automatically attempts to match or “map” the Column Name from your CSV to Fields.

    Column Mapping

     

  5. Use dropdown menus on the right side to adjust fields or indicate ‘Do not import.’ Any unrecognized columns will not be imported by default.
  6. Select Run the Importer.

    Importing

  7. Wait until the Importer is finished. Do not refresh or touch the browser while in progress.

    Import Finished

Update Existing Products

Store owners can use the CSV Importer tool to update existing products with new info, e.g., Adding a brand, changing a tax class, bulk-update for a special sale or event, etc.

The importer uses the ID and/or SKU to auto-match and auto-update whatever info you enter on each line. Ensure you always use SKU.

Simply run the importer as described above, and tick the checkbox for Update Existing Products.

Note that new products in the CSV that don’t exist in the store already will not be uploaded and should be uploaded separately as a new import.

Export Products

Store owners wishing to export their current catalogue of products for any reason can generate a CSV using the Product Importer/Exporter.

  1. Go to: Products.
  2. Select Export at the top. The Export Products screen displays.
    Export Products
  3. Select to Export All Columns. Or select which columns to export by using the dropdown menu.
  4. Select to Export All Products. Or select which product types to export by using the dropdown menu.
  5. Select to Export All Categories. Or select which categories to export by using the dropdown menu.
  6. Select Generate CSV. Wait for the export to finish.