SKU BEACONFIELD NOTES / PRODUCT IMPORTS
A Shopify CSV checklist.
Before the import.
Rules reviewed November 2, 2026. This guide describes SKU Beacon Version 1 and links to Shopify’s own documentation.
A product CSV can look tidy and still describe the wrong update. Start with a copy of your original export, decide whether you are creating or updating products, and keep that intent beside you while reviewing the file. A formatting checker cannot see your store’s existing catalog.
1. Keep a source copy you can return to
Save the untouched export separately. Keep SKU and barcode columns as text when using a spreadsheet so that 000123 stays 000123. Avoid opening an untrusted CSV in a way that runs formula-like cells. SKU Beacon preserves those values and warns about potential formulas rather than changing your import data.
2. Check the file before individual values
Use a comma-separated, UTF-8 product CSV. Inventory and customer imports use different structures. Shopify’s product import instructions specify a 15 MB file limit. SKU Beacon accepts up to 15,000,000 bytes, 100,000 data rows and 2,000,000 cells; whichever limit is reached first applies. A quoted description can span several physical lines, so the checker labels CSV record numbers rather than counting every line break.
Unexpected extra cells often point to broken quoting or a delimiter mismatch. Review the original record before deleting a column. A comma inside a quoted description is content, not another field.
3. Read a product as a group of records
Repeated handles can connect variants and additional images to one product. Blank cells on those later records can be intentional. See a worked example of repeated product handles before using any spreadsheet deduplication command.
Shopify’s product CSV reference explains required headers, dependencies between variant fields, and support for older column names. SKU Beacon recognizes selected current and legacy names; it keeps your original header vocabulary rather than converting the entire schema.
4. Review the findings in context
| Selected Version 1 check | What to review |
|---|---|
| Header and row structure | Missing Title header, empty or duplicate headers, conflicting recognized aliases, and records with a different cell count. |
| Product identity and options | Missing first-product titles, spaces or URL separators in handles, option/header dependencies, repeated option combinations and repeated SKUs. Repeats are preserved. |
| Prices and integers | Currency symbols, thousands separators and malformed numeric values; whole-number quantity, gram-weight and image-position fields. No exchange rates or locale conversions are guessed. |
| Selected choices | Boolean fields, product status, inventory policy and weight unit. The tool does not choose whether a product should be published. |
| Images and text | Image URL syntax, selected text-length limits and partial packed dimensions. Remote images are not fetched. |
| Preservation warnings | Potential spreadsheet formulas, encoding replacement characters, and the old/new barcode-header conflict. |
An error is a finding from these checks, not a prediction of Shopify’s exact response. Warnings ask for judgment: a repeated SKU may be intentional, while a repeated variant option combination may need a closer look. Shopify’s common import problems guide is the place to investigate an error returned by the actual importer.
5. Make small, visible changes
The checker starts without applying repairs. If you enable conservative whitespace fixes, it can remove surrounding whitespace from headers and selected scalar fields such as prices and booleans. Each applied change appears in a before-and-after log. It does not rewrite descriptions, SKUs, barcodes, handles or option values, remove records, fill blank fields, or infer missing prices and publishing choices.
For a responsive browser, the report stores the first 10,000 findings. Counts still include every finding identified, including omitted details. A repair pass applies at most 20,000 changes; remaining eligible values stay unchanged, and the report records how many repairs were not applied. Use smaller source files when those limits prevent a useful review.
6. Finish in Shopify’s own preview
Export a review copy and read its change log. SKU Beacon processes the catalog locally in your browser; checking does not connect to your store. Taxonomy, existing products, fulfillment services, apps, market settings and remote image availability can still affect the outcome. Keep your backup and inspect Shopify’s import preview before proceeding. Passing these selected checks does not guarantee acceptance.
This personal preview provides free checks and complete CSV/report exports for files up to 100 data rows. Larger exports are not available yet. SKU Beacon is independent of Shopify.