When you need to add dozens of products or change prices across a catalogue, editing each item individually becomes difficult to track. Importing products into WooCommerce lets you work in batches, but the outcome depends on how you prepare the data. An accidentally altered SKU or an incorrectly mapped column can affect several products at once. Start with a well-organised file and check a representative sample before processing your entire catalogue.
Start with an export and decide what needs changing
The most useful starting point for your CSV file is an export from your own shop. Export a few representative products: a simple product, one with several images and, where relevant, a variable product with its variations. This shows you the column structure and how values are represented.
Keep new product imports separate from updates to existing products. New products need the information required for publication. For a price update, keep the identifier and relevant columns rather than unnecessarily including every description and image.
- Keep the original export unchanged for reference.
- Work on a copy with a clear name, such as „november-price-update.csv”.
- Remove columns you do not intend to import from the working copy.
- Create a backup of your shop before making bulk changes and check how it can be restored.
For example, if you are only changing the regular price of 20 mugs, leave out the description column. This reduces the risk of accidentally replacing text that is already correct.
Organise your columns and protect your SKUs
SKUs are useful identifiers for matching rows to products. Use a unique code for each product and each variation that has an SKU. Do not reuse the same code for different items or change it in a file intended to update existing products.
A sample code might be „MUG-WHITE-350”. If that SKU exists in the shop but the file contains „MUG-WHT-350”, matching may fail. Check for extra spaces and set the column to text in your spreadsheet application: a code such as „000125” must not become „125”.
For a simple product, your working columns might include:
- „Type” for the product type and „SKU” for identification;
- „Name” for the product name and „Regular price” for its standard price;
- „Description” and „Short description” for product copy;
- „Categories”, „Images” and the fields needed for stock management.
The internal identifier in the „ID” column can help when updating products within the same shop. However, do not treat it as an identifier that transfers between separate installations. For variable products, preserve the exported structure for the parent, variations and attributes. A single row containing a name and price does not describe all those relationships.
Save the CSV file without changing its values
Save your CSV file using UTF-8 encoding to preserve accented characters correctly. Check the column delimiter too. Depending on regional settings, spreadsheet applications may export files using commas or semicolons. The delimiter in the file must match the one recognised or selected during import.
For example, the product name „Dog shampoo, 250 ml” contains a comma. Your exporting application needs to enclose the field correctly so that the name does not split across two columns. Avoid manually building rows by simply joining values with commas.
- Use numeric prices without currency symbols or thousands separators; use a decimal point for compatibility.
- Check that spreadsheet formulas have been exported as values.
- Remove empty rows and repeated headings from the middle of the file.
- Make sure descriptions containing paragraph breaks remain within a single cell.
Do not assume an empty cell always means the existing value will be preserved. The effect depends on the field and how the import is processed. If you do not want to change a field, leave its column out or explicitly exclude it during mapping.
Prepare your images and check field mapping
For new images, use direct addresses pointing to publicly accessible files. A page displaying a photograph is not the same as the address of the image file itself. Links that require authentication or expire can prevent the shop from downloading the images.
In the „Images” column, the first image is normally used as the main product image, with subsequent images forming the gallery. For a mug, for example, put the front view before the packaging photograph. When several addresses share one cell, let your spreadsheet application handle the correct field enclosure during export.
Open the CSV importer in the product administration area, upload your file and review the mapping screen. WooCommerce may recognise some headings automatically, but check every connection:
- The „SKU” column should map to the SKU identifier.
- The regular price column must not map to the sale price field.
- Supporting columns such as „Supplier notes” should be excluded unless they have an appropriate destination.
When updating products, enable the option for existing products and check that identification uses the correct ID or SKU. Handle rows for new products separately so that you can clearly track the results of each operation.
Run a test import with a representative batch
A test import should cover more than a single straightforward product. Choose a small batch containing the important cases in your catalogue: accented characters, long descriptions, several images and variations if you use them. Keep the same columns and settings that you intend to use for the full batch.
If you have a staging environment, start there. If you are working in your live shop, choose the products and timing carefully. For new products, you can prepare draft status in the file, following the structure of a suitable export, so that you can review them before publication.
After the import, check both the administration area and the product page:
- Are the name, accented characters, description and category correct?
- Do the price and stock behaviour match the prepared data?
- Are the main image and gallery in the intended order?
- Do variations have the correct attributes and prices?
- For an update, was the existing product changed without creating a duplicate?
For example, open the mug with SKU „MUG-WHITE-350” and compare its price in the administration area with the spreadsheet value. Read the import results and any available error details. A completed process does not automatically mean every row was handled correctly.
Import the remaining catalogue and keep a record
Fix the issues found in your sample first, then repeat the test for the affected rows. If an image failed to load, check access to the file before running the entire catalogue again. If an SKU was not found, compare it with the shop export rather than relying solely on the supplier’s list.
For larger imports, you can split the file into smaller batches while retaining the column headings. Do not arbitrarily separate variable products from the information needed to link their variations. Suitable batch sizes depend on description length, image numbers and available resources; there is no universal threshold.
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Once you finish, keep the imported file, the operation date and a note of the columns changed, for example „Regular prices updated; descriptions and images were not included”. Before closing the task, check a few products from different batches again. This gives you a clear reference for your next update.
