Beginner guide
What is a Shopify product catalog?
It is the spreadsheet behind your store. Rows describe products, variants, or additional images. Columns hold facts such as the title, price, image, or SKU.
The checker reads files inside your browser. Catalog contents are not uploaded.
The simple version
One spreadsheet, many product facts.
A CSV file is a spreadsheet saved in a standard text format. Shopify uses product CSV files to move many product records at once. That makes them useful for exports, bulk edits, migrations, and handoffs to other platforms.
A product with several sizes or colors can occupy several rows. Some cells may intentionally be blank because later rows belong to the same product. That is why a catalog checker should flag uncertainty for review instead of automatically filling in missing facts.
Tiny example
What the rows can look like
| Handle | Title | Variant SKU | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ridge-mug | Ridge Camp Mug | MUG-GRN-12 | $18.00 | in stock |
| ridge-mug | Blank: uses product title | MUG-BLK-12 | $18.00 | in stock |
This simplified example shows two variants of one product. The second row can inherit the title from the first row with the same handle. The checker recognizes that relationship without changing the file. A handle with no supplied title still needs review.
From Shopify
How to get your product CSV
- 1Open Products
In your Shopify admin, go to the Products page.
- 2Choose Export
Select all products, selected products, the current page, or products matching your filters.
- 3Select a CSV format
Choose the spreadsheet-friendly format when you plan to open the file in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.
- 4Run the private preflight
Return to the checker, choose the exported file, and review the flagged rows before changing anything.
What gets reviewed
The common trouble spots
Identity and variants Duplicate IDs, missing group relationships, and ambiguous variant structure.
Offers Price, currency, sale-price conflicts, availability, and preorder dates.
Product content Missing titles, short descriptions, image links, brand information, and review prompts.
Policies Shipping and return fields that are missing, malformed, or need human confirmation.
Safe boundaries
A preflight, not a promise.
The score helps prioritize cleanup. It is not Shopify, Google, or OpenAI certification; it cannot guarantee approval, placement, or rankings. Verify recommendations against your store and the destination platform’s current requirements.
Ready when you are