Answers to common Simple CSV questions.

Yes. The Free plan handles up to 100 rows per file and covers manual CSV, Excel and XML imports. Pro and Scale support unlimited rows and add advanced pricing and inventory rules. Pro includes 3 automations that can run every 6 hours, while Scale includes 7 automations that can run hourly. The Free plan never expires.

Pro is $19 per month, Scale is $49 per month. Both come with a 14-day free trial. Billed through Shopify, cancel anytime.

We pause every active automation and send you an email. Your saved tasks and mappings stay available. The email and an in-app message suggest the cheapest paid plan that can hold all your saved automations. If no paid plan fits, they ask you to contact support instead. After upgrading, open Simple CSV from Shopify Admin, go to Automations and activate the tasks you want to run again. Upgrading does not restart them automatically.

Simple CSV accepts CSV, XLS, XLSX and XML files from your computer or a URL. Supported files can also be imported from ZIP, GZ and TAR.GZ archives. When an archive contains several supported files, Simple CSV prefers a tabular file over XML and CSV over XLS or XLSX. Excel imports read the first worksheet only. Standard CSV files can use comma, semicolon or tab delimiters, and UTF-8 encoding works best.

Yes. Match file rows by SKU, first barcode, handle or Shopify ID. Simple CSV compares SKU, handle and the first barcode exactly after ignoring letter case and surrounding spaces. A longer value that only starts with the same characters is not a match. If a variant has several barcodes, a secondary barcode in your file does not match and the row is skipped. Use SKU or Shopify ID when you can.

Yes, on every plan. On the Preview page, use Override status for all new products to choose Active, Draft or Unlisted. Unlisted products can be opened and bought through a direct link, but they stay out of Shopify-powered search, collections and recommendations. This replaces the mapped or default status for newly created products only. Clear the choice to use the mapped status again. Existing products are not changed by this setting. If you save the import as a Pro or Scale automation, the saved override is used whenever the scheduled file is processed.

Simple CSV skips the row instead of choosing a product. The import log names the ambiguous SKU or first barcode, reports how many products use it and explains that the row was skipped to avoid updating the wrong product.

For a repeated SKU or first barcode, Simple CSV processes every row in file order, so the last successful row determines the final value. If an update uses handle as its match key, only the first row for that handle is processed. Later rows with that handle have no effect and do not add a warning or skipped row to the import log. This does not affect new-product imports that group variant rows under a shared handle. The update rule applies to CSV, XLS, XLSX and XML uploads, URL imports and published Google Sheets. It is different from one SKU or first barcode matching several Shopify products, which causes the row to be skipped and logged.

Yes. Pro includes 3 scheduled URL import automations that can run every 6 hours. Scale includes 7 automations that can run hourly. At each scheduled time, Simple CSV fetches the current file. If the file and the automation settings have not changed since the last fully successful scheduled run, the run completes without touching Shopify. Run now always processes the file.

Yes. On Free, select Start import or Start update on the Summary page. If the file is over the 100-row limit, the action is Try import (100 rows) or Start limited update. On Pro and Scale, select Save & Run now. Simple CSV saves the reusable feed and mapping, queues one run and opens the run status page. It does not ask for a schedule name or time, and it does not create a recurring schedule.

For CSV or Excel files with a header row, a saved mapping follows column names, so a Pro or Scale automation still finds the right data when those columns move. Header matching is case-sensitive and ignores spaces at the start or end. Repeated headers are numbered in order, such as Price and Price#2. A file set to First row is not a header still uses column positions. The same is true for a column with a blank header or a header containing | or *. If a mapped header is missing, Simple CSV stops that product and logs an error instead of sending incomplete data to Shopify. Existing scheduled feeds move to header-based mappings cautiously over their next runs. The import log says when a field was upgraded or when it stayed positional because its column moved during that check.

After you submit a URL, the validation screen says "We are downloading your file." It starts with "Preparing download...", then shows a percentage when the source server reports the total size. If the server does not report a size, the moving progress bar shows how much has downloaded so far. Its screen-reader label is "File download progress". When the download finishes, the bar disappears and the heading changes to "We are validating your file in the background." The same download screen appears when a saved Pro or Scale automation re-downloads its source after you edit its mapping or advanced settings. Files uploaded from your computer go straight to the validation message without a download progress bar.

No. Save & Run now queues one run without changing the schedule times or the Active or Paused state of an existing Pro or Scale automation. Use Save & Schedule when you want to create or edit a recurring schedule.

Simple CSV found the same file and settings as the last fully successful scheduled run for that automation, so it skipped the file without touching Shopify. The import history shows the run as Completed. Open it to see No changes in the file, all counters at zero and the log message, "This file is the same as the one we last processed. We skipped this run because there is nothing new to import or update." Manual imports, Run now and test runs that do not change Shopify are never skipped. After a failed or partial run, or one stopped because it reached a limit, the next scheduled run processes the file normally.

Open the automation in Simple CSV from Shopify Admin and select Run now. This always processes the file, even when it is unchanged. Use it when Shopify changed after the last run, such as when sales reduced inventory or someone deleted a product. Changing the automation settings, schedule hours, mapping, feed URL or out-of-feed cleanup setting also makes the next scheduled run process the file.

Free and Pro do not clean up missing feed items automatically. On Scale, optional cleanup checks every previously managed variant missing from the current feed. If the import updates inventory, cleanup sets the variant to 0 only at that import's location. Quantities at every other location stay unchanged. Continue selling when out of stock is turned off only when the variant has no stock at another active location. This applies even if sibling variants remain in the feed. The configured product action runs afterward and only when the whole product is missing. A product that still has stock at another active location stays active. Otherwise, depending on your setting, Simple CSV leaves the product active, sets it to draft or unlists it. If the import does not map inventory, cleanup makes no inventory or Continue selling changes but still applies the configured product action to a fully missing product. A variant that reappears gets its feed quantity back, but Simple CSV does not restore Continue selling when out of stock if cleanup turned it off. Simple CSV uses the saved Shopify variant ID when available, then falls back to the mapped SKU or first barcode for older tracked rows. The import log adds a cleanup success message only when cleanup changes a product. A repeat run says nothing about cleanup for a product that is already in the chosen state.

The Free plan supports up to 100 rows per file. Pro and Scale support unlimited rows per file.

You can export a sample CSV from Simple CSV before you import. Choose an empty template with just the headers, a template with placeholder data or a sample of your existing Shopify products. The template has one barcode column. A sample of your existing products exports only the first barcode on each variant.

Simple CSV reads, matches, exports and updates only the first barcode on each variant. Secondary barcodes are not matched or exported. If your file uses a secondary barcode to find a product, the row is skipped as not found. A mapped barcode column updates the first barcode and leaves the other barcodes in place. To leave every barcode alone, remove the barcode column or do not map it. Use SKU or Shopify ID for matching when your variants have several barcodes.