Shopify Products Column Reference

Use this reference when choosing Products export columns or reviewing a spreadsheet for Advanced Import in EditEngine. The tables cover all 67 selectable export controls, including the dynamic controls that expand into multiple location, catalog, or metafield headers.

The tables also distinguish a column that appears in an export from a column you can safely import. A recognized header does not make every value valid: Shopify still validates your store's products, categories, locations, catalogs, and metafield definitions.

This reference was checked against the official Matrixify Products documentation. Use the EditEngine behavior here where the two apps differ; do not assume every Matrixify export header or tutorial works unchanged.

Read these rules before editing cells

• Importable means the field can supply an update, subject to the conditions in its row. Identity locates a record; Shopify IDs are not editable values. Export-only is recognized for reference but does not update Shopify. Unsupported header needs removal or renaming before import review.
• The blank-cell rules below describe ordinary MERGE or UPDATE of an existing product with default import settings. Omitting a column generally leaves that field unchanged. A selected column with an empty cell can mean something different.
• Product REPLACE deletes and recreates the product. The preservation rules for ordinary updates do not apply. Keep an untouched export and test one non-critical product; Advanced Import has no one-click undo.
• Product-level fields use the first non-empty value in the product block. Keep all rows for a product adjacent, including variant and media continuation rows. Do not interpret an empty continuation cell as a separate product update.
• Use TRUE and FALSE for booleans, plain decimal amounts such as 19.99, whole numbers for quantities, and text formatting for IDs, SKUs, barcodes, and customs codes. Preserve leading zeroes.
• Keep Product ID for same-store updates. Remove source-store product, variant, inventory-item, media, and other Shopify IDs before cross-store creation. Remap locations, catalogs, collections, and reference metafields to the destination.

Blank cells that can change data: empty description, vendor, type, template, SEO, category, compare-at price, cost, metafield, and some inventory/catalog cells can clear or remove data. Blank Variant Tracked, Variant Taxable, and Variant Requires Shipping can turn those flags off. Remove columns you are not deliberately changing.

Base — 19 controls

ID and Handle are always the first exported columns, even when their visible toggles are cleared.

Category — 3 controls

Use one unambiguous category identifier. If you keep several category columns, make their values agree. If a category column is present but all supplied category values are blank, EditEngine clears the category.

Media — 4 controls

Media and variants are independent lists even when they occupy the same spreadsheet row. A gallery image beside a variant row does not automatically become that variant's image.

The current export reads media preview-image fields. These four columns are not a complete backup of original video or 3D files. Invalid media source URLs produce warnings; a spreadsheet should use sources Shopify can actually download.

Collections — 3 controls

Check collection identities before round-tripping. An exported collection titled Summer Collection might have the custom handle summer-2026. Import that handle explicitly. Do not assume every exported title resolves to the original collection.

Matrixify's current Collections reference describes a unified Collections sheet. EditEngine's separate Custom Collections and Smart Collections resources use their own supported sheet formats; do not rename either worksheet to Collections and assume compatibility.

Variants — 26 controls

For a multi-variant product, include a reliable variant identifier on each edited row. Customs fields specifically require Variant ID, SKU, barcode, or option values. Option combinations must be unique and option names must remain consistent within a product.

Do not treat the four blank export controls noted above as evidence that Shopify has no customs or inventory-SKU data. Check those values in Shopify before preparing a migration or backup.

Metafields — 2 dynamic controls

Each control can emit many headers. Preserve the namespace, key, and type; the asterisk below is a placeholder, not a literal header to upload.

Typed values can include text, booleans, numbers, lists, JSON, measurements, or Shopify references. Preserve the exported type and valid value representation. Do not substitute a readable label for a reference unless that reference format is supported. Metafield Command=REPLACE can delete existing keys omitted from the replacement set; it is wider than updating one selected field.

Multi-Location Inventory Levels — 8 dynamic controls

The picker label Inventory Available becomes a header such as Inventory Available: Main Warehouse. Keep the exact destination location name after the colon and identify the variant on the same row.

Available blank is not zero. Enter 0 to set zero available quantity. Remove the entire location column when you do not intend to change that location. A blank Available cell can instead request removal of the location from an existing variant, subject to Shopify accepting that operation.

SET supplies the final quantity. ADJUST supplies a change to the current quantity. If the same row supplies both for the same location and inventory state, EditEngine keeps SET, drops ADJUST, and warns. Do not retry successful adjustments: a repeated delta can change inventory again.

Market Prices (Catalogs) — 2 dynamic controls

Catalog titles determine the exported headers. These are per-variant contextual prices, not a separate editable currency field. Availability depends on the store's eligible active catalogs and price lists. Include a unique Variant SKU alongside the variant identity for pricing operations.

Export only the catalogs you intend to change. An unchanged-looking catalog spreadsheet is not necessarily a no-op because importing a price establishes an explicit fixed price.

Additional Advanced Import headers

These useful headers are recognized for Products but are not emitted by the current 67-control export picker. Add them deliberately, using the spelling shown. They do not increase the export-control count.

Variant ID [ID], Variant SKU [ID], and Variant Barcode [ID] force a variant identifier for product matching. A forced SKU/barcode shared across products can match more than one product. Use unique Product and Variant IDs for a focused same-store change; read match warnings before acting on a file.

Additional recognized reference headers include Row #, Top Row, Variant Name, Image ID, and Image Type. These are export-only for import purposes and are not additional controls in the current Products picker. Do not invent unsupported columns from a Matrixify template: review unknown and export-only headers after upload.

Review the file in Advanced Import

Use a CSV with standard Products headers or an XLSX worksheet named Products. Open EditEngine → Import → Advanced import and upload the edited file. Confirm the detected resource, recognized headers, match settings, and command columns before starting any test.

Start with one representative product and inspect Shopify afterwards. Verify the intended fields, every affected variant, inventory location, media association, and catalog price. Download the result file and inspect warnings as well as failures. Keep it beside your untouched export; rerun only rows whose outcome and repeat behavior you have checked.

Related tutorials

• Products export and import round trip — prepare a focused export, preserve identity, and verify the result.
• Update inventory across multiple locations — use exact location headers and quantities.
• Add multiple images per product — append media without replacing the gallery.
• Shopify Metafields export and import — understand typed values and owner references.

About EditEngine: EditEngine Bulk Product Editor helps Shopify merchants bulk edit, import, and export store data from spreadsheets.