Import new products into Shift4Shop with the sample CSV

Which fields do the Shift4Shop import articles name?

The import article describes the fields in this sequence: id, mfgid, name, manufacturer, categories, cost, price, price2, stock, weight, free_shipping, date_created, description, extended_description, keywords, hide, sorting, thumbnail, image1, image2, image3, image4, related, distributor, shipcost, homespecial, categoryspecial, title, and metatags. id is required. It is the SKU or part number you choose. The store assigns a separate database id, called CATALOGID in that article and catalogid in the sample-file article, and that id appears on an export. It is not on the new-product sample. name is required. price is required, numbers only, with no currency sign. stock is numeric and is required when Inventory Control is enabled. weight is numeric, with no lbs or kg suffix, and it is required for real-time shipping. The number is the unit your carrier uses. free_shipping is 1 or 0. hide is 1 or 0. homespecial is 1, or blank when the product is not a home special. date_created is assigned by the store.

categories is a path. A main category is the category name, and a new name is created. A subcategory uses a slash, as in the article’s Category 1/Sub Category 1. Several paths use @, as in Category 1@Category 2. The articles say a slash or an @ inside a category name can be read as extra categories, and they tell you to write @ for an @ sign, " for a quotation mark, and / or ⁄ for a slash. description is the short text, under 250 characters. extended_description allows HTML and has no size limit in the article. thumbnail, image1, image2, image3, and image4 are paths. The sample-file article says image2 through image4. Upload the files first, through File Manager or FTP. The import article’s relative example is assets/images/product_thumbnail.jpg. related takes product ids separated by commas. manufacturer and distributor create a new record when the name is new. The import article’s warning is that ManufacturerA, Manufacturer A, and Manufacturer-A become three manufacturers.

id,name,price,categories,stock
MUG-04,Travel mug,18.00,Mugs,12

Where the two Shift4Shop articles do not say the same thing

The import article says sorting is a legacy column and may be left blank, and that sorting is now set per category under Products, then Sorting. The sample-file article says sorting determines the product’s order inside the categories, and that a default can be set under Products, then Categories, then Category Options. This page does not pick one. Leave sorting as the sample file left it unless the admin you have open matches one of those menus. categoryspecial is optional in both articles, and neither article says to enter 1. homespecial is the field that says to enter 1 or leave the cell blank.

Both articles say not to add or remove columns for a new import. Leave an unused column blank. The import article adds a different rule for Update Only: delete columns you did not fill. The new-product choices it names are Insert Only, Update Only, Insert + Update, Erase All products, then insert, and Erase All Products and Categories, then Insert. The sample-file article’s buttons say Import File, and its erase labels use a different capitalisation. The import article’s button says Import Data. One file can be at most 30 megabytes. Product options such as sizes and colors are a later import, after the products exist. This product file does not carry them.

How do you upload the Shift4Shop sample?

1. Log in to the Shift4Shop Online Store Manager. Open Products, then Product List, then Export/Import, and open Products on the Import side. Download Sample File. The sample-file article also mentions Products, then Export/Import in the left menu. Keep the header from the file you downloaded.
2. In Golanto, choose Shift4Shop and record the store and the date of that download. The mapper still opens on Amazon until you change the platform. Map your values onto id, name, price, and the other headings in the sample. Do not add a column, and do not rename id to SKU. CATALOGID stays off this new-product file.
3. Write price as a number. Write free_shipping and hide as 1 or 0. Leave weight without a unit suffix. Put a category path in categories, with a slash between levels and @ between paths. Upload images before the import, and put a relative path such as assets/images/ in thumbnail and image1 when the files are on the store.
4. Save as CSV. On a Mac, the sample-file article says to use CSV (Windows). Back on the Import side, browse to the file and import it. For products that are not in the store yet, the sample-file article says Insert Only or Insert + Update fits. Read the warning before either erase option. Split a file that is over 30 megabytes.
5. Open the Import/Export Status page if the store sends you there. The articles say that grid can download the file, email you when a large job finishes, show the log, cancel, retry, or delete the status row. The log is where a failed record is counted. This page does not quote a log line. Import options only after the products exist, with the separate options import.

Worked example

A supplier SKU column is not the Shift4Shop id column

sku,title,price,category
MUG-04,Travel mug,18.00,Kitchen

These headings are a synthetic supplier sketch. The Shift4Shop articles name id, name, price, and categories. id is the SKU or part number you choose. price has no currency sign. categories takes a category path, and a new main category name is created. Mugs in the mapped sketch is that kind of name. Kitchen is not a column. CATALOGID is not on the new-product sample. Product options stay out of this file.

Official references

• Shift4Shop Knowledge Base: How do I import Products via CSV? (opens in a new tab)
• Shift4Shop Knowledge Base: How do I use the Product Import CSV Sample File? (opens in a new tab)

Schema review: shift4shop-product-csv-2026-11-02. Examples are synthetic. Store-specific and unpublished requirements are outside these checks.

Common questions

Continue reading

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