The CSV import and export function of Shopware is helpful when you need to change or create a large quantity of data. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when using it – especially when opening, editing, and saving the CSV files.

Below, we show you step by step for Microsoft Excel and LibreOffice Calc what you need to consider so that the CSV file is displayed correctly in your spreadsheet program and can also be imported back into Shopware correctly.

To find out which data you can export as CSV, see How do I export data from Pickware as CSV?

A CSV file is a simple text file that stores data in table form. Each row in the file corresponds to a set of data, and the values within a row are separated from each other by semicolons or other characters. Here you can see an example of the content of a CSV file that lists the absolute stock of a product at different bin locations. The first row contains the respective column names.

1. The file is read row by row – so the order of the entries matters. This means that if an entry appears several times with different values, the later value overwrites the earlier one. Here is an example:

The last row of the example CSV file above reads as follows:

When this row is read, a stock of 125 is written for product SW10071 at bin location C-03-004 in the main warehouse. Suppose another row followed in the CSV file that refers to the same combination of product number, warehouse, and bin location but contains a different stock value. For example:

When this row is read, 100 units would not be added to the 125 units already written. Instead, the stock for product SW10071 at bin location C-03-004 in the main warehouse would be overwritten. The final stock would therefore be 100 units, not 225!

2. Only what is in the file is processed. No logical assumptions are made on its own. For example, if you want to move stock from bin location A to bin location B, your CSV file must contain two rows for this.

Here, as part of an absolute stock import, the first row books 90 units of a product to bin location A-01-001 (absolute stock = 90). The second row removes 90 units of the product from bin location B-02-002 (absolute stock = 0)

With a relative stock import, the same change would look like this

If only the first row is included in the CSV file in each case, stock would only be booked in at the new bin location, but no stock would be booked out at the old bin location. As a result, your actual stock would be 90 units too high.

3. The place of the import determines which data can be changed. For example, in the stock overview you can only change the stock at the respective bin locations through a CSV import. If you change the product name in the import file, this has no effect on the actual product.

If you specify a bin location that does not exist, it is not created automatically. Instead, the affected record is not imported and an error message appears in the import report. To create bin locations, there is a separate import interface, where, accordingly, no stock can be changed.

Regardless of the program you use, keep the following points in mind when editing the CSV file for the Shopware import/export tool:

If your spreadsheet program does not support valid UTF-8 encoding, you can ensure UTF-8 encoding as follows: Open the edited CSV file in a text editor and save it there as a UTF-8-encoded CSV file. This detour via the editor allows the file to be saved correctly in UTF-8 format.

For the import into Shopware, the CSV file must be UTF-8 encoded. To be safe, test the import beforehand in a test environment or staging system. Before running the import in the live system, it is advisable to create a database backup first.

For many products, the fastest way to turn Manage stock on or off is via CSV import. To do this, add these two fields to your import profile for products:

If the error message … is set to required by the user but has no value appears during the import, remove the Required switch for the relevant field in the profile.

Imports run asynchronously. For the change to take effect, the message queue and the Pickware indexer must be able to run.

You can see why an import failed on the import's detail page. For example, it says Es wurde kein Lager für diesen Lagerplatz angegeben if the Warehouse column is missing in the file. Also check these typical causes: