Compare your Shopify CSV before it changes your store
Use two files: the untouched product export from your store, and the edited CSV you intend to import. Comparing them helps you distinguish deliberate edits from changes introduced while working in a spreadsheet.
Compare your product files ↗ See an example report
A worked example: one product, two unintended edits
Imagine you are updating a keycap product's description. Your original export has a variant priced at 55.00 and the product is active. In the edited file, the price is 0.00 and the status is draft. The CSV may still be readable, but those values deserve a separate decision before import.
| Field | Original export | Edited file | Review question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variant price | 55.00 | 0.00 | Was a zero price intended? |
| Status | active | draft | Should this product stop being active? |
| Description | Previous copy | Revised copy | Is this the text you meant to publish? |
This example is illustrative. Catalog Guard checks selected changes, including paid variants becoming zero-priced and active products becoming draft or archived. It does not produce a complete difference report for every column; review your intended description edit separately.
Match the right products and variants
The checker compares products by handle and uses option values to compare variant combinations. A missing or changed handle, duplicate option combination, missing option column, or separated product rows can limit that comparison. When the report says a comparison was skipped or incomplete, repair the input or inspect that product manually. A skipped comparison is not a clean result.
Work through the report in this order
- Read the comparison coverage to see what could be assessed.
- Correct critical structural findings before relying on the rest of the comparison.
- Use the product index to locate each affected product and its CSV lines.
- Decide whether the flagged changes are intentional. Keep notes for your team.
- Scan the final edited CSV again and keep that report with the file you intend to import.
Why not just compare spreadsheet row numbers?
Adding a variant or image row changes the positions of later rows. Comparing row 20 with row 20 can therefore compare different records. Start with the product and variant identity, then use the CSV line number to find the evidence in the edited file.
What this review cannot establish
An export captures a point in time. If the store changed after that export, the comparison will not reflect those later edits. It cannot validate live inventory, app behavior, remote image availability, or the final import result. Keep a fresh backup and review Shopify's own import preview.
Continue with the full pre-import checklist or learn how to review blank columns in an update. Shopify documents its import format in the official product CSV guidance.