What you'll build:
You'll create a complete product import workflow, taking a spreadsheet with product data and successfully importing it into your Shopify store. By the end, you'll have new products in your store and understand how to monitor and verify imports.
Who this is for:
Store owners and Shopify users who want to add multiple products efficiently using spreadsheet data.
Prerequisites
Altera app installed on your Shopify store
Basic familiarity with spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.)
Estimated time to complete: 15 minutes
1. Prepare Your Product Data
Before importing, you need properly formatted product data. This phase ensures your spreadsheet contains the required information for successful product creation.
Step 1 - Download the Sample Spreadsheet
Download our sample product spreadsheet to follow along, or use your own product data.
If using your own data, ensure your spreadsheet has a Title column - this is required for creating products.
Step 2 - Review Your Data Structure
Open your spreadsheet and verify it contains:
Title column (required for all products)
Any additional product information like Body HTML, Vendor, Product Type, etc.
If using Excel, rename your sheet tab to Products to help Altera identify the data type automatically.
2. Upload and Configure Your Import
This phase walks you through uploading your spreadsheet and configuring the import settings correctly.
Step 3 - Open Altera in Your Store
In your Shopify admin, go to Apps and select Altera.
Step 4 - Upload Your Spreadsheet
On the Altera home page, click Upload file and select your product spreadsheet.
Wait for Altera to analyze your file - this usually takes a few seconds.
Step 5 - Verify Data Type Detection
Review the analysis results:
Ensure Products is selected in the Type dropdown for your sheet
Check that Altera correctly identified your columns
If the type detection is incorrect, manually select Products from the dropdown.
Step 6 - Start the Import
Click Start import to begin processing your products.
3. Monitor and Complete Your Import
This final phase covers monitoring your import progress and verifying the results.
Step 7 - Track Import Progress
Watch the progress on the job detail screen. Imports with many products may take several minutes to complete.
You'll see real-time updates showing how many products have been processed.
Step 8 - Download Import Results
Once complete, click the Download button in the top-right corner to get your results file.
This file contains your original data plus four new columns:
ID (Ref) - The new product ID in Shopify
Handle (Ref) - The new product handle
Import Result - Success or failure status
Import Comment - Any error messages or notes
4. Verify the Results
Check your Shopify admin under Products to see your newly imported products
Review the import results file for any failed imports or error messages
Verify that product titles, descriptions, and other data appear correctly in Shopify
5. Recap
You successfully imported products from a spreadsheet into your Shopify store using Altera. You learned how to prepare data, configure the import settings, monitor progress, and verify results - a workflow you can now repeat for future product imports.