Working with CSV Files

CSV files can add orders, customer contacts, or products to ShippingEasy. You might consider working with CSV files if you keep lots of information that pertains to your store, orders, or products in an excel file. In addition, most store platforms offer tools to export your data to CSV files.

If you are completely new to CSV files, this guide is designed to help you get started working with them.

Each article below includes a sample CSV file to help you get started.

The most common way to create an order CSV is by exporting it from your online store portal. However, you can also create a CSV from scratch, which can be useful if you take phone or email orders from your customers.

If you export a CSV from one of your stores, we suggest you open up the exported CSV file into a spreadsheet program (like Microsoft Excel or Numbers for Mac users) first. This way you can review the format, make any necessary edits, and ensure that you have all the required data.

Important

CSV files uploaded to ShippingEasy can have a maximum size of 3MB and you can upload up to four at a time.

Once your CSV file is prepared, you are ready to import your orders by uploading the CSV to ShippingEasy.

Convert an Excel File to a CSV File | How To

A CSV upload is when you upload an excel file, or a Comma Separated Value file, to ShippingEasy to populate certain types of data into your account. This data could include order data, customer data, or product data. You might consider uploading a CSV if you keep lots of information that pertains to your store's orders in an Excel file.

Before you upload this spreadsheet into ShippingEasy, however, you must convert it to a CSV file.

To convert an Excel file to CSV:

  1. Open the spreadsheet file you want to convert.

  2. In the upper right-hand corner, click the windows icon and then Save As.

    The save as option is highlighted in Excel.
  3. In the Save as Type field, select CSV (Comma delimited). Click Save.

    The save as dialog window is open and CSV comma delimited file is selected as the save as type.
  4. Because CSV files do not preserve formats specific to excel, such as multiple sheets or bold text, you will get a message alerting you before you proceed. Click OK to continue.

    The OK button is highlighted

Check CSV File for Duplicates and Delete Them

When you have a lot of data, Excel can be cumbersome to work with. A common issue some face is identifying duplicate data in a time-efficient manner. This is especially true for ShippingEasy users, who often want to find duplicate shipping data (such as Order #'s or Tracking #'s) before uploading their CSV file to our platform. To help, we've provided the steps and accompanying images to walk you through the process of identifying duplicates.

Identify Duplicate Entries

  1. Highlight the column(s) w/ the common identifier (eg Order #).

    A column listing order numbers is shown.
  2. Go to the Conditional Formatting option in the Home tab and choose Highlight Cells Rules.

    The Excel toolbar is shown and the Home > Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cell Rules option is highlighted.
  3. Click More Rules.

    The more rule option is highlighted.
  4. Select Format only unique or duplicate values and then click Format...

    New Format Rule window is open with Format only unique or duplicate values selected. The Format button is highlighted.
  5. Select the color you would like to use to highlight the rows.

    In this example, we use Yellow:

    The color selector is open with a color selected.
  6. Click Okay.

  7. Click Okay again.

    The duplicate Order #'s should now be highlighted in Yellow.

    CSV_HighlightedDuplicates.png

Delete Duplicates in the CSV

Once you have identified the duplicates, you can then delete them in bulk.

  1. Go to the Filter menu and choose By Cell Color from the drop-down.

    CSV_ExcelFilter_CellColor_MRK.png

    Make sure you select the proper column before doing this so Excel knows which data it's applying the filter to.

    Your file should now look something like this:

    CSV_HighlightedDuplicates-bycellcolor.png
  2. Highlight these cells and delete the data within them.

    Once you do this, your Excel document will look like this:

    CSV_deleted-duplicates.png

There you have it! The duplicates are deleted and your file is ready to be uploaded!

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