How to Import Shopify Bulk Redirects Using a CSV File
Bulk redirects in Shopify let you send many old URLs to new pages at once by importing a CSV file, instead of creating each redirect by hand. The file needs just two columns, the old path and the new destination, and Shopify turns every row into a permanent 301 redirect.
It’s the standard way to handle migrations, deleted product lines and collection restructures. The import itself takes minutes, so most of the work, and most of the mistakes, happen while building and checking the file.
How Bulk Redirects Work in Shopify
Shopify’s URL redirects page includes an Import option that accepts a CSV file of redirects, and an Export option that downloads every redirect you already have. Shopify also provides a sample CSV template to start from.
The file uses two columns. Each row maps one old URL to its new location:
| Column | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Redirect from | The old path on your store, without the domain | /products/canvas-tote-old |
| Redirect to | A path on your store, or a full URL for another domain | /products/canvas-tote-bag |
Bulk imports follow the same platform rules as redirects you add by hand. Knowing them before you build the file saves a second round of fixes:
- Only broken URLs redirect. A redirect works only when the old URL no longer loads a page. If the old product or collection is still live, the redirect won’t trigger.
- Some paths can’t be redirected. Fixed paths such as
/products,/collectionsand/collections/all, system paths such as/cart,/ordersand/apps, and collection tag filter URLs are excluded. - There’s a limit. Stores can have up to 100,000 redirects, or 20 million on Shopify Plus.
There’s no way to edit many existing redirects at once in the admin. To change them in bulk, export your redirects, edit the file in a spreadsheet and import the updated version.
How to Import Redirects in Bulk
Building a clean file is most of the job. Follow these steps in order, so problems are caught before Shopify creates anything.
1. Collect the old URLs
Start with every URL that needs a redirect. Common sources include the Not found (404) report in Google Search Console, a URL export or sitemap from your previous platform, a list of products or collections you’re about to delete and landing pages in your analytics that still get visits.
Put them in one spreadsheet column and remove duplicates. If you export URLs from Search Console or another tool, strip the domain so each entry starts with a slash, such as /products/old-handle.
2. Map each URL to its best destination
Add the new destination next to each old URL. Point each one to the closest live equivalent: a replacement product, the collection a deleted product belonged to or the new version of a moved page.
Resist redirecting everything to your homepage. Shoppers following an old product link expect that product or something like it, and a homepage redirect leaves them to start over. Map your highest-traffic and most-linked URLs first, since they matter most.
3. Format the CSV file
Use the headers Redirect from and Redirect to, matching Shopify’s sample template, and save the file as a CSV. A finished file looks like this:
Redirect from,Redirect to
/products/canvas-tote-old,/products/canvas-tote-bag
/products/summer-hat-2024,/collections/hats
/collections/clearance-2024,/collections/sale
/pages/old-shipping-info,/policies/shipping-policy
/blogs/news/old-guide,/blogs/news/updated-guideUse relative paths for destinations on your own store and full URLs only for destinations on another domain. Avoid query strings and special characters in the “Redirect from” column, since they often stop redirects from matching.
4. Check the file before importing
Shopify will import some rows that never work, so the check is worth doing yourself. A few minutes here prevents most failed or useless redirects:
- Remove reserved paths, such as
/collections/allor/cart, which Shopify won’t accept. - Remove duplicate sources, so each old URL appears only once with one destination.
- Remove chains and loops. If a destination also appears as a source, point the original straight to the final page.
- Confirm destinations are live. Redirecting to a hidden, draft or deleted page just creates another 404.
- Confirm sources are broken. Delete or hide old pages first, or their redirects won’t work.
5. Import the file
- In your Shopify admin, go to Content > Menus and click View URL redirects.
- Click Import, then Add file and select your CSV.
- Click Upload file and review the summary of redirects to be created.
- Click Import redirects, then Close when it finishes.
6. Test the redirects
Open a sample of old URLs in a private browser window and check that each lands on the intended page. Include a few from each group, such as products, collections and blog posts, since a formatting problem often affects a whole group.
For large imports, a site crawler can check every old URL from your list and report any that still return errors or pass through more than one redirect. Fix those rows in your spreadsheet and import them again.
Why a Bulk Redirect Import Fails
When an import fails or redirects don’t behave as expected, the cause is usually one of a few file problems. If Shopify reports errors, check the import summary and the email account of the staff member who ran the import for details.
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The file won’t upload | Wrong file format, encoding or column headers | Start from Shopify’s template and save as CSV UTF-8, or export from Google Sheets |
| Some rows are rejected | Reserved paths or duplicate sources | Remove those rows and import the rest |
| Redirects import but don’t work | The old pages are still live | Delete or hide the old pages |
| Old URLs don’t match | Full URLs, query strings or typos in “Redirect from” | Use clean relative paths that match the old URLs exactly |
| Pages load slowly or fail to load | Redirect chains or loops | Point each source directly to its final destination |
| Visitors land on a 404 after redirecting | The destination isn’t live | Update the destination to an active page |
Planning Bulk Redirects for a Migration or Restructure
Migrations and large restructures produce the biggest redirect lists, so plan them before anything changes. Export your old URL list while the old site or structure is still live, because it’s much harder to reconstruct afterward.
Shopify’s option to redirect all traffic to your primary domain handles domain changes, but it doesn’t cover changes to the paths after the domain. If your old platform used different URL patterns, each old path still needs its own redirect to its new Shopify equivalent.
Keep redirects in place for the long term. Old URLs live on in backlinks, bookmarks, emails and printed materials, and deleting a redirect turns its URL back into a 404. Update your own menus and internal links to point straight to the new pages, so redirects only handle traffic from outside your store.
When a Redirect App Helps
Shopify’s native import covers one-to-one redirects well. An app can be worth it when you need features the admin doesn’t offer:
- Pattern or wildcard redirects that send a whole group of URLs to a matching destination with one rule.
- 404 monitoring that logs which missing URLs shoppers actually hit, so you know what to redirect next.
- Redirect analytics showing which redirects still receive traffic.
Check how an app’s redirects work before relying on them. Some pattern-based redirects run in the browser rather than as true server-side 301s, and search engines may not treat them the same way.
Conclusion
Bulk redirects in Shopify come down to a well-prepared CSV file: old paths mapped to the most relevant live pages, checked for chains, duplicates and reserved paths, then imported and tested. Taking care with that file keeps shoppers and search engines on track through migrations, restructures and catalog changes. We hope this guide helps you set up bulk redirects in Shopify with confidence.
