Shopify import error: "Illegal quoting on line"

What it means: A double quote in the file is out of place, so Shopify cannot tell where a cell ends. A description with a stray " or a curly quote pasted from a word processor is the usual cause. Files that are not saved as UTF-8 can also trigger it.

Find the rows in your file

Shopify product import

The product CSV you are about to import into Shopify, or the one Shopify just rejected.

Your file stays on this device

It is read and converted by this page, inside your browser. Nothing from the file is uploaded, and the tool keeps working offline once the page has loaded.

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How to fix it

  1. Open the file in a plain text editor at the line the checker names and look for an unmatched ".
  2. Inside a quoted cell, a quote must be written twice ("").
  3. Save the file as "CSV UTF-8".

Example

A file with this problem

Title,URL handle,Price
"Cotton Tee,cotton-tee,20.00

What the checker says about it

  • A quoted field that starts on or after line 2 is never closed. The file may be cut off or have a stray double quote. Shopify reports this as "Illegal quoting" or "Missing or stray quote".

Once the listed rows are fixed, check the file again; the checker also looks for every other problem Shopify documents, so you do not trade one error for the next.

Other Shopify import errors