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Import Items Online

Upload and manage multiple items at once from the online Square Dashboard with the bulk import tool.

Note: You will not be able to create unit types via import. To create a unit type and set the precision, head to the Units tab of your online Square Dashboard.

Before you make any alteration to your library, we recommend exporting a copy of your item library and saving a distinct file before continuing — so you can always revert back to the previous state in case any issues come up.

Export Your Library

To export a copy of your Square Item Library:

  1. Visit Items in your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Click Actions > Export Library > Confirm Export.

  3. Select between Excel (.xlsx) or CSV format. A spreadsheet will then download to your computer.

Note: Keep the following in mind:

  • While CSV files are supported with the import/export process, we strongly recommend using an Excel (.xlsx) file format. These are supported by most modern spreadsheet tools like Numbers, Sheets, and Microsoft Excel, which don’t require a purchase or subscription.

  • The Excel file template is formatted to text, not numbers. If you wish to use the exported item library file to perform number functions, you must change the file to a numbers format.

  • Items that use rich text formatting will have HTML tags included in the item descriptions in export files. Items without rich text formatting will not have HTML tags included in the item descriptions in export files. HTML tags are small pieces of code such as "<p>" and "<br>".

Spreadsheet Fields

Export File Field Descriptions
Token Your Square Dashboard will automatically populate this token. If you are importing a new item, leave this field blank, if you are editing items do not change the token.
Item Name Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.
Description Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 1024 characters.
Category Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.
SKU Each variation should be assigned a unique SKU.
Variation Name Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.
Unit and Precision Unit type and precision (decimal places).
Weight (lb) Numeric. Minimum value is 0, maximum value is 10,000,000.
Price Numeric. Must be $0.00 or greater (a fixed price needs to be a positive number). You can also leave blank or write in “Variable” to indicate a variable price.
Option Name Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.
Option Value Can include numbers, letters or symbols. Maximum 128 characters.
Reference Handle A unique value used to reference variations within the import/export file. Specifically, this field is used to associate stock by variations with their sell by variations during inventory import.
Enabled [Your Location Name] Yes or No. This will set your item as visible in individual locations. If you only have one location and see this column, make sure all items are set to Yes.
Current Quantity [Your Location Name] Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management this is the current quantity of this item defined as in stock. Changes to this field are ignored on import.
New Quantity [Your Location Name] Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management, enter your current stock count here. This count will replace any existing stock count. You can also write in “No” to disable stock tracking for this item variation.
Stock Alert Enabled [Your Location Name] If you are using Inventory Management, you can set Yes or No to turn on items for inventory alerts.
Stock Alert Count [Your Location Name] Numeric. If you are using Inventory Management, and have alerts enabled, this is the quantity at which you will be alerted.
Price [Your Location Name] Numeric.
Tax [Your Tax Name] If you have created a tax, set to Yes or No to apply that to the item.

Edit CSV File

The following only applies if importing using a .csv file format, not Excel (.xlsx).

Keep in mind: You cannot create or update a unit type or unit precision from .csv or .xlsx spreadsheets. If you’re using a .xlsx format sheet, you will only see the option to select one of your existing units from the cell dropdown. However, if you’re using a CSV file, you’ll need to manually type in the unit and precision. We recommend using an Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet, but if you do use a CSV file, here are some examples to make sure you format the units and precision correctly.

Let’s say you have unit Pound (lb) set to precision .0:

  • Correct: Pounds 1.0

  • Incorrect: lbs 1.0

Let’s say you have unit Fluid Ounce (fl oz) set to precision .0000:

  • Correct: Fluid Ounce 1.0000

  • Incorrect: fluid oz 1.

Make sure to enter the full unit type name and precision — do not use abbreviations.

While you are able to import the CSV data into a spreadsheet, if your item library contains SKUs do not open the CSV file directly as some spreadsheet editors will modify your SKUs in unexpected ways. Specifically, they may remove leading 0s (ex. 0012345 will become 12345) or convert them to scientific notation (ex. 12345678999 will become 1.2346E+10).

If you have SKUs in your CSV, follow these steps to ensure there are no errors in your CSV files:

Import CSV data in Microsoft Excel

  1. Create a new spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.

  2. Select File then Import from the main menu.

  3. Select the CSV file option and click Import.

  4. Choose the CSV file that you exported from your Item Library and click Get Data.

  5. Your Import Wizard pop up will appear:

    • Click Next.

    • Ensure that only the “Comma” delimiter is checked, then click Next.

    • Scroll over to the SKU column and change the column data format to Text, then press Finish

  6. Choose the New Sheet option and press OK to complete the import.

Import CSV data into Google Spreadsheets

  1. Create a new spreadsheet in Google Drive.

  2. Select File then Import from the main menu.

  3. Select the Upload tab and choose the CSV file that you exported from your Item Library.

  4. After the file uploads, an “Import File” popup will open. Be sure to change “Convert texts to numbers and dates” to No.

  5. Click Import to complete the import.

Upload Your Item Library for the First Time

If you’re adding items for the first time, you can download a template to help you bulk upload your library. If you already have items, just download our Excel (.xlsx) sheet, update, and import to alter your existing item library.

  1. Visit Items in your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Click Actions > Import Library.

  3. Select Modify Item Library to add new items and update existing items, or Replace Item Library to delete all existing items and replace them with your uploaded items.

  4. Click Next > “Download our template file.” Select if you’d like to download the template in Excel (.xlsx), which is recommended for most users, or CSV.

    Note: If you’re using Safari as your web browser, you’ll need to right-click the “Download our template” link and save the file to your computer.

  5. Open the “catalog-YYYY-MM-DD-XXXX.xlsx or .csv” file saved to your computer in step 4 using Excel (.xlsx) or another spreadsheet program.

When editing your CSV file, we recommended using the most up to date version of your spreadsheet program. Start by filling in the template columns with your item information. When editing the template, keep the following tips in mind:

  • Don’t change any of the information in the Token column or delete empty columns.

  • Any changes made to the ‘New Quantity’ column will replace the existing item quantity. If you put a 0 in the ‘New Quantity’ column, your inventory for that item for that location will be set to 0.

  • Leaving the Category field blank will leave the item as Uncategorized.

  • New categories will be created for any new values identified in the Category column.

  • Leaving the price field blank or writing “Variable” will create a variable priced item.

  • Leaving the modifier field blank will default the modifier to off. Place a “Y” in the appropriate Modifier Set column if you’d like a specific modifier applied to an item.

    Note: You can assign a location-specific price, stock count, or availability by setting values in the location specific columns. For example, setting a price in the “Price Location 2” column will assign a price to that location only.

  1. Save the edited Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file to your computer.

  2. Drag and drop the Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file into the upload area or click “select it from your computer” > Upload.

  3. Review your changes and click Confirm Import to upload your new item library.

  4. You will be prompted to align Square’s core product attributes to your imported columns from your Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. If you did not change the column names in the file downloaded from Square, the product attributes should be automatically matched. Review the mapping from your file to product attributes and make changes as necessary. * The following columns are required in your Excel (.xlsx) or CSV: Item Name, Variation Name, Description, SKU. If you have more than one location, the Enabled [Location Name] column is also required. * The Tax column also requires a specific heading format. Tax column names must include the tax percentage value in parentheses within the header. For example, “Tax - Sales (7%)”.

  5. Click Confirm to upload your changes.

Note: If you need to revert to a recent version of your Item Library, you can undo an item import from the Items page of your online Square Dashboard > Actions > Undo Catalog.

Using Undo Catalog will not impact stock counts. However, stock actions relating to Inventory tracking (on/off toggle), inventory alerts, Default Unit Cost, and Default Vendor information will be rolled back.

Learn how to troubleshoot your item library file.

Upload Images to Your Item Library

When in your Item Library, you can upload images to items from your desktop computer. Supported image file types are .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .spin, and .gif. Images can be up to 20 MB in size, but less than 500 KB is recommended for faster page loading speeds and more optimized search engine results. Images can be up to 2,560 pixels in width and 2,560 pixels in height, allowing for a higher quality zoom on your images.

To upload images to your Item Library:

  1. Log in to your online Square Dashboard and go to Items > Create an Item.

  2. Fill out your item details. In the Images section, you can drag and drop individual images or select multiple images from your device to upload.

  3. The primary image will appear first in the image queue, as well as in the Point of Sale tile at the top of the page. You can drag images in the queue in the order you prefer.

  4. If needed, you can add images to variations by selecting the item variation then clicking Add images. Select multiple images from the Image library window, then select Upload.

  5. Click Save once you finish making your changes.

You can upload up to 250 images per item. If you need to remove an image, hover your cursor over the image tile and click the trash can icon to delete the image from your Item Library. All of your uploaded images will appear in your Image library within the Images section of your Items tab in your Square Dashboard.

Note: Images that are 360° or 3D aren't supported at this time. Images uploaded to your online Square Dashboard in the Item Library will sync across Square Online and Square for Retail. It isn't possible to have different images for the same items across Point of Sale, Square Online, or Square for Retail at this time.