Export Collections Tool for Shopify

What it does

Export Collections pulls your Shopify collections into a CSV or Excel file. It captures everything that defines a collection under Shopify’s collections model: the core details (title, description, SEO, image, sort order, publish state), every rule (condition), every manually added product, exclusions, sub-collections, and your collection metafields.

The export uses a multi-row format: rows are grouped by the collection’s Handle. The first row of a group carries the collection’s core fields, and each rule, manual product, or exclusion gets its own row below it. This makes the file easy to read and edit by hand — add a rule by inserting a row, or retag fifty collections with find-and-replace — and it feeds straight back into Import Collections.

The export runs in the background, and when it is ready you receive an email with a link to download the file.

When to use it

• You want a backup or snapshot of your collections and their rules.
• You plan to bulk-edit collection rules in a spreadsheet and re-import them with Import Collections.
• You’re copying collections between stores (staging to production, or store to store) — the file uses handles and SKUs instead of store-specific IDs, so it ports cleanly.
• You need a review sheet of which collections are automated vs. manual, what conditions they use, and what they exclude.

Before you start

• Your Shopify store must be connected to your account.
• Decide what to export. You can export all collections or pick specific ones.
• Large manually curated collections produce one row per product. If you only care about rules, turn Include Manually Added Products off for a much smaller file.
• Know where the file goes. The finished file is emailed to you as a download link, so make sure the email address is correct.

Step-by-step

How to read the file

Rows are grouped by Handle. The first row of each group holds the collection’s core fields; the rows below it describe the collection’s rules and products.

A small example — a smart collection with two rules and one excluded product:

Handle	Title	Source #	Match	Row Type	Condition Type	Relation	Values
summer-sale	Summer Sale	1	ALL	Rule	productTag	TAGGED_WITH	summer|beach
summer-sale		1	ALL	Rule	variantPrice	LESS_THAN	50.00 USD
summer-sale		1		Exclude Product			old-swimsuit

Core columns (first row of each group)

Column	Notes
ID	The collection’s Shopify ID.
Handle	The collection’s handle — this is what groups rows together. Present on every row.
Command	Blank on export. Used by the import (DELETE deletes the collection).
Title	The collection name.
Description	The collection description (HTML).
Sort Order	How products are ordered: BEST_SELLING, ALPHA_ASC, ALPHA_DESC, PRICE_ASC, PRICE_DESC, CREATED, CREATED_DESC, MOST_RELEVANT, or MANUAL.
Theme Template	The alternate theme template assigned to the collection (the “Theme template” selector in the Shopify admin). Blank = the theme’s default collection template.
Published	yes / no — whether the collection is published to your Online Store. Only fetched when you tick the Published field; it needs an extra Shopify permission (see the FAQ).
Image Src	Web address of the collection image.
SEO Title / SEO Description	The collection’s search engine listing fields.
Metafield: namespace.key	One column per collection metafield definition, holding the value.

Source and rule columns (every row)

Shopify collections are built from one or more sources. Most collections have a single source; the new collections model allows several, plus sub-collections and shared sources.

Column	Notes
Source #	Groups rows into sources (usually 1).
Source Title	The source’s name as shown in the Shopify admin.
Target	PRODUCTS (whole products) or VARIANTS (variant-level matching).
Match	ALL = a product must match every rule; ANY = matching one rule is enough. On exclusion rows, this is the exclusion’s match setting.
Row Type	What the row is — see below.
Condition Type	The attribute a Rule tests — see below.
Relation	The comparison, e.g. EQUALS, TAGGED_WITH, CONTAINS, LESS_THAN, GREATER_THAN, STARTS_WITH.
Values Match	For multi-value rules: ANY (matches one of the values) or ALL (must match all of them).
Values	The rule’s value(s), the product identifier, or the referenced collections. Multiple values are separated by a pipe (|).

Row Types

Row Type	Meaning	Values column holds
Rule	An automated condition that includes products.	The condition’s value(s).
Product	A manually added product.	The product’s handle — or the variant’s SKU for variant-level picks.
Exclude Rule	A condition that excludes products (tag, type, vendor, or category).	The condition’s value(s).
Exclude Product	A manually excluded product.	The product’s handle (or SKU, in SKU mode).
Exclude Collection	Excludes everything in another collection.	The other collection’s handle(s).
Sub-Collection	The source pulls its products from other collections.	The referenced collection handles, pipe-separated.
Shareable Source	A rule set shared across collections (created by an app).	The shared source’s Shopify ID.

How values are written

• Multiple values are pipe-separated: summer|beach.
• Prices include the currency: 50.00 USD.
• Weights include the unit: 1.5 KILOGRAMS.
• Categories use Shopify’s taxonomy ID, with +descendants when subcategories are included: gid://shopify/TaxonomyCategory/aa-5 +descendants.
• Metafield rules name the definition in the Condition Type column: Metafield: custom.material.
• When a collection’s sort order is MANUAL, the order of the Product rows is the products’ manual order.

Troubleshooting / FAQ