EU Launch Pack

Guide · EU-1

Export the translation CSV.

Shopify can export every translatable text of your store as one CSV file, and import it back. It is built into the admin: no app, no developer. Most of the time goes into waiting for an email.

Last checked: 10 November 2026

Shopify sometimes renames buttons in its admin. If a label below does not match your screen exactly, look for the closest one on the same page.

Part 1 · Export

  1. Add the language, unpublished

    In your Shopify admin, open Settings › Languages and click Add language. Pick German, Italian, Spanish or Polish. Leave it unpublished: customers will not see it until you choose to.

    Screenshot 1: Settings › Languages, with the new language listed as unpublished.

  2. Open the export

    On the same Languages page, click Export. A dialog opens.

    Screenshot 2: The Export button at the top of the Languages page.

  3. Pick one language

    Select the language you want translated. One language per file keeps things simple; we send one file back per language.

  4. Pick all resources

    Choose to export all content types: products, collections, pages, blog posts, navigation, theme texts and SEO meta. If you only want products for now, the free preview works with products alone.

    Screenshot 3: The export dialog with the language and the content types selected.

  5. Wait for the email

    Shopify prepares the file and emails you a download link. Large stores take longer. Download the .csv file.

    Screenshot 4: The Shopify email with the download link.

  6. Leave the file as it is

    Do not open and save it in a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can change the encoding, the quotes around long texts or the line breaks inside descriptions, and the import may then fail. If you must look at it, close it without saving.

What the file looks like

One row per text. The columns that matter:

Type
What the text belongs to: PRODUCT, COLLECTION, ONLINE_STORE_THEME…
Identification
Shopify's reference for that item. Never edit it.
Field
Which text: title, body_html, meta_description…
Default content
Your current text, in your store's default language.
Translated content
Empty until translated. This is the only column we fill in.

Part 2 · Translate

  1. Send the file

    Upload it on the free preview page. You get your first products back in a few minutes, plus the size of the whole store in words. The full order comes back after native proofreading.

    Screenshot 5: The preview page with the CSV dropped in and German selected.

Part 3 · Import

  1. Open the import

    Back in Settings › Languages, click Import and choose the translated file we sent.

    Screenshot 6: The Import dialog with the translated CSV selected.

  2. Decide about existing translations

    If the language already has translations, the import dialog lets you choose whether the file overwrites them. Before importing, keep a fresh export of the language: it is your backup.

  3. Check, then publish

    Shopify emails you when the import is done. Preview the storefront in the new language, look at a few products, the cart and the menus. When you are happy, publish the language and add it to your markets under Settings › Markets.

    Screenshot 7: A product page previewed in German before publishing.

Common problems

The import fails
Usually the file was saved by a spreadsheet. Send us the original export again; we deliver files that keep Shopify's structure and encoding.
Some texts stay in English
They were not in the export: apps often store their texts elsewhere, and theme texts belong to the theme that was published when you exported.
New products later
Export again. Rows that already have a translation are left as they are; only the empty ones need work.

Next: make sure each language gets its own URLs and search results. See hreflang with Shopify Markets.