Stocky CSV cleanup for Shopify means reviewing and tidying the files you pulled out of Stocky, along with the supplier details you had to copy out by hand, before you import any of it into Shopify or use it to rebuild a workflow. The point is to catch the problems that quietly break an import or carry bad data forward: mismatched SKUs, stale quantities, columns whose meaning is unclear, and records that should be rebuilt by hand rather than uploaded. Stocky will not be available after August 31, 2026, and the records you want to keep have to be exported manually using Stocky’s built-in reports before then, so the files already on your disk are what you have to work with. A careful review now is cheaper than unwinding an overwritten inventory count or a broken product import later. Here is what to check before you import or rebuild.
- Review the files you exported Open each Stocky export on a copy and leave the originals untouched.
- Sort product fields from inventory quantities Split titles, SKUs, and costs from on-hand counts into the right CSV.
- Check SKUs, variants, quantities, and locations Match the keys to Shopify and copy location names exactly.
- Rebuild suppliers by hand and archive order history Suppliers cannot be exported from Stocky, and past orders are records to keep, not files to import.
- Use the clean data for inventory, buy lists, and purchase-order review Every later decision reads from these files.
What Stocky CSV cleanup means before migration
Cleanup is the review step that sits between exporting your Stocky data and using it in Shopify. It is not a conversion tool and it is not a one-click mapping; it is the habit of opening each file, confirming what every column means, and deciding what is safe to import and what is not. The reason it matters is that the two sides do not line up automatically. Shopify has stated that some Stocky-specific features might work differently or might not yet be available in Shopify, so you should expect to make decisions field by field rather than assume a Stocky column drops neatly into a Shopify one. Treat every exported file as a draft you have to read, not a finished import. For the field-level mapping that follows this review, the Stocky CSV migration guide walks through how Shopify’s own product and inventory CSVs are structured.
Start with files you can actually verify
Cleanup only works on data you actually hold, so the first check is whether each record exists as a file you can open. Records you want to keep must be exported manually using Stocky’s built-in reports while the app is still running, and anything you want to keep needs to be exported before the shutdown. If a report is not in your folder, it is not part of this cleanup, and once the dates in the Stocky shutdown timeline pass, it cannot be retrieved. Make a working copy of every export and leave the originals untouched, so a mistake during cleanup never damages your only record. Name each file with its source and a date so you can tell a raw Stocky export from a file you have already edited. The companion guide on exporting Stocky data before the sunset covers what to pull and what will not transfer; this review assumes those files are already in hand and turns to checking them.
Separate product fields from inventory quantity fields
The most common cleanup mistake is treating one big spreadsheet as a single import. Shopify splits the work across two different files, and keeping them apart from the start prevents most import errors. Product details, the titles, handles, vendors, SKUs, variant options, prices, and costs, belong in the Shopify product CSV, which can import products into a store and export them from it. Quantity and location data belong in the separate inventory CSV. As you clean, sort each Stocky field into one of those two buckets and drop anything that is really an operational note rather than product or quantity data, such as a comment to a buyer or a status label that has no home in a Shopify CSV. The product CSV also has a strict shape: the first line must be the column headers, and each column must be separated by a comma, so a file that opened cleanly in one program can still fail if its headers or delimiters were changed on the way.
Check SKUs, variants, quantities, and locations
This is where careful cleanup pays for itself, because the inventory CSV writes against live counts and a small mismatch can overwrite real stock. Work through these checks before any import:
- Quantities by store size. The Inventory quantity column in the product CSV applies only to stores that have a single location. Stores with multiple locations use the inventory CSV to manage quantities instead, so if you run more than one location, clean your counts in the inventory CSV and leave that product-CSV column out.
- The inventory file itself. Shopify inventory CSV files can export current inventory quantities and update quantities for products in each location. Export a fresh one from Shopify first so you are cleaning against current values and real location names, not a stale snapshot.
- Variant and location keys. The inventory CSV uses the Handle, Location, and Option1 Value columns to identify the product variant and the location a quantity belongs to. Spot-check that the SKUs and variants in your Stocky export actually match these keys; a SKU that drifted or a variant that was renamed is exactly what cleanup is meant to catch.
- Location names, exactly. In the inventory CSV the location name is case sensitive and must match the Shopify location name exactly. A trailing space or a different capitalization makes the row fail, so copy the name from a recent Shopify export rather than typing it.
- Pick the safer export mode. The All states export includes separate rows for each location with columns for all inventory states and protects against accidental overwrites on import, while the Available export is a simpler format that does not provide the same overwrite protection. For a migration, clean and import the All states file.
- Keep the safety check on. When the inventory CSV includes both the On hand (current) and On hand (new) columns, Shopify runs a safety validation that prevents accidental overwrites if the current value in your file does not match what is actually in Shopify. Leave both columns in place rather than stripping them during cleanup.
Do not assume supplier records export cleanly
Supplier data is the part of cleanup most likely to surprise you, because there is no file to clean in the first place. Suppliers can’t be exported from Stocky, so there is no supplier export to tidy and no supplier CSV to import. The supplier list you work from is the one you build by hand, by opening each active supplier in Stocky and copying the name, contact, currency, and terms into a spreadsheet you control. Cleaning that hand-built list means checking it for duplicates, dropping suppliers you no longer buy from, and confirming the details are current before you rely on them. The list is reference material for re-entry, not an importable file, because Shopify suppliers are created in the admin when you create a purchase order rather than uploaded in bulk. For the order in which to rebuild suppliers and the rest of your setup, the Stocky migration checklist lays out the sequence.
Do not treat purchase-order history as an import file
Old purchase orders deserve the same honesty. Historical Stocky data, including old purchase orders and stocktakes, won’t automatically move into Shopify, and there is no path to import that history into Shopify as a file. Cleanup here is about preservation, not import: keep the exports you produced from Stocky as archival records, organized so you can look up a past order later, and do not try to re-key years of orders into the admin. New purchase orders are created natively going forward, where a Shopify purchase order records the products, their costs, and the quantities ordered from a supplier, and each one can be downloaded as a PDF from the admin for your own files. The distinction between a flexible working file and the native order record is the subject of CSV versus PDF purchase orders, and what native Shopify purchase orders do and do not cover after Stocky is set out in purchase orders after Stocky.
Use cleanup to support buy lists and purchase-order review
Clean data is worth the effort because everything downstream reads from it. Once your product and inventory files are accurate and your supplier list is current, the reviews you run afterward start from a trustworthy base instead of importing yesterday’s errors forward. The wider readiness work this cleanup feeds into is covered in prepare Shopify inventory before the Stocky sunset. A dead-stock pass reads the same counts and sales history, so reviewing dead stock after Stocky is more reliable when the quantities behind it are clean. A weekly buy list after Stocky only points at the right products when the SKUs and on-hand figures it draws from are correct. And deciding what to reorder, when, and how much, the work of reorder planning after Stocky, depends on the same records you are cleaning now. Treating cleanup as the foundation, rather than a chore to rush, keeps those later decisions from inheriting a problem you could have caught in a file. Fitting cleanup into the wider sequence of prep is what a Stocky migration setup checklist is for. And once the data is clean, rebuilding the catalog, locations, and counts it feeds is the work of Shopify inventory setup after Stocky.
Stocky CSV cleanup checklist
Run this short review on each file before you import or rebuild, so cleanup stays deliberate rather than a single rushed upload. Keep the original Stocky exports untouched and do every edit on a copy. Confirm each column’s meaning, and split product attributes from on-hand quantities into the right CSV. Spot-check that SKUs, variants, and handles still line up, and copy location names exactly from a recent Shopify export so the case matches. Choose the All states inventory export and keep the On hand (current) and On hand (new) columns so the safety validation runs. Test with a small subset of rows and confirm the result in the admin before importing the full file. Plan to rebuild suppliers by hand, since the list is reference material rather than an import. One deadline note frames the whole job: Stocky will not be available after August 31, 2026, so finish exports and cleanup with time to spare, and what to use after Stocky frames the wider tooling choice once the data is clean.
Limitations
Cleaning up your Stocky files is a review habit, not a Shopify feature, and this guide does not cover every workflow Stocky used to support. It does not create Shopify purchase orders, it does not import Stocky purchase orders, and it does not create a Stocky supplier CSV, because suppliers cannot be exported from Stocky at all. None of it is demand forecasting, and the choices you make about each file are judgement calls a person reviews, not steps to run blindly. It is not accounting, tax, legal, or financial advice. It does not replace your own review of each record, and Shopify’s inventory records, purchase orders, suppliers, and reports still need source-backed checks against your own store. For the one slice where supplier reliability is the heart of the work, the existing kijun app is one option, scoped honestly: it builds 0-100 supplier scorecards from purchase orders recorded in kijun, on supported supplier and vendor records, and it does not forecast demand or reorder for you. See how supplier scorecards work after Stocky.
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against cited sources through kijun’s editorial workflow. Last updated: 2026-06-30.
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