Two formats, two jobs
| JSON | CSV | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | All plans | Pro |
| Carries | Everything about every rule | The fields worth bulk-editing |
| Per-language messages | Yes | No |
| Design styling | Yes | No |
| Good for | Backup, restore, moving store | Editing many rules at once |
The distinction matters more than it sounds. JSON is the format you can rebuild a store from. CSV is a spreadsheet convenience, and treating it as your only backup is how a store loses its translated messages without noticing until a French shopper is reading English text.
Back up and restore with JSON
Open Settings > Import and export rules and click Export JSON.
Store the file somewhere you will find it again. This is the complete, restorable copy of your rule set.
To restore, use Import JSON with a file you exported earlier.
JSON import is also reachable from the Rules list before your first rule exists, and from Safe uninstall, which is where the export lives once you are mid-flow towards removing the app. For backup timing and the other file types accepted on restore, see Importing and exporting rules.
Bulk-edit with CSV
Export JSON first. A spreadsheet edit across 40 rules is exactly the kind of change worth having a complete backup of.
Click Export CSV and open the file in your spreadsheet tool.
Edit the rows you need. Leave the columns you are not changing alone.
Click Import CSV and drop the edited file in.
Read the results table. It reports created, updated and skipped counts, with a separate error table naming any row that failed and why.
That last step is not optional. A CSV import can partly succeed, creating some rows, updating others and skipping the rest, without anything popping up to tell you it happened. The results table is the only place that story is told.
What a CSV import leaves alone
A CSV import changes what the file carries and nothing else. Messages, Design styling and exclusion lists on a rule the CSV updates stay exactly as they were, because the file said nothing about them.
This is a deliberate choice and it cuts both ways: it makes a narrow bulk edit safe, and it means you cannot use a CSV to clear a field by leaving its column out.
Common mistakes
- Treating CSV as the backup format. Use JSON for that. CSV covers the fields it covers.
- Assuming a re-import wipes what is missing. It does not. Untouched fields stay untouched.
- Skipping the results table. A partial success looks like a success everywhere else.
- Editing 40 rules with no export first. The export takes one click and the alternative is rebuilding by hand.