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Shopify import error: "Handle is too long (maximum is 255 characters)"

What it means: The URL handle of a product has more than 255 characters. Handles are rarely that long on purpose. In the Shopify Community thread where this message is quoted, it appeared together with "Title can't be blank": each whole row of the file was wrapped in one pair of quotes, so Shopify read the entire row as the handle and found every other column empty. Shopify's Help Center does not state the 255 limit; the message text is from that thread. Shopify does not say how it counts characters; the checker counts an accented letter or an emoji as one. The example below is built the same way, so the checker also reports spaces in the handle, a blank title, a blank price and a blank fulfillment service for that row: all come from the same cause, because every column after the handle reads as empty.

Find the rows in your file

Shopify product import

The product CSV you are about to import into Shopify, or the one Shopify just rejected.

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How to fix it

  1. Open the file in a plain text editor, not a spreadsheet, and look at the rows the checker lists. If a whole row starts and ends with a double quote, remove those two quotes.
  2. Keep quotes only around single cells that contain commas or line breaks, such as the description.
  3. If the handle really is long, shorten it to a few words with letters, numbers and dashes. Shopify makes a handle from the title if the cell is left blank.
  4. Save as CSV UTF-8 and check the file again before importing.

Example

A file with this problem

Handle,Title,Body (HTML),Vendor,Option1 Name,Option1 Value,Variant Price,Variant Inventory Tracker,Variant Inventory Qty,Variant Inventor...
"cotton-tee,Organic Cotton Crew Neck Tee,<p>A soft crew neck tee made from organic cotton. It is pre-washed so it keeps its shape and siz...

What the checker says about it

  • Line 2: Handle "cotton-tee,Organic Cotton Crew Neck Tee,..." is 275 characters. Shopify allows 255 and reports "Handle is too long (maximum is 255 characters)".

Once the listed rows are fixed, check the file again; the checker also looks for every other problem Shopify documents, so you do not trade one error for the next.

Questions

What does "Handle is too long (maximum is 255 characters)" mean in Shopify?
The URL handle of a product has more than 255 characters. Handles are rarely that long on purpose. In the Shopify Community thread where this message is quoted, it appeared together with "Title can't be blank": each whole row of the file was wrapped in one pair of quotes, so Shopify read the entire row as the handle and found every other column empty. Shopify's Help Center does not state the 255 limit; the message text is from that thread. Shopify does not say how it counts characters; the checker counts an accented letter or an emoji as one. The example below is built the same way, so the checker also reports spaces in the handle, a blank title, a blank price and a blank fulfillment service for that row: all come from the same cause, because every column after the handle reads as empty.
How do I fix it?
Open the file in a plain text editor, not a spreadsheet, and look at the rows the checker lists. If a whole row starts and ends with a double quote, remove those two quotes. Keep quotes only around single cells that contain commas or line breaks, such as the description. If the handle really is long, shorten it to a few words with letters, numbers and dashes. Shopify makes a handle from the title if the cell is left blank. Save as CSV UTF-8 and check the file again before importing.
My handles are short. Why does Shopify say the handle is too long?
Shopify is reading more than the handle as the handle. That happens when a whole row is wrapped in quotes, or when a stray quote joins several cells into one. The checker shows the row and how long it read the handle to be.

Other Shopify import errors

Sources

Based on Shopify's import error text as quoted by a store owner on the Shopify Community. The Help Center does not state the limit. Not tested on a live store.