How to import and export WooCommerce data

Take a database and file backup before importing anything. For a live shop, run the first import on staging or a separate test site, then check products, stock, prices, images, variations and order totals before touching production.

Keep the original source file unchanged. Make a working copy so you can correct mapping or formatting without losing the source data.

Separate the job into products, orders and customers. WooCommerce has a built-in CSV importer and exporter under Products > All Products, so a product-only transfer can usually be handled without another plugin.

Orders and customers are different. WooCommerce core does not provide the same general-purpose CSV screens for them; developers can work with the WooCommerce REST API, but that means handling authenticated JSON requests rather than uploading a normal spreadsheet.

Go to Products > All Products > Export. Export all columns if you need a reusable migration file, and include custom metadata when information from another extension must be moved. WooCommerce downloads the result as a CSV file.

Open the file in a spreadsheet editor that preserves UTF-8 and CSV formatting. Do not casually save it as an older spreadsheet format, because characters, commas and leading zeros can be changed.

Go to Products > All Products > Import, upload the CSV and choose whether to update existing products. On the mapping screen, match each source column to the WooCommerce field or choose Do not import. Existing products are matched by product ID or SKU when those values are supplied.

Use unique SKUs for variations and make sure each variation points to the correct parent product. Images must be directly accessible or already available to the site; repeated URL imports can create duplicate media entries. Do not refresh or leave the page while the import is running.

For orders or customers without an import-export interface, the manual route is the WooCommerce REST API. Create API credentials in WooCommerce, prepare the required JSON fields, then use an API client or a script to read, create or update records. The API supports individual and batch operations for orders and customers.

This route is suitable for developers, but it is not a quick spreadsheet workflow. You must handle authentication, IDs, customer matching, order line items, payment and shipping data, dates, tax, refunds and error retries yourself. Test with a few records first; a malformed order import can create incorrect stock or financial records.

Compare the number of source rows with the number imported, updated and skipped. Open several simple products, variable products and products with images. Check stock quantities, tax classes, categories, attributes, variation prices and visibility.

For orders, compare statuses, totals, addresses, customer accounts and line items. If products are duplicated or variations are missing, stop and fix the matching keys, parent values, attribute names or CSV encoding before running the full file again.

The fast way is to use All-In-One WooCommerce Import Export Suite when the job includes products, orders and customers, or when you need CSV, XML or Excel files, filters, field mapping, scheduled transfers and logs in one workflow.

Install it from the WordPress admin, activate it, choose the data type, upload or generate the file, map the fields and run a small test batch first. Review the log before running the complete transfer, particularly when moving variable products, customer records or historical orders.