FIELD NOTES
Compare two product exports, without losing the plot.
A different row order does not mean a different catalog. Start with the identifier, then look at the values.
Imagine you exported your product list yesterday and again this morning. Some products moved to different rows. One disappeared from the export. Two fields changed. A line-by-line comparison would mix those changes together; matching records by a stable identifier separates them.
Start with a copy of each export
Keep the previous export as the baseline and the latest export as the comparison. Reversing them reverses the meaning of “added” and “missing.” Use the original text exports when possible, rather than copies already opened and resaved by a spreadsheet app.
The sample below is fictional. It contains four products, including identifiers with leading zeros.
sku,product,stock,price
00123,Canvas tote,24,18.00
00456,Ceramic mug,12,14.00
00789,Linen notebook,8,9.50
00990,Desk tray,5,22.00The latest export changes the order, updates stock and price, replaces one product, and keeps one unchanged:
sku,product,stock,price
00456,Ceramic mug,9,14.00
00123,Canvas tote,24,18.00
00990,Desk tray,5,24.00
01010,Cotton pouch,16,8.00Choose a key that means the same thing in both files
Here, sku is unique in each export, so it can identify the product. The column names must match exactly in this version. A column called SKU in one file and product_code in the other needs an explicit rename in a working copy first.
If your SKU appears in more than one warehouse, a product is not necessarily one record. You may need sku plus warehouse. Read why repeated SKUs need a closer look before deleting any rows.
Choose what to compare
Select product, stock and price. The key finds the corresponding record; the selected fields determine whether it changed. A field you do not select cannot cause a record to be counted as changed.
Values are compared as text. That is intentionally conservative: 18.0 and 18.00 differ in this version. It does not decide whether a numeric spelling difference matters to your business.
Read the result
| Result | Count | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Changed | 2 | Mug stock 12 → 9; tray price 22.00 → 24.00 |
| Added | 1 | 01010 appears only in the latest export |
| Missing | 1 | 00789 appears only in the previous export |
| Unchanged | 1 | 00123 moved but its selected values did not change |
Keep an auditable result
The CSV report contains one entry per changed field, plus entries for added and missing records. Data row numbers start at 1 after the header. The report includes full row data for additions and missing records, so you can investigate them without guessing from the key alone.
Download exact JSON when you need the parsed text values without spreadsheet-oriented prefixes. Review the report before making any update in your commerce system; this tool does not modify a store.