If WooCommerce shows a whole CSV header as one field, or product descriptions appear under the wrong column, stop before running the import. This is a file-structure problem to diagnose before product matching. Changing SKUs will not repair a delimiter or quotation error.
Keep an untouched original
Make a working copy of the supplier file. Record which application exported it and whether someone opened and resaved it in a spreadsheet. Inspect the saved text, not only the spreadsheet grid.
WooCommerce's core importer guide recommends UTF-8 CSV and defines the expected column schema. The premium CSV Import Suite has a different interface, so first establish which importer you are using.
Recognize the parsing symptom
| Mapping preview |
Likely investigation |
| One enormous column |
Delimiter mismatch |
| Extra columns after a description |
Unquoted separator inside text |
| One product spread across rows |
Broken quoting around a line break |
| Accented names become question marks |
Export encoding or prior data loss |
These symptoms are clues. An extension can also customize mapping, so compare with a small file exported by the same store before blaming the incoming data.
For a comma-delimited file, this illustrative record has three fields:
SKU,Name,Description
DEMO-001,"Demo mug, blue","Two colors available"
The comma inside the name belongs to the value because it is quoted. Do not fix CSV with a global comma replacement: a delimiter and a comma inside a description have different jobs.
Delimiter: Columns separate correctly. Quotes: Embedded commas retained. Encoding: UTF-8 text preserved. Identifiers: Leading zeros unchanged. Explanatory checklist, not a customer test result.
Test the export settings on three harmless records
Use one ordinary name, one name with a comma and one with a non-ASCII character that your catalog genuinely needs. Export as UTF-8, then reopen the saved file with a CSV parser or a spreadsheet import dialog that lets you choose encoding and delimiter explicitly.
Treat identifiers as text. A spreadsheet can remove leading zeros or transform a long code before the importer ever sees it. If characters were already replaced by question marks during an earlier save, changing the encoding afterward cannot recover the missing characters; return to the original supplier data.
Inspect mapping before touching the catalog
On staging, confirm that each header maps to the intended WooCommerce field. Leave unrelated columns out of this test. Use synthetic products and inspect the actual imported name and description, not only the success counter.
If the structure is correct but rows are skipped, move to the ID, SKU and GTIN matching guide. That is a separate decision from text parsing.
Keep the corrected export settings with the feed documentation so the next delivery does not repeat the error. HandL WP can trace a broken catalog import from a short sanitized sample rather than repeatedly processing the full production feed.
References reviewed October 13, 2026. Examples are explanatory, not customer test results.