Import file formats
Plan: every plan, including Free. List names in a file are kept as named lists on Pro.
The importer works out the format from the file’s header row. Header names are matched loosely: case, spaces and punctuation are ignored, so User Email, useremail and USER_EMAIL are the same column. Columns Cove doesn’t use (product titles, for example) are ignored.
Swym Shoppers report
Section titled “Swym Shoppers report”Swym Wishlist Plus’s “Shoppers” report. Recognised when the header has both UserEmail and ProductId.
| Column | Used for |
|---|---|
UserEmail |
Finding the customer |
ProductId |
The product |
VariantID |
The variant |
SKU |
The product, when the IDs don’t match |
PageURL |
The product, from its /products/… link |
ListName |
The list name (kept on Pro) |
CreatedDate |
When the item was saved |
Swym import format
Section titled “Swym import format”The layout Swym uses for its own imports. Recognised when the header has email and empi or epi.
| Column | Used for |
|---|---|
email |
Finding the customer |
empi |
Product ID |
epi |
Variant ID |
du |
Product link |
hashtag |
List name (kept on Pro) |
cts |
When the item was saved (or CreatedDate) |
Generic CSV
Section titled “Generic CSV”Any file with an email column and at least one product column. Each field accepts these header names:
| Field | Header names accepted | Required |
|---|---|---|
email, email address, customer email, user email |
Yes | |
| Product ID | product id, product |
One product column |
| Variant ID | variant id, variant |
One product column |
| SKU | sku, variant sku |
One product column |
| Handle | handle, product handle |
One product column |
| Product link | url, product url, page url |
One product column |
| List name | list name, list, wishlist, wishlist name |
No (kept on Pro) |
| Saved date | added at, created at, created date, date |
No |
If the header row matches none of the three formats, the upload stops with a message saying which columns are needed.
What each cell may hold
Section titled “What each cell may hold”- Emails are trimmed and lower-cased. A row without a valid email is skipped as “No email”.
- Product and variant IDs can be plain numbers (
7981234567890), Shopify GIDs (gid://shopify/Product/7981234567890) or the7981234567890.0Excel sometimes writes. - Product links can be any URL containing
/products/<handle>, on any domain or language path; Cove takes the handle from it. - Dates can be ISO dates (
2026-08-14), date and time (2026-08-14 09:12:00) or Unix timestamps in seconds or milliseconds. An empty date, a date in the future or one before 2010 is replaced by the time of the import. - List names are cleaned of control characters and cut to 60 characters.
Products are matched by product ID first, then variant ID, then SKU, then handle or product link, so you only need one of them per row.
Encodings and separators
Section titled “Encodings and separators”The importer reads files the way spreadsheets actually save them:
- UTF-8, with or without a byte order mark, and UTF-16 (“Unicode text” in Excel).
- Comma, semicolon (European Excel) or tab separators, detected from the header row. Excel’s
sep=;first line is understood and skipped. - Quoted fields, including doubled quotes and line breaks inside quotes; Windows or Unix line endings.
- Blank lines are skipped.
Line numbers in the skip report count the lines in your file with the header as line 1, so they match what you see in a text editor.
Sample files
Section titled “Sample files”A Swym Shoppers report. Replace each REPLACE_… value with a real product or variant ID from your store before you try it; the rows without IDs show matching by SKU and product link, and the last rows show skips (a duplicate, an unknown customer, a missing product, a blank email and a row with no product column).
UserEmail,ProductId,VariantID,SKU,PageURL,ListName,CreatedDate,Product Titleshopper1@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_THROW,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_THROW_OAT,COVE-THROW-OAT,https://demo.example/products/alpine-wool-throw,My wishlist,2026-08-14 09:12:00,Alpine Wool Throwshopper1@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_CUSHION,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_CUSHION,COVE-CUSHION-SAND,https://demo.example/products/linen-cushion-cover,My wishlist,2026-08-14 09:15:00,Linen Cushion Covershopper1@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_POUROVER,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_POUROVER,COVE-POUR-SET,https://demo.example/products/ceramic-pour-over-set,Birthday ideas,2026-09-02 18:40:00,Ceramic Pour-Over Setshopper1@example.com,,,,https://demo.example/products/brass-candle-holder,Birthday ideas,2026-09-02 18:44:00,Brass Candle Holdershopper2@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_BOARD,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_BOARD,COVE-BOARD-OAK,https://demo.example/products/oak-serving-board,My wishlist,2026-07-21 12:05:00,Oak Serving Boardshopper2@example.com,,,COVE-MUG-SET,,For the new flat,2026-07-21 12:09:00,Stoneware Mug Setshopper2@example.com,,,,https://demo.example/products/glass-carafe,For the new flat,2026-07-22 08:30:00,Glass Carafeshopper3@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_SLIPPERS,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_SLIPPERS_M,COVE-SLIP-M,https://demo.example/products/wool-felt-slippers,My wishlist,2026-10-01 20:15:00,Wool Felt Slippersshopper3@example.com,,,COVE-BAG-CANVAS,,My wishlist,2026-10-01 20:18:00,Canvas Weekender Bagshopper1@example.com,REPLACE_PRODUCT_ID_THROW,REPLACE_VARIANT_ID_THROW_OAT,COVE-THROW-OAT,https://demo.example/products/alpine-wool-throw,My wishlist,2026-09-30 10:00:00,Alpine Wool Thrownobody@example.com,,,COVE-BASKET,https://demo.example/products/woven-storage-basket,My wishlist,2026-09-11 15:00:00,Woven Storage Basketshopper2@example.com,,,,https://demo.example/products/discontinued-ceramic-vase,My wishlist,2026-06-03 11:11:00,Discontinued Ceramic Vase,,,COVE-TOWEL-SET,https://demo.example/products/cotton-bath-towel-set,My wishlist,2026-09-18 13:20:00,Cotton Bath Towel Setshopper3@example.com,,,,,My wishlist,2026-09-19 09:00:00,Unknown ItemA generic CSV matching by handle and SKU:
email,handle,sku,list_name,added_atshopper1@example.com,alpine-wool-throw,COVE-THROW-OAT,My wishlist,2026-08-14shopper1@example.com,linen-cushion-cover,COVE-CUSHION-SAND,My wishlist,2026-08-14shopper1@example.com,ceramic-pour-over-set,COVE-POUR-SET,Birthday ideas,2026-09-02shopper2@example.com,oak-serving-board,COVE-BOARD-OAK,My wishlist,2026-07-21shopper2@example.com,stoneware-mug-set,COVE-MUG-SET,For the new flat,2026-07-21shopper2@example.com,glass-carafe,COVE-CARAFE,For the new flat,2026-07-22shopper3@example.com,wool-felt-slippers,COVE-SLIP-M,My wishlist,2026-10-01shopper3@example.com,canvas-weekender-bag,COVE-BAG-CANVAS,My wishlist,2026-10-01nobody@example.com,woven-storage-basket,COVE-BASKET,My wishlist,2026-09-11shopper2@example.com,discontinued-ceramic-vase,,My wishlist,2026-06-03,cotton-bath-towel-set,COVE-TOWEL-SET,My wishlist,2026-09-18In both, “My wishlist” goes to each customer’s default list; “Birthday ideas” and “For the new flat” become named lists on Pro and go to the default list on other plans.