> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cernel.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# An improved CSV experience
> A ground-up redesign of CSV import and export: column analysis that maps your file for you, catalog and vendor import modes, reusable export templates, and a preview of every change before it runs.
**June 22, 2026**
Not every catalog lives in Shopify. Plenty of product data sits in spreadsheets: a supplier's price list, an export from an ERP, a hand-maintained master file. CSV is the one format every one of those systems can read and write, which is exactly why it is the most universal way to get product data into Cernel and back out again.
This release rebuilds the CSV experience from the ground up. Importing now reads your file for you and proposes a complete mapping before you commit. Exporting becomes template-based, so the layout your downstream systems expect is saved once and reused on demand. The result is product data that moves in and out of Cernel in a way that is more standardized, faster, and safer.
CSV import and export also have a proper home now. In the sidebar, open **CSV** under **Tools**, where you will find two tabs: **CSV Import** and **CSV Export Templates**.
## Imports that read the file for you
The biggest change is what happens the moment you upload a file. Cernel analyzes it column by column: it streams statistics about the values it finds, works out the data format of each column, and classifies the role each one plays. It recognizes a product title, a product URL, an image URL, a product identifier (such as SKU or GTIN), or a regular attribute, and then proposes how every column should map onto your Cernel attributes and identifiers.
You are never staring at a blank mapping screen. You review Cernel's suggestions, adjust anything that needs a human eye, and add any columns it set aside. Where it recommends a new attribute, you accept it with a single click.
Before anything is written to your catalog, you get an import preview: how many products will be **created**, how many will be **updated**, and which new attributes or identifiers the import will add. Nothing happens until you have seen the impact and clicked **Run import**.
## Two ways to bring a file in
When you start an import, Cernel asks where the file is coming from. The answer changes how the file is matched to your catalog.
### From catalog
Choose **From catalog** when the file is an export of your own catalog. It already has the structure and column names you maintain, so Cernel preserves your headers as they are and is built for predictable round-trips: export, edit or enrich, then re-import in the same shape.
### From vendor
Choose **From vendor** for the differently-shaped files you receive from suppliers. Each vendor sends something a little different, and Cernel maps every one of them onto your existing attributes and identifier types, so many shapes converge into a single, consistent catalog. For identifiers it uses a two-pass approach: a first, bias-free pass that decides which columns are identifiers at all, then a second pass that assigns each one its identifier type.
A quick way to remember which to pick: you made the file, choose **From catalog**; they made it, choose **From vendor**.
## Exports you can reuse
Exporting is now built around templates. A **CSV export template** is a saved column layout: the attributes and identifiers to include, the output header names, and the column order. Define it once, then run it from the **Products** page whenever you need a fresh file, and every export comes out in exactly the same shape.
That consistency is what makes the round-trip work. Because a **From catalog** import preserves your headers and a template reproduces them on the way out, an export, edit, re-import cycle lines up column for column with no manual fix-up in between.
You are not locked into templates. You can still pick columns ad hoc at export time, and you can turn on **Export only values Cernel produced** to leave imported data out of the file, so it carries only what Cernel generated or you edited.
## Why it matters
Taken together, these changes make CSV a first-class way to run Cernel rather than a fallback. You can operate entirely on CSV, with no store, PIM, or API connection: import your catalog, enrich it, and export the enriched data back out. The file reads itself in, the preview tells you what will change before it does, and templates keep every file you send out in the shape your other systems expect.
The full reference walks through every screen of importing and exporting, plus advanced options and troubleshooting.