Goal
Optimize your import files and settings to significantly reduce the time it takes to import data in the Altera/Matrixify format into Shopify.
Prerequisites
An import file (CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets) prepared for Altera.
Basic understanding of your data structure (IDs vs Handles).
Steps
Remove unchanged columns If you are updating existing data, remove any columns that you do not intend to change. Re-uploading unchanged data forces the app to process and validate it again, which slows down the import. Only keep the identifier column (like ID or Handle) and the columns you are updating.
Use ID columns for lookups When updating existing items, prefer using the ID column over the Handle. Lookups by ID are generally faster because they map directly to the Shopify object, whereas Handles may require an extra API call to resolve to an ID.
Add
[ID]to lookup columns If you are updating items using Variant ID, Variant SKU, or Variant Barcode as your identifier, add[ID]to the column header. For example, renameVariant IDtoVariant ID [ID]orVariant SKUtoVariant SKU [ID].This suffix forces the app to use that specific column for looking up the item.
It triggers additional internal optimizations that can speed up the import.
Contact support for parallel thread optimization If you frequently run very large imports, reach out to our support team. We may be able to adjust the number of parallel import threads allocated to your store to improve throughput.
Outcome
Your imports will process faster, with less time spent on unnecessary data validation and API calls.
Example
Here is how you might rename headers to force a fast lookup:
Variant ID [ID] | SKU [ID] | Price |
1234567890 | SKU-123 | 19.99 |
0987654321 | SKU-456 | 24.99 |