Goal: Remove one or more products from a Shopify collection with a spreadsheet import. A product can be in a collection for several reasons, and each reason has its own fix, so this guide first shows you how to find out why the product is there.

Prerequisites:

Since July 2026, a Shopify collection is made of one or more sources. Each source adds products in its own way, and the collection contains every product that any of its sources adds. A single collection can mix all of these:

Keep these Shopify rules in mind:

Export the collections with their sources before you change anything. The export shows exactly which source adds the product, and you can reuse its rows for the import.

Hand-picked products are rows with Condition: Field set to Manual Selection. To remove one, import the same row with Condition: Command set to DELETE. Only that product is removed, and the collection's other products and rules stay as they are.

You can also write the file yourself. You need one row for each product and collection pair. To remove a product from four collections, write four rows:

Handle is the collection's handle, and Condition: Value is the product's handle or ID. The Collections data type uses the Altera/Matrixify format, so a Matrixify Collections file with these rows works the same way. Download the Remove Products from a Collection sample to start from.

A file without a Source: ID edits the collection's first Products source. If the collection has more than one source, or the product was picked in a Variants source, use the rows from the export: they carry the Source: ID and the exact value of each selection.

Note: Don't use the Custom Collections column in a products import for this. It can only add products to collections (see Why a products import can't remove products from collections).

A rule adds every product that matches it, so you can't delete a single product from it. You have two options.

This is the best choice when the product really shouldn't match the rule, for example when it has a tag it no longer needs. In the export, look at the rule rows of the source to see which field the rule checks, and then change that field on the product with a products import.

For example, if a collection includes products tagged summer, this products import removes the tag from one product. Shopify then removes the product from the collection:

Tags Command set to DELETE removes only the tags listed in Tags and keeps the product's other tags. See Tags Command for details. Changing the product affects every collection that uses the same rule, as well as anything else that uses the tag, title, or other field.

An exclusion keeps the product out of the collection while the product and the rules stay unchanged. It's the best choice when the product should keep its tag, title, or vendor. To exclude specific products, add a Manual Selection row with Inclusion: Type set to Exclude:

Download the Exclude Products from a Collection sample to start from, and then import the file.

You can also exclude groups of products with a rule instead of naming them one by one. Exclusion rules support the Tag, Type, Vendor, Category, Category with Subcategories, and Collection fields. For example, Tag / Includes / hidden with Inclusion: Type set to Exclude keeps out every product tagged hidden.

Keep these points in mind:

To undo an exclusion, import the same row with Condition: Command set to DELETE. The product goes back into the collection if a rule or selection still adds it.

A Collections source adds every product of the collections it lists. For example, a Shop all collection might include the Tops and Bottoms collections. To remove one product, remove it from the collection that actually holds it (Tops in this example), using the steps for a hand-picked product or a rule above. The product then leaves both collections.

An exclusion in a Products source of the parent collection doesn't remove products that a Collections source adds, because exclusions only apply to their own source.

To stop including a whole collection, delete its Manual Selection row from the Collections source with Condition: Command set to DELETE, or remove the whole source with Source: Command set to DELETE.

The products are no longer in the collection, and the collection's other products, rules, and sources are unchanged. To check, open the collection in your Shopify admin under Products > Collections, or export it again.

Shopify can take a few seconds to update a collection after its rules or exclusions change.

A products export has a Custom Collections column that lists the manual collections each product is in. On import, this column can only add a product to collections. It never removes a product from a collection, whatever you write in the cell:

The import still reports the row as successful, because the product was updated. The Smart Collections column in a products export is export only, so it can't remove products either.

This is how the column works in the Altera/Matrixify format. To remove products from a collection, import a file with the Collections data type, as described in this guide. You can still use a products import to change a product so that it no longer matches a rule (see Option 1).

Before July 2026, Shopify had two kinds of collections. Smart collections (also called automated collections) added products only by rules. Manual collections contained only hand-picked products. Shopify has replaced both with the new collections model described in this guide and converted existing collections automatically. The Shopify help center now calls the old types Legacy smart collections and Legacy manual collections.

Altera still accepts the Smart collections and Manual collections import formats, so files you made before still work. For example, the Product: Command column set to DELETE in a Manual collections file still removes a product from a collection that has a single source. The legacy formats can't show exclusions, more than one source, or collections included in other collections. For a collection that uses any of these, use the Collections data type. See How Altera is handling Shopify's new Collections for more information.