Knowledgebase

How do I import my 301 Redirects?
 

Shift4Shop allows you to export and import your 301 redirects via CSV file! This can be helpful if you are moving to Shift4Shop from an different hosting service, and you want to preserve your existing SEO rankings by utilizing the same file paths your domain had working previously.

Exporting your 301 redirects

From your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager:

  1. Go to Marketing >SEO Tools
  2. Within the "General Settings" section, click on the "Edit Page Redirects" button
  3. Once there, look towards the top right and click on the "Export/Import" button.
  4. After clicking on the "Export/Import" button, click "Export Data" to generate your store's CSV file.
Note
It may help to already have an existing 301 redirect placed in your store so you can see how the CSV columns relate to their respective function.

The CSV File

Once you have your CSV file open you will see three columns. These are:

  • id
    the data base ID of your existing redirects
  • old_url
    this is the path that exists on your site with your previous host. In other words, the old file name.
  • new_url
    and this is the new path as it appears on your Shift4Shop store.

A Special Note about the "id" column:

For existing 301 redirects, an "id" number will be present. When uploading a brand new 301 redirect, be sure to leave this column blank, since it will be created by the server for you. Also, if you'd like to remove a specific 301 redirect, simply add a minus (-) sign to the left of its "id" number (while also removing the old and new URL data) and the server will remove it for you upon import.
(leaving existing 301 redirects alone will simply update them on the server with no change at all.)

Importing your 301 redirects

Once you have your CSV file populated you can now import it back to your store.

From your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager:

  1. Go to Marketing >SEO Tools
  2. Within the "Redirects" section, click on the "Edit Page Redirects" button
  3. Once there, look towards the top right and click on the "Export/Import" button.
  4. Using the "Browse" button, locate your CSV file and click "Import Data" to update your store.

Important
Please be aware that the import function has a limit of 30 megabytes. If the CSV you are trying to import is larger than this, please split it up into separate, smaller files no larger than 30MB each.

After importing your 301 Redirects, be sure to clear your browser's cache as it may be still referencing the old redirects. To be clear, we're referring to the browser's cache and not the store cache. Usually holding down the SHIFT key while refreshing the browser will perform a hard refresh to overwrite the browser's cache with new data. You can also use the browser's private (incognito) mode to see yur changes if you experience any issues with the redirects.

Additional Information
The actual import/export process takes place "behind the scenes" of your store's software to prevent it from interfering with your store's active processes. By allowing the function to work in the background, you can go to other pages of the admin and still work on your store while importing or exporting large files.

During the process, you will be taken to the Import/Export Status page which will display a grid layout of your recent imports and exports. The progress column will show you the progress of the import.

At the far right of each grid item will be an action wheel that contains the following options:

  • Download: Allows you to download the CSV file after a successful import/export
  • Notify Me: For larger, more time consuming files; this option will let you input your email address so that you will receive a notice once the import/export is complete.
  • View Log: Allows you to review the log of the import/export so you can see how many items were updated, inserted or if any records failed.
  • Cancel: Allows you to cancel an impending import/export
  • Retry: If for some reason the import/export fails, you may use this option to attempt a retry of the file.
  • Delete: Use this to delete the record altogether from the status page.

This will be present in all of the store's Export/Import functions.

Note
Please make sure your store's secure URL is pointing to your Shift4Shop store.

After import, your redirects are ready to use.

Note
While it's very unlikely that you will ever need to exceed it, be aware that there is a 250 character limit in the URL fields for 301 redirects.
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