Product photos sell products. In the Hyperzod CSV structure, images are not embedded in the file — they are URLs that point to pictures hosted somewhere public. Getting those URLs right before import saves a cleanup pass after: a catalog with broken image links looks broken to every customer who sees it. This guide explains how images work in the catalog CSV and how CSV Pilot attaches them.
How images appear in the CSV
- Product image — the
PRODUCT.IMAGEScolumn holds the main photo URL. - Variant images — each variant record in an option group can carry its own image URL as the last field:
name, price, cost, inventory, description, image.
A pizza with a product photo and per-size photos would have the product URL in PRODUCT.IMAGES and the Small/Medium/Large URLs inside the Size group's variants. Variant images are optional — a variant without one displays the product image.
Rules for URLs that work
- Public URLs — the image must be reachable without login. Hosted on your site, a CDN or an image service. A URL that requires authentication will show as broken to every customer.
- Direct image links — the URL should end in a real image extension or serve image content; page URLs won't work.
- Stable URLs — if the URL changes later, the imported catalog still points to the old address. Re-upload means re-import or re-edit.
- Test before import — open a few URLs in a browser tab before importing the whole catalog. A 404 image URL will not fail the import; it will fail silently.
Attaching images with CSV Pilot
The simplest path is to include the image URL in your request:
"Create a pizza menu. Use these photos: Margherita → https://…/margherita.jpg, Pepperoni → https://…/pepperoni.jpg."
CSV Pilot puts each URL in the product's PRODUCT.IMAGES field. When converting from Shopify, the Image Src column carries over to the converted products automatically — multi-image products keep their first image.
If you are editing an existing catalog, you can also type or paste URLs directly into the preview grid's image cell.
Checking images after conversion
After converting a Shopify or DeliverLogic file:
- Open the preview and scan the image column.
- Confirm the URLs start with
https://. - Spot-check two or three URLs in a browser.
Broken image URLs do not fail an import — they fail silently, leaving products without photos. The preview is the moment to catch them.
Common image mistakes
- Page URLs instead of image URLs — a link to a product page is not an image.
- Mixed protocols —
http://URLs on anhttps://store can be blocked by the browser. - Huge files — a 10 MB photo slows every page that shows it. Resize before hosting.
- Spaces in filenames — some hosts break on unencoded spaces; use hyphens.
The rule is simple: images are references, not attachments. Host the picture somewhere stable, put the URL in the CSV, and verify it loads before you import.