Fix error Magento Skipping import row, required field “sku” is not defined when importing product

When  importing Magento product via csv file, you may see this error: Magento Skipping import row, required field “sku” is not defined, sometimes fields can be also be store, type, attribute set or something else…

In this Magento tutorial for beginner, we will learn how to fix this error.

Cause of the error

CSV file not in UTF8 format

Most common cause, check this first: CSV File is not in UTF8 formatted. To solve this do as below:

Open your csv file in file editor program like Microsoft excel, click on save as. In Save As Type, select CSV for your file. In tool dropdown, choose Web options

In web option window, select Unicode UTF8 in Encoding > Save this document as:

Now, go to your Magento backend and try to import again.

Only 1 product in 1 Line

Check if your each product is put in 1 line of csv file, if there are more than 1 product the import will be failed.

Headers Identical to Database Names

Header names must match field name in database. For example, you have “product title” column instead of “product name”, which is required by Magento, you will have to rename it or the import process will be failed

Missing required fields

There is a list of required fields by Magento, if your csv file misses these fields the import will not succeed.

• type_id or _type –
• _attribute_set
• tax_class_id
• weight
• sku
• name
• price
• description
• short_description

Still see the error after trying all the solutions above? drop me a line here and I will try to figure it out for you.

Good luck!