Help & Documentation
Everything you need to import PDF catalogs into Shopify.
Getting Started
Installing the app
Find Shopif-AI in the Shopify App Store and click Install. The app runs inside Shopify Admin — no external accounts or extra logins needed.
Your free trial
PDF requirements
Shopif-AI works with text-based PDFs — the kind produced by supplier catalog software, design tools like InDesign, or exported from spreadsheets. It does not support:
- Scanned PDFs (images of pages with no selectable text)
- PDFs where all content is embedded as images
- Password-protected PDFs
If you try to upload a scanned PDF, the app will warn you before processing begins.
Content authorization
Workflow Walkthrough
Upload your catalog
From the Upload page, drag and drop your PDF or click to browse. You can optionally enable Auto-SEO to generate SEO copy for every product automatically, and choose a custom SEO prompt template to control tone and style. Click Upload Catalog — processing runs in the background and you can navigate away.
Wait for processing
The app shows a progress banner while AI extracts your products. Processing runs roughly 5 minutes per 20 pages, though content complexity can affect this. Typical times: under 20 pages ~5 min; 20–60 pages 5–15 min; 60–150 pages 15–40 min; 150–300 pages 40 min to over an hour. The page refreshes automatically when done.
Review extracted products
On the Products page, all extracted products are listed with their status. Products start as Draft. A colored flag indicates the AI was uncertain about image attribution and the product warrants a quick review. Click any product to open the editor.
Approve products
Products with no unresolved flags can be approved. Click Approve All to approve every clean product at once — if you've checked specific rows first, the button changes to Approve Selected. You can also approve individually from the product editor. Only approved products can be published.
Publish to Shopify
From the Products list, click Publish All — or Publish Selected if you've checked specific rows. Products appear in Shopify Admin within seconds, complete with full descriptions, all variants with SKUs, extracted images, and SEO metadata.
Upload Options
Three optional settings on the upload form let you control which pages get parsed, whether SEO is generated automatically, and how deeply product specs are enriched. All are off by default.
Pages to parse
Optional · No extra cost
Specify exactly which pages to send to AI using a comma-separated list of page numbers and ranges — for example, 5-12, 14, 18-30. Leave blank to parse all pages.
When it helps: Supplier catalogs often include pages that contain no products — covers, tables of contents, size guides, order forms, brand story sections, and warranty pages. Specifying only the product pages skips these entirely, making processing faster and reducing API usage.
Cost: Only the pages you specify are sent to AI. Fewer pages means fewer API calls. On Standard and Pay-As-You-Go plans, this means fewer credits consumed per import. On the Pro plan, it lowers your API bill.
Auto-generate SEO
Optional · Extra API calls on Pro plan
When enabled, Shopif-AI automatically writes SEO content for every extracted product immediately after parsing — no separate step required. This includes the SEO title, meta description, product body copy, search tags, and image alt text.
When it helps: Enable it if you want products ready to publish without any additional work after the import. Skip it if you plan to review or write SEO manually, use different prompt templates per batch, or generate SEO later from the Products page in bulk.
Cost: On Standard and Pay-As-You-Go plans, Auto-SEO is included — no extra credits are deducted. On the Pro plan, each product requires one additional API call using your own key. The cost per product is small, but on a large import (100+ products) it can add up — keep an eye on your API usage if you're running close to your spending limit.
Enhanced product features
Optional · Extra API calls on Pro plan
Before parsing individual products, Shopif-AI runs an additional pass over the catalog to identify and define any proprietary technology names, materials, or branded feature systems that are described in the catalog text. Once it has those definitions, it uses them to enrich matching entries in each product's spec list.
For example: if a catalog has a page explaining "CarbonFlex Frame Construction" — describing what the material is, how it's made, and what performance benefit it provides — any product that lists "CarbonFlex Frame" in its specs will have that entry automatically expanded to include the full explanation rather than just the name.
When it helps: Most useful for technical or branded catalogs that dedicate pages to explaining proprietary technologies. If your catalog has feature spotlight, innovation, or technology sections, enabling this produces noticeably richer product specs. For straightforward catalogs with plain spec lists and no named feature systems, the benefit is minimal.
Cost: One additional AI call per ~10–15 pages of catalog content. On Standard and Pay-As-You-Go plans, this is included at no extra credit cost. On the Pro plan, these additional calls draw from your own API key.
Catalog Profiles
Catalog profiles let you save supplier-specific parsing hints and reapply them every time you upload from that supplier. A profile can describe SKU format, column structure, where prices or specs appear in the layout, or any other quirks that are consistent across that supplier's catalogs.
Profiles are optional — the AI parser works without them. They're most valuable when you upload from the same supplier repeatedly and want to improve accuracy or consistency without re-explaining the catalog format each time.
Creating a profile
Go to Configurations in the app sidebar → scroll to the Catalog Profiles section → click Add New Catalog Profile. Give the profile a name (e.g., "Acme Supplier — Sporting Goods") and fill in the parsing hints field.
Hints are free text, up to 500 characters. Describe the catalog's format — not instructions to the AI. Examples:
- SKUs follow the pattern AB-123-XYZ (2 letters, dash, 3 digits, dash, 3 letters).
- Technical specs appear in a bold text block directly below the product name.
- Prices are in the bottom-right corner of each product cell.
- Products are arranged in a 3-column grid across each page.
Applying a profile at upload
On the Upload page, the Catalog profile dropdown lists all your saved profiles. Select the profile that matches the catalog you're uploading. The hints from that profile are appended to the AI parser's instructions for that job.
You can mark one profile as the default — it will be pre-selected on the upload form each time, so you only need to change it when uploading from a different supplier.
What to write in parsing hints
Good hints describe the catalog's structure and format. Bad hints give instructions to the AI ("extract all products" or "be thorough").
Write about: SKU patterns, where specs appear relative to the product name, column layout, how prices are formatted, whether images appear above or below the product name, any unusual formatting that might confuse a reader unfamiliar with the catalog.
Do not write about: how to extract data, what fields to include, or any instruction that applies to all catalogs equally — the parser already handles those cases. Hints that say nothing new add no value.
Note: parsing hints affect text parsing only. Image extraction and filtering are not influenced by profile hints.
Understanding Flags
Flags are automatic warnings that highlight products where the AI wasn't fully confident. They're informational — you can publish products with unresolved flags. Resolving them is optional, but recommended when accuracy matters.
Review Image flag
Appears when AI is uncertain which image belongs to which product — common in dense multi-column layouts.
To resolve: Open the editor → review the Images section → remove incorrect images or upload the correct one → click Mark as verified. Marking images as reviewed is optional — you can publish without doing so.
Managing Variants
Shopif-AI automatically detects product variants — sizes, colors, materials, and other options — from the catalog text. It recognizes lists after labels like "Available in:", "Sizes:", "Colors:", option charts, and inline mentions like "available in small, medium, and large."
Each detected variant gets its own entry with a SKU, option name, option value, and optional variant-specific price or image.
Editing variants
In the product editor, scroll to the Variants section. You can edit option names and values, set per-variant SKUs and prices, assign variant-specific images, delete unwanted variants, or add new ones manually. Variants publish to Shopify as proper variant combinations.
To price all variants at once, click Set to product price — this copies the price from the Product Info section down to every variant in one step.
SEO Generation
For each product, Shopif-AI can generate: an SEO title (≤60 chars), meta description (≤160 chars), HTML product body (2–4 paragraphs), 5–10 tags, and image alt text.
Auto-SEO on upload
Enable Auto-SEO on the upload form. SEO generates automatically for every extracted product after parsing — no extra steps.
Manual generation
Click Generate SEO for All on the Products list (or Generate SEO for Selected if rows are checked), or click Generate SEO inside any product editor.
Writing SEO prompt templates
Go to Configurations in the app sidebar to create, edit, and manage prompt templates. Each template defines the voice and style the AI uses when writing your product content — the app automatically handles all the formatting and structure. Think of it as a one-paragraph briefing to a copywriter: tell them who they're writing for, what tone to use, and anything to avoid.
Length
Two to four sentences is enough for most cases. Longer prompts rarely produce better output — what matters is clarity, not volume. A tight, specific prompt will consistently outperform a long, vague one. If you find yourself writing more than a short paragraph, look for instructions you can cut or simplify.
What to include
- Your brand voice — formal or casual, warm or authoritative, minimal or expressive.
- Your audience — who is buying? Procurement managers, design-conscious homeowners, first-time parents, serious athletes? The more specific, the better the output.
- What to avoid — if certain words, phrases, or tones are off-brand, say so explicitly. ("Avoid superlatives like 'best' or 'revolutionary'.") Negative instructions are often more useful than positive ones.
- Industry context — a short hint about your product category helps the AI use the right terminology. ("Products are industrial safety equipment." or "Products are children's wooden toys.")
Language and jargon
Use the language your customers actually search for — not your internal company vocabulary or supplier terminology. If your buyers are technical professionals, your prompt should reflect that; if they're everyday consumers, ask for plain language.
Avoid writing format instructions (like asking for bullet points or specific fields) — the app handles output structure automatically. Stick to voice, tone, audience, and context.
Example prompts
These can be used as-is or adapted to your brand. Each targets a different industry and buyer type.
General / default
Broad appeal, no industry-specific assumptions. Good starting point for any store.
"You are an e-commerce copywriter for a Shopify store. Write clear, benefit-focused product content that would appeal to a general online shopper. Keep descriptions concise and factual."
Home goods — boutique retailer
Warm, design-aware tone for customers who care about aesthetics and craftsmanship.
"You are a lifestyle copywriter for a boutique home goods brand. Your audience is design-conscious homeowners who value quality and craftsmanship. Write warm, inviting descriptions that highlight materials and everyday use. Avoid clinical or overtly promotional language."
Industrial / B2B — equipment supplier
Factual and specification-led for procurement managers and engineers.
"You are a technical copywriter for an industrial equipment supplier. Your audience is procurement managers and engineers who prioritize accuracy and reliability over marketing flair. Use correct industry terminology, reference specifications where available, and keep copy factual and concise. Avoid vague claims."
Fashion — contemporary apparel
Aspirational but accessible for style-aware shoppers.
"You are a fashion copywriter for a contemporary clothing brand targeting shoppers aged 25–40. Descriptions should feel aspirational but approachable — lead with the most visually distinctive feature, then highlight fit and occasion. Keep the tone conversational and confident."
Health & beauty — wellness brand
Clean and benefits-focused without medical overreach.
"You are a product copywriter for a wellness and personal care brand. Write clean, confident descriptions that emphasize ingredient quality and tangible benefits. Your audience values transparency and health-consciousness. Do not make medical claims. Avoid hype words like "miracle" or "revolutionary.""
Outdoor & sporting goods
Performance-led copy for a range of experience levels.
"You are a copywriter for an outdoor and sporting goods retailer. Your customers range from casual weekend users to serious enthusiasts. Emphasize performance, durability, and real-world use cases. Use active language. Write for someone who has read product reviews before — skip the obvious and highlight what actually differentiates the product."
Children's products — safety-minded parents
Trustworthy and benefit-focused for parents making considered purchases.
"You are a copywriter for a children's toy and educational products brand. Write for parents who are thoughtful buyers — emphasize safety, age-appropriateness, educational value, and durability. Tone should be warm and reassuring. Avoid anything that sounds like an ad. Do not address children directly."
Plans & Billing
All billing is handled through Shopify — charges appear on your existing Shopify invoice. No separate payment method or credit card required.
Standard
Purchase a Standard plan with a set credit count — 50, 100, 250, 500, or 1,000. One credit = one product parsed. Credits never expire. This is the simplest option if you import occasionally or want full control over what you spend.
Pay-As-You-Go
A usage-based monthly subscription billed through Shopify. You're charged per product parsed at a fixed rate, with a built-in monthly cap so spending never exceeds a predictable maximum. No API key needed — AI costs are included. Good for low or unpredictable import volume.
Pro
A fixed monthly subscription that lets you supply your own AI API key — Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), or Google (Gemini). Products are processed using your key at direct API cost. There is no per-product charge from Shopif-AI and no cap on the number of products you can parse. Manage API keys in Settings.
You only need one key to get started. Anthropic is recommended for best results. Adding OpenAI or Google keys is optional and unlocks those model choices in the parser and SEO prompt dropdowns.
See the API Cost Monitoring section below for how to set spending limits and alerts on your API key accounts.
Switching plans
In your Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Manage subscription to switch between plans. Shopify prorates any difference automatically.
Cancelling
To cancel, uninstall Shopif-AI from your Shopify Admin. Your subscription ends automatically when the app is uninstalled. You can also cancel the subscription directly from Settings → Manage subscription in Shopify Admin without uninstalling.
API Cost Monitoring Pro plan
On the Pro plan, you pay your AI provider directly for each catalog you process. Shopif-AI does not mark up API costs or add a per-product fee — what your provider charges is what you pay. This section explains how to set spending limits and monitor usage on each supported provider.
| Provider | Hard limit available? | Email alerts? | Overage possible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Yes — true hard stop | Yes | No |
| OpenAI | No — alerts only | Yes | Yes — API continues past budget |
| Google AI | Yes — via AI Studio Spend Cap | Yes | Small window (~10 min delay) |
Anthropic (Claude)
Recommended provider — used for catalog parsing and optionally for SEO generation.
Setting a monthly spend limit
Go to console.anthropic.com → Workspaces → click your workspace → Limits tab → click Change Limit. Enter a monthly dollar amount. Once your workspace spending hits that amount in a calendar month, all API requests are blocked with HTTP 429 until the billing cycle resets. This is a true hard stop — no charges can occur above it.
Spend limits apply at the workspace level. All API keys in the same workspace share the cap. If you want Shopif-AI isolated from other usage, create a dedicated workspace and generate a key for it there.
Setting email alert thresholds
On the same Limits tab, click Add notification. Enter a dollar amount — Anthropic emails you when workspace spending reaches that threshold. You can add multiple thresholds (e.g., alert at $10 and again at $18, with a hard limit at $20) to give yourself advance warning before the limit kicks in.
Viewing current usage
Go to console.anthropic.com → Usage to see cost and token breakdowns by workspace, model, and date. Usage data updates within about 5 minutes of an API call.
OpenAI (GPT Models)
Optional — available for SEO generation when an OpenAI key is configured.
Setting a monthly budget (alert threshold)
Go to platform.openai.com → Settings → your organization → your project → Limits → Edit budget. Enter a monthly dollar amount. OpenAI emails the project owner and organization owner when spending crosses this threshold. The API does not stop.
You can set additional alert thresholds at percentages of the budget — for example, notify at 50% and again at 90%. A 100% alert is created automatically when you set any budget.
Effective workaround: prepaid credits
OpenAI accounts run on prepaid credits. When your credit balance reaches $0, the API stops — this is a genuine hard stop. To use this as spending control, load only the amount you are comfortable spending. Once that balance is exhausted, no further charges occur until you add more credits manually. This is the most reliable way to cap OpenAI spending.
Viewing current usage
Go to platform.openai.com/account/usage. Filter by project to see usage specific to your Shopif-AI setup. The dashboard shows token counts and dollar amounts, filterable by date range.
Google AI (Gemini)
Optional — available for SEO generation when a Google AI API key is configured.
Setting a project spend cap
Go to aistudio.google.com → Spend tab → Monthly spend cap section. Enter a dollar limit. When your project spending reaches the cap, Google pauses API traffic for the rest of the month.
Important caveat: enforcement takes up to 10 minutes after the cap is hit. API calls made during that window will still be charged. Set your cap slightly below your true maximum to account for this delay.
Automatic tier-level caps
Google also enforces mandatory billing account caps based on your account tier — new accounts have a $250/month ceiling regardless of any cap you set. These are hard limits that apply automatically; you don't need to configure them.
Setting email budget alerts
In Google Cloud Console → Billing → Budgets & alerts, click Create budget. Set percentage-based thresholds (e.g., 50%, 90%, 100%) and Google emails your billing administrators when each threshold is crossed. These alerts are independent of the AI Studio spend cap.
Viewing current usage and costs
In Google AI Studio → Dashboard → Billing, you can view a daily cost breakdown by model for the current and past month. For more detailed spend analysis, go to Google Cloud Console → Billing → Reports and filter by service.
Prepay billing (new accounts)
New Google AI paid accounts (created after March 2026) use prepaid credits — you load credit, spend it down, and the API stops when the balance hits $0. This is an effective hard stop with no overage risk, similar to the OpenAI prepaid workaround.
General tips for Pro plan users
- Set limits before entering your API key in Shopif-AI. Processing starts immediately after you click Upload — there is no separate confirmation.
- Auto-SEO makes one API call per product. On a 100-product import it adds up quickly. If cost control is tight, disable Auto-SEO on large catalogs and generate SEO in batches afterward.
- Limits and usage tracking are per-account (or per-workspace for Anthropic), not per-app. If you use the same key for other tools, your Shopif-AI usage counts toward the same cap.
- Your Shopif-AI monthly plan fee is separate from any API charges you pay your provider.
- To estimate a catalog's cost before uploading: count the pages, estimate 2–5 products per page, and multiply by the per-token price for your chosen model. Anthropic publishes pricing at anthropic.com/pricing.
- For the most predictable cost control, Anthropic is the recommended choice — its workspace-level hard limit is the only one that truly blocks all further charges before you can incur them.
FAQ
My PDF is a scanned document. Will it work?
No — Shopif-AI requires text-based PDFs. Scanned documents contain no extractable text. Ask your supplier for the original digital file.
What happens to my PDF after upload?
Your file is stored securely during processing and review, then deleted when you uninstall the app. See our privacy policy.
Can I edit a product after publishing it to Shopify?
Yes. Open the product, make your changes, and click Save. Your edits are saved in the app but not pushed to Shopify yet.
Why can't I see a Publish button after saving my edits?
After a product has been published, its status is set to Published. The Publish button only appears for products in Approved status. To re-publish, click Approve on the product first — this moves it back to Approved and makes the Publish button available again.
Will re-publishing create a duplicate product in Shopify?
No. Because the product was already published once, the app has its Shopify ID on record. Re-publishing sends an update to that same listing — it won't create a new one.
What's the full flow to push an edit to Shopify?
Edit → Save → Approve → Publish. That's it.
Product images look wrong — can I fix them?
Yes. Open the product editor, remove incorrect images in the Images section, and upload or reassign the correct ones.
Can I use Shopif-AI with multiple Shopify stores?
Each store needs its own installation and plan. All data is kept strictly separate between stores.
What AI models does Shopif-AI use?
On Standard and Pay-As-You-Go plans, product extraction uses Claude (Anthropic) — AI costs are included in your plan. On the Pro plan, you supply your own API key and can choose from Claude, GPT (OpenAI), or Gemini (Google) for both extraction and SEO generation.
Do I need an API key to use Shopif-AI?
No — the Standard and Pay-As-You-Go plans include AI processing at no extra step. An API key is only required for the Pro plan.
Can I re-run the AI on a catalog I already uploaded?
Yes — on paid plans, click Reprocess next to the catalog on the Upload page. The AI re-parses the entire catalog and updates your existing products in place.
Processing failed. What do I do?
Confirm your PDF is text-based (you should be able to select text in a PDF viewer). If it still fails, email [email protected] with the catalog name and a copy of the catalog.
Glossary
- Draft
- A product extracted from a catalog but not yet reviewed or approved. Cannot be published.
- Approved
- A reviewed product with no blocking flags. Ready to publish to Shopify.
- Published
- A product successfully pushed to your Shopify store.
- Flag
- An automatic warning on a product where the AI was uncertain about image attribution. You can publish flagged products — resolving the flag is optional.
- Variant
- A specific version of a product defined by options like size or color. Each variant has its own SKU.
- SKU
- Stock Keeping Unit — a unique product or variant identifier, typically an item number from the catalog.
- Credit
- 1 credit = 1 product parsed. Credits come from one-time credit packs and never expire. Multiple packs stack.
- Pro plan
- The Pro subscription tier. You supply your own AI API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google) and process unlimited products at direct API cost — no per-product charge from Shopif-AI.
- Auto-SEO
- Upload option that automatically generates SEO title, description, body, and tags for every extracted product after parsing.
- Catalog Profile
- A saved set of supplier-specific parsing hints (SKU format, column layout, spec locations) that can be applied at upload time to improve extraction accuracy for a known catalog format.
Still have questions?
Email us and we'll get back to you within 1–2 business days.
[email protected]