The Day a Product Catalog Disappeared (and Why Backups Matter More Than You Think)

A while back, a client reached out regarding product maintenance. With a single click, he turned a simple cleanup into a major problem.

An entire product database — hundreds of products — was deleted.

Not hidden. Not archived.
Deleted.

There was that brief pause we’ve all had before… the one where you think, “Surely there’s a way to undo this.”

Sadly, there wasn’t. I reached out to support, begged and pleaded, only to confirm that they do not have backups. I knew that, but one can always hope for a miracle, right?

Shopify doesn’t keep full backups of your store. Once products are deleted, they’re gone unless you already have a backup system in place. Support can’t restore them. Themes don’t bring them back. And no amount of refreshing your browser helps.

What followed was hours of scrambling — searching emails, invoices, old spreadsheets, even the Wayback Machine — trying to piece together what used to exist. Product descriptions, pricing, variants, images… all of it has to be rebuilt by hand. This method will also cause a URL headache so you'll want to reach out an SEO expert for their guidance. 

That’s why I’m such a big believer in backup apps like Rewind.

Rewind runs quietly in the background, taking automatic snapshots of your store — products, collections, pages, blogs, themes, customers, orders — so if something disappears, you can restore it. One item or everything. No panic required.

And while apps like Rewind are your safety net, there’s also a simple habit I amalso suggesting: export your products regularly.

Shopify allows you to export your entire product catalog as a CSV file, which gives you a snapshot of:

• Product titles and descriptions

• Pricing and SKUs

• Variants and inventory details

It’s not a full restore solution on its own (images and relationships still take work), but having that CSV can save you from starting at zero. Think of it as a paper trail — not perfect, but incredibly helpful when things go wrong.

The takeaway from that lost catalog wasn’t fear — it was awareness.

Most data loss in stores doesn’t occur due to hackers or major failures. It happens because real people are doing real work inside their stores. Clicking. Editing. Cleaning up. Moving fast, being distracted. The point is, shit happens. 

Backups aren’t about being dramatic or overly cautious.
They’re about respecting the time and energy you’ve already poured into your business. 

If you’ve spent months (or years) building your product catalog, a backup app and an occasional CSV export are small steps that protect something big.

And trust me — it’s a lot easier to set this up on a calm day than after everything disappears. So in addition to backing up your theme before edits, make sure you've got your products and photos backed up too!!