Adobe Stock CSV Template: Columns, Limits, Mistakes
Typing a title and keywords into the Adobe Stock contributor portal one file at a time works for ten files. For a few hundred it does not. Adobe lets you upload the metadata for a whole batch as one CSV file instead. This guide covers the exact template, every column, Adobe's limits, and the mistakes that make a CSV upload fail or quietly lose data. You can download our template and fill it in.
The Adobe Stock CSV template
The file has one header row and one row per file. Adobe's own sample uses exactly these five column names, in this order:
Filename,Title,Keywords,Category,Releases example-photo.jpg,Young woman writing in notebook at home office desk,"woman, young adult, writing, notebook, home office, desk, laptop, working at home, concentration, education",13, example-clip.mov,Aerial view of wind turbines on green hills at sunset,"wind turbine, aerial view, renewable energy, hill, sunset, green, landscape, electricity, sustainability, no people, nobody",5,
Adobe says the header row must match its template exactly, so do not rename, translate or reorder the columns. Filename, Title and Keywords carry the metadata; Category and Releases are optional and can stay empty.
Every column, and Adobe's limits
| Column | What goes in it | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Filename | The file's name exactly as you uploaded it, including the extension | Exact match; Adobe's guidance is 30 characters or fewer |
| Title | A plain description of the picture, no commas | 70 characters on Adobe's requirements page (its sample file says up to 200) |
| Keywords | One cell, keywords separated by commas, most important first | Up to 50 |
| Category | One number from 1 to 21 | Optional |
| Releases | The names you gave your model or property releases when you uploaded them to Adobe | Optional |
The whole file may have at most 5,000 rows and be at most 1 MB. Adobe accepts only .csv; an Excel .xls or .xlsx file is rejected.
Title: why 70 characters is the safe length
Adobe's documents disagree here: the CSV requirements page caps the title at 70 characters, while the sample file it offers says "up to 200". A title of 70 characters or fewer satisfies both, and Adobe's metadata guidance calls a short title ideal anyway. Leave commas out of the title: Adobe asks for plain text without them.
Keywords: one cell, strongest first
All the keywords for a file go in a single cell, separated by commas, and the cell is wrapped in double quotes so those commas are not read as new columns. Order matters: Adobe's search weights the first keywords most, so the subject goes first and broad words go last. Our guide to Adobe keyword order shows the order that works. Adobe's CSV documents allow up to 50 keywords; most files do better with a tight list than with all 50.
Category: the 21 numbers
| # | Category | # | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Animals | 12 | Lifestyle |
| 2 | Buildings and Architecture | 13 | People |
| 3 | Business | 14 | Plants and Flowers |
| 4 | Drinks | 15 | Culture and Religion |
| 5 | The Environment | 16 | Science |
| 6 | States of Mind | 17 | Social Issues |
| 7 | Food | 18 | Sports |
| 8 | Graphic Resources | 19 | Technology |
| 9 | Hobbies and Leisure | 20 | Transport |
| 10 | Industry | 21 | Travel |
| 11 | Landscapes |
Write the number, not the name. Pick the most specific category that fits: a jogger belongs in Sports rather than in Lifestyle, the broadest catch-all.
Releases: names, not files
Upload your model and property releases to Adobe first and give each one a name. In the CSV you write those names, separated by commas and wrapped in quotes when there is more than one. Each name has to match a release that is already in your Adobe account.
PixTagger writes the whole Adobe CSV for you: titles without commas, keywords ordered strongest-first, a category number filled in, filenames matched to your files. Your first 15 files are free.
Try the Adobe keyword generatorHow to upload the CSV
- Upload the files themselves to the Adobe Stock contributor portal first.
- On the upload page, open the CSV upload option and choose your file. Adobe matches each row to an uploaded file by its filename.
- Check a few files on the upload page: the title, keywords and category should now be filled in. Fix anything that looks wrong there.
- Submit the files for review as usual.
Mistakes that break an Adobe CSV
- A filename that does not match. The row must name the file exactly as uploaded, extension included. A file renamed after export, or an extension written differently in the CSV, gets no metadata.
- Excel outside the US.In many European locales Excel saves "CSV" with semicolons between columns, and the default encoding can mangle letters like é or č. Adobe recommends saving as CSV UTF-8, and the columns must be separated by commas.
- Keywords not in quotes. Without quotes, every comma in the keyword list starts a new column, and the rest of the row shifts out of place.
- Commas in the title.Adobe asks for titles without them; write "Couple laughing on a boat at sunset", not "Couple on a boat, laughing at sunset".
- A renamed or translated header."File name" or "Keyword" instead of the template headers breaks the rule that the header row must match Adobe's template exactly.
- One big file for everything. Over 5,000 rows or 1 MB, split the CSV into several files.
- A Getty keyword list pasted in.Getty's controlled vocabulary uses forms like "30-34 Years" or "Belgrade - Serbia". On Adobe those read as odd phrases. The same file needs a list written for Adobe; see how each agency wants its metadata.
In short
Sources & further reading
Frequently asked questions
- What columns does an Adobe Stock CSV need?
- Five, in this order: Filename, Title, Keywords, Category, Releases. The header row must match Adobe's template exactly. Category and Releases are optional and can be left empty.
- How many keywords and how long a title can an Adobe Stock CSV have?
- Adobe's CSV documents allow up to 50 keywords per file, written in one cell, separated by commas and wrapped in quotes. For the title, Adobe's requirements page says 70 characters while its sample file says up to 200, so 70 characters or fewer is safe under both. Titles should not contain commas.
- What are the Adobe Stock category numbers?
- 1 Animals, 2 Buildings and Architecture, 3 Business, 4 Drinks, 5 The Environment, 6 States of Mind, 7 Food, 8 Graphic Resources, 9 Hobbies and Leisure, 10 Industry, 11 Landscapes, 12 Lifestyle, 13 People, 14 Plants and Flowers, 15 Culture and Religion, 16 Science, 17 Social Issues, 18 Sports, 19 Technology, 20 Transport, 21 Travel. The CSV takes the number.
- Why did my Adobe Stock CSV upload not fill in the metadata?
- Usually a filename that does not exactly match the uploaded file, a header row that differs from Adobe's template, keywords without quotes so the columns shift, or an Excel file saved with semicolons instead of commas. Adobe recommends saving as CSV UTF-8, and the file must stay under 5,000 rows and 1 MB.
Written by a working stock contributor
NoSystem Images
Getty Images / iStock exclusive contributor since 2007
PixTagger is built by NoSystem Images, an exclusive Getty Images and iStock contributor since 2007, with a live portfolio of over 57,000 photos and 9,700 videos. Every keywording rule in the app comes from nearly two decades of actually selling on Getty Images and iStock — not from guesswork.
Related guides & tools
- Adobe Stock keyword generator — writes the whole Adobe CSV, import-ready
- The complete Adobe Stock contributor guide — keyword order, file specs and the rejection reasons
- Stock agency metadata formats — how every agency's CSV differs
Stop hand-keywording every upload
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