The Problem
After a migration, you may notice that some customers don't appear when you search for them in the Shopify Admin. However, when you try to create a new customer with the same email, Shopify says the email is already taken. You may also find the customer's name attached to orders in the Orders section.
This can be confusing and frustrating, but the good news is: your customer data was migrated correctly.
What Causes This
This is a known Shopify platform issue called a search index desynchronisation. After a large data import (from any migration app, CSV import, or API bulk operation), Shopify's admin search index can fall out of sync. The customer records exist in the database, but the search bar doesn't surface them.
Signs that this is the issue:
Searching for a customer by name or email returns no results
Trying to create the same customer gives an "email already taken" error
The customer's name appears on orders when you search in the Orders section
You can access the customer profile directly via URL, but not through search
How to Fix It
Contact Shopify Support and ask them to reindex your customer data. This is a server-side operation only Shopify can perform. It typically completes within 48 hours.
In the meantime, you can find customers by searching their email address in the Orders section. Clicking on the customer name in an order will take you to their full profile.
Contact MigrationPro support — we can help escalate this with Shopify directly on your behalf.
Important Notes
This issue is not caused by the migration app. It's a Shopify internal search indexing behavior that can happen after any large data import.
Shopify's own support team has confirmed this issue and resolves it by performing a reindex.
This issue does not affect customer data, orders, or any migrated information. Everything is safely stored — it's only the search that's temporarily affected.
Our MigrationPro Support Team is here to help!
Feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or use the Live Chat available in the bottom-right corner of the page!