← All disapproval codes
critical HEADER_ROW_MISSING_OR_ATTRIBUT

Header row missing or attribute names mismatched

What this means

The first row of your feed must contain attribute names that exactly match Microsoft's accepted column headers; missing or misspelled headers cause column-by-column ingestion failures.

Why this happens

Specific issue affecting how Microsoft Merchant Center processes your product data — see the linked official article for the exact mechanism and fix.

How to fix it

  1. Open the linked Microsoft Merchant Center help article for the specific resolution steps.
  2. Identify which products are affected via Microsoft Advertising → Tools → Microsoft Merchant Center → Diagnostics.
  3. Make the necessary corrections in your product data feed.
  4. Re-upload the corrected feed and verify the issue clears in the next processing cycle (typically 4–24 hours).

Common pitfalls