In spreadsheet edits the first column is used to identify the product that will be updated. When you upload a file, the app attempts to automatically detect this column for you. For example, if the data appears to be barcodes, it will set the 'Search by' field to 'Barcodes' for you.
We've improved the automatic detection to support situations where the first column is the start of a SKU. Now, if the first column contains the start of a SKU, but doesn't match entire SKUs, the 'Search by' field will automatically be set to 'SKU starts with':
Learn more about editing products with spreadsheets.