Are recent Bulk Editor changes an improvement or a setback?

[Richie_Ramone]

Does anybody else feel as though the recent (in the last few days) Bulk Editor changes have been an improvement - or made it less user-friendly?

Many of us have long requested that when we use the Bulk Product Editor it would be great if we could select our default columns (because the system only ever defaults to SKU, Price and Compare At Price - that's it).

Now, the lovely Shopify developers have (yet again) created more work for us time-poor small business owners.

I can no longer shorten the column widths so the five columns fit on my screen, meaning I must scroll the screen across AND now I need to select the columns EACH time I go to use Product Bulk Edit.

Wonderful Shopify.
(in case you missed it, that's sarcasm)

[Jur1]

I Agree! Also working your way through the products tags column to find and edit tags makes me very feel frustated! This new layout does'n't let me see all product tags! Instead, lets hide them because it looks much nicer! (in case you missed it, that's sarcasm;)!)

Shopify, please consult your customers first before implementing an update and make thourough analyses on how they interact with your platform. They are the ones that really work with the admin panels in their day to day business. The recent updates (including the inventory page) really doesn't make any sense from a merchant perspective.

[AlexTer]

I agree. More than useful, this is annoying.😞

[Elana_White]

I have the same complaints about the updated Bulk Editor (having to select your columns every time, not being able to adjust the width of the columns, and only being able to see the first 2 tags).

And would like to add that it seems to crash when you try to bulk update a lot of products at once. It shows all the products on one page now instead of just 50 at a time, which seems nice, but if you can't update them all without it crashing that's not very useful. As usual Shopify doesn't seem to understand those of us with large and diverse inventories.

[PEGGY11]

I started adding tags to my products a couple of days ago and went to resume today only to see the bulk editor had changed. I was hoping it was just a glitch and they were transitioning to something better. It is quite tedious going through the products with the new layout. I will be here for weeks. Please tell me this is just temporary?

[Richie_Ramone]

They continue to make cosmetic changes - merely changing the appearance - rather than actual useful (or requested) improvements.

"As usual Shopify doesn't seem to understand those of us with large and diverse inventories" - totally agree @Elana_White  !

[Richie_Ramone]

@Shopify please take note - it appears this is a poorly regarded "update", with quite a lot of views and strong support.
I'm finding I must re-select the columns EVERY time I attempt to use it and now realise it's MORE time consuming for me to update inventory, price or to untick an accidental Charge Tax tick via the Bulk Editor so, I will now stop using it altogether and use the individual product pages.
Well done for breaking something that wasn't broken!

[Axr162]

I totally concur w/ the complaints here.  I even sent an email to Shopify though I doubt anything will come of it.

Please give us back the old editor or else give the new one the same features.

[Josephine_Marsh]

The changes are almost exclusively a backward step with the exception of being able to simultaneously tick the columns you want to see and the drag and copy update feature which is, admittedly, buggy due to not being able to see which cells you've highlighted and having to trust you picked the right cells but it's still better than the previous version.

***Gripes and suggested solutions below - hope someone at @Shopify takes note!***

Problem: 

50% of the time I click bulk edit and get a white screen as if it's loading but then nothing appears, this is when I'm only selecting a small number of products (10 or so)

Fix: 

No idea, but it's annoying and needs fixing ASAP as it's preventing me updating my site except doing it arduously one by one!

Problem:

Loss of previous saved selected columns, I have to re-select every time I bulk edit even though I always select the same columns

Fix: 

Allow users to save their frequently used columns and layouts

Problem:

Can no longer order columns as you wish

Fix:

Allow drag and drop

Problem: 

Tags - why can we only see two? Who does this help aside from looking tidy?

Fix:

Enable the column to be opened up with text wrapped

Problem:

Can no longer keyboard input in the 'status' column, have to actually select from the dropdown rather than typing 'ar' to quickly bring up Archived for example.

Fix: 

Allow keyboard input again.

Problem:

Cannot minimise columns from their set width - most of my columns need to be much smaller and it's very frustrating not being able to see all of it in one window even though my monitor is a monster.

Fix: 

Allow column minimising to suit user with save option

Problem:

Drag and copy only highlights the first cell and doesn't shade the cells you've dragged over, it would be nice to have that feature so you can be sure you're only selecting the cells you want to before putting the info there

Problem: 

Google Shopping categories missing - it would be VERY helpful to have the GTIN/MPN / Google Barcode column on this page rather than on the Google app which then doesn't enable you to filter by the ones which are missing and is very time-consuming for those with big inventories.

Fix:

Add those options in if possible.

[the_retail_king]

Yeah its a drag.  

[AlexTer]

Does anybody know a good basic app that can help us solve this issue? At least being able to see all the tags (and not a +x) on each product and being able to change them in bulk (instead of using a .csv) would be amazingly useful.Thanks.

[Jordan42]

Yeah, Shopify has seriously nerfed the Bulk Editor. 

If you'd like to revert it to how it was, delete '/products' from the URL and reload the page.

[AlexTer]

ILU!!! 🙂

[Axr162]

Omg yes!   Thank you.

[Richie_Ramone]

Considering this post has gone about as "viral" as these discussions go - and I'd imagine for every actual complaint registered here there's 500-1000 users of the Bulk Editor - wouldn't it be great if somebody at @Shopify was paying attention and wheeled back the change(s).

I hadn't even noticed the Tags only showing two selections.
What a debacle Shopify.

Can somebody please announce here if they ever notice Shofify reverting the Bulk Editor back to how it was, cos I've totally stopped using it, finding it faster to make my inventory and price changes by clicking into the product.

[Axr162]

If you do what @Jordan42 wrote, it works like the old editor.  (Hopefully they won't "fix" that)

[Discmayhem]

I can't believe Shopify has made changed yet again and you can no longer delete/products from the url to revert back to the old bulk editor. I did notice for awhile you could do it from the main product screen and now that option is gone as well. So frustrating when you're entering over 2000 variants a day and use the bulk editor to confirm the price, cost, weight and country of origin are all filled in and correct.  Even worse when the  above listed columns have to be checked every single time you go to a new product and you are no longer able to adjust the columns. 

When I call Shopify you know if it pointless to mention yet I do it every time hope one day they will listen and go back to the way it was.

[Richie_Ramone]

Yep, @Shopify have really screwed up the Bulk Editor and sadly, they're not listening.
I don't even use it anymore, when previously I used it multiple times a day.

[Anto_S]

We've just released a Google Sheet based Product & Variant editor on Sheet Master https://apps.shopify.com/sheet-master - it allows you to edit product data directly from a sheet and save it to Shopify. This is a beta release, so please limit edits to less than 20 for each save.

We'd love to hear from you if this is useful & changes or improvements needed so we can invest in building a more robust version - please email us at support@comstack.co

Demo Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJloAEfKh0

[Elana_White]

They have changed it so it 'remembers' your columns, but it doesn't work the way it used to. It remembers whatever you first choose until you clear your browser's cache, so if you want something different you still need to change it every time you go in.

Before, it stayed set on whatever your last selection was. Which makes more sense to me. I use the bulk editor for all sorts of different things. Sometimes I'm updating sales channels, sometimes costs and prices, etc, so I often change the columns. But in any given session I tend to go in and out of it multiple times, so I liked it when it stayed on whatever your most recent selection was. 

So that one thing is a little better, but the other issues remain (can't change the size of columns, only two tags show).

[SarahImagin]

Its awful!   Takes way longer and is a total bugfest!  Come on Shopify.... yes it looks sleek... but it barely functions! 

[Jordan42]

If anyone is interested, I tweeted Shopify with a poll. If you're unsatisfied with the new changes, you can vote here and hopefully it will get some attention. 

https://twitter.com/JordanMacInnis2/status/1514608375962619905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[Parcel_Intellig]

The new editor will also not allow you to edit variant metafields. When it was first rolled out it wouldn't display them at all but someone has 'fixed' that so it shows the variant metafields, but when you save it doesn't save.

[urbanbabybonnet]

Agreed completely.  Why did this change to REDUCE functionality?  PLEASE PUT IT BACK.  You've made our work so much harder, especially when you're trying to edit multiple batches of skus.  There seems to be no reason why I can't set my own default columns. 

[urbanbabybonnet]

Agreed. Let me arrange the columns myself and have the system remember my settings. 😉

[De_Anna_Thompso]

Mine defaults for Price Sku and several locations (which I do NOT ever need)  The locations take up quite a bit of space.  I no longer defaults to the compare at price which I ALWAYS need.  Each store is different and Shopify should know that and let us accomodate our own needs instead of assuming these defaults will be helpful to everyone.