Creating a collection based on metafields?

[jake_mitchell]

Hi,

sorry if this is a silly question. 

in 2.0 we are nudged towards using meta fields for filtering. For us this job was previously done with tags.

metafields have advantages (ease of use, reduce input errors) but we’ve hit upon an issue. 

collections cannot be defined by meta field. This means in order to filter (mandatory) and create collections we need to input things twice. 

for example, we want to be able to filter a longer list of clothes to show only jumpers, whilst also having a collection that is ONLY jumpers.

for this to happen so we need to define the product as a jumper in both a meta field and the tag.

this is a duplication of effort. 

is there a way around this?

am I misunderstanding?

is there a good reason why you can define a collection by MF?

is there a workaround (flow maybe but even that would require a lot of work to cover all possible MF/tag/collection permutations?

[MichaelMac]

Also wondering the same. Bump.

[Jasper7]

I'm looking for the same thing. Were you able to figure it out, Jake?

[jake_mitchell]

I'm afraid not. 

The only solution I've managed to come up with myself would be to create a fairly complex automation using Shopify flow where the value placed into a metafield is then added as a tag. 

Ideally we wouldn't need that workaround, but that's where we are at the moment with it. 

I do like the idea of using metafields a lot. It fits with our set up where we have a lot of different people listing items (one off, second hand stuff for charity site). Metafields definitely reduce input error and can guide the process a bit more because tags can easily be forgotten. It just seems like at the moment there are quite a few limitations to it. 

Another one we noted recently is that you can't reorder metafields. So if I want to group them into a logical order I have no option but to get it absolutely right first time when setting them up and then any future ones we add would just go to the bottom of the list. This could make it messy in the long run, and another reason why we'll be holding fire on moving to metafields in the short term. 

I made a feature request about that issue. If you think it would also be a limitation I'd love it if you could note that here https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/feature-request-reorder-metafields/m-p/1685131#M... 

[PurchaseLocally]

Would you be willing to show your Flow work around?

[Robert_Foster2]

you've probably noticed that Shopify now makes it possible to reorder the metafields. So much better!

[Psteensl]

Ok, thanks. What does this imply? What are the advantages?

And does anybody know when and/or if Shopify will allow us to create collections based on the variants' metafields?

Thank you.
Paal

[matt_mechanic]

Hey! You can give this task a try, we released it just today 🙂 https://tasks.mechanic.dev/maintain-collections-by-product-metafield-values

[Todd_Baxter]

Matt,

Can your app populate the collection by using multiple criteria, such as multiple metafield values as well as inventory levels and tags?

[Psteensl]

Hello,
coming in late here. Shopify now allows you to build automatic collections based on meta fields. However, when you pack several products and multi-packs in one product by using options and variants and the variants' meta fields (-> this allows you to build a product selector with swabs , example here: https://www.comfyballs.ch/products/boxer-medium-blue which I find excellent for CRO), when creating a collection based on these meta fields, the problem comes through the following shopify message: "This collection will include all products with at least one variant that matches: XXX". This means that in essence, it is not possible to truly create a collection based on meta fields because as soon as one variant qualifies, all variants are inlcuded.

Example: We sell underwear...Comfyballs (it does what it claims). A product to me is f.ex. a colour Black. However, we can have a regular length, a long length, a longer length and a brief in black. All make up one product (allowing for the selector above), but the options and ensuing variants disctinguish the different articles.

if I now wish to create a collection based on meta fields I ouwld select "Length" = REGULAR, only my regular length articles (black) would be concerned, but because of this: "This collection will include all products with at least one variant that matches: "Length"" suddenly all the lengths are in the collection. 

Sorry for confusing you all. if you've fought that message a few nights like me, you'll understand.

[PurchaseLocally]

Can you show us?

[Mohnstrudel]

Hi, could you please elaborate more on this:

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@Psteensl wrote:

Hello,
coming in late here. Shopify now allows you to build automatic collections based on meta fields.

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How do you do that exactly?

[PurchaseLocally]

Not a silly question. I would love for something like this to be available too.