Filter showing excluded products too!

[SID_]

In my shopify website if I'm trying to filter through color option it's showing excluded color option too. 

I looked into the product page, collection page, search & discovery filter section & metafields. But unable to find any problem.

I made a default product page with all color & size options and then duplicated from it. I found something weird even when I've deleted specific color options, the deleted color option were still showing below inside category metafields - color, even when I've selected few of them. So I thought this is the issue I deleted one size option & it's updated by own.

But when I save & opened the same product page it's showing again same issue. Don't know why. 

Attached pdf for clarification. Please help. 

[TheUntechnickle]

Hey @SID_,

Hope you're doing well! I took a look at those screenshots you sent about the color filter showing extra colors that shouldn't be there, and I've got some good news - this is actually a pretty common issue with a straightforward fix.

What's happening: Your filters are pulling from category metafields rather than your actual product variants, so even when you delete color options from your variants, those old colors stick around in the metafields and keep showing up in filters.

Here's the thing - when you migrate product options to category metafields, Shopify recommends removing old product option filters and adding category metafield filters instead. But sometimes the data gets out of sync.

The quickest fix:

1. Clean up your metafields first - Go to each affected product, scroll down to "Category metafields" at the bottom, and manually remove those extra colors (White, Beige, etc.). Keep only Black, Navy Blue, and Maroon Red to match your actual variants.

2. Check your Search & Discovery settings - Head to Online Store → Navigation → Search & Discovery and make sure your color filter is set up properly. If you're using category metafields for filtering, your products need to use Shopify's Standard Product Taxonomy.

3. For multiple products - If this affects lots of products, you can use the bulk editor or apps like "Bulk Product Edit" to update everything at once.

Why this happens: Category metafields don't automatically sync with product variants - they're separate data sources. So when you delete a variant, the metafield keeps the old info.

Pro tip: Going forward, try to use variant-based filters instead of metafield-based ones when possible. They stay in sync automatically and are less prone to this kind of issue.

I've seen this exact problem dozens of times, and this approach works like a charm. Start with one test product to make sure everything looks right, then apply it to the rest.

Let me know how it goes! And if you run into any snags, just shoot me a message - I'm happy to walk through it step by step.

Cheers,

Shubham | Untechnickle

[SID_]

Thanks for your reply Shubham,

I got your point very well & when today I was searching for filter solution I got to know this thing that variant based filters sync automatically rather than product based. But now I've already created my hundreds of product page.

I tried to do your recommended fix point 1. It's quite lengthy process as we've to disconnect the metafield first then click save, then delete or untick the color options, then again save it & again connect the metafields & finally one last click to save.

It's working the selected color options remain unchanged & only selected ones are present. 

As you said to take help from bulk edit app to do for bulk products but I'm unable to find the right query option to use under variant & options. Also the color options are not same for each & every product. So how do you gonna tackle this issue? 

So what do you recommend as the right & fast way to overcome from this filter issue.

Please share step by step solution.

Eagerly waiting! Thank you again.