Product metafields appear to be changing by themselves

[dartacus]

My custom metafields for products seem to be changing by themselves.

I have various product-level metafields set up on my store. They contain product-specific data such as a link to sizing advice for the product, and a very short description of the product, which is output onto product pages using a custom liquid section on the product page template. When a product is created, they get set, and all seemed well.

Over the past few weeks, though, they've started to change and be set to the wrong values. The value is always a valid value that seems to have been inadvertantly copied from another product, ie, the very-short-description for a Penny Loafer will end up being set to 'Plain Zip Boot'.

I went through all our products a while ago, corrected all these issues, and checked that everything was correct. I chalked it up to my colleagues maybe cloning a product to make another product when we set the store up, and forgetting to set the custom metafields.

But it has happened again! These custom metafields are being set to values from other products. I have spoken to everyone who works on the store and they all swear blind they're doing nothing but updating inventory, they are not messing with product data. I have no Flows set up that might cause this.

The metafields are literally just text that we type in, that's all.

I'm at my wit's end. Has anyone had anything similar happen? Is there any way of 'locking' metafields? What other vectors are there for custom metafields to be changed other than the product admin page?

Any help appreciated, thank you.

G

PS: no 'buy this app' requests or sales pitches from contractors, please.

[rajweb · Accepted solution]

Hey @dartacus ,

I understand how frustrating this issue must be. Based on your description, the changes could be caused by:

1. Third-party apps – Some integrations might be unintentionally overwriting metafields. Check your installed apps and API logs.

2. CSV imports or bulk edits – If products are updated via CSV, metafields might be carried over accidentally.

3. Duplicate product creation – Cloning products may retain old metafields.

4. Custom scripts – Check your theme or any custom code that modifies metafields dynamically.

Solution Suggestions:

- Monitor Changes – Use Shopify Flow or an app like Mechanic to log metafield updates.

- Restrict Editing – Limit access to metafields in Shopify settings.

- Check API Activity – Review API logs for unexpected changes.

If needed, I can help troubleshoot further. Let me know how you'd like to proceed!

Best regards,

Rajat

[dartacus]

Couple of things there I didn't think of, thank you.

[dartacus]

Can only assume this is some browser issue, copying a saved value over the top of the existing value when someone does an unrelated edit on a shoe.

Restricting edit access did not work, but the answer above set me down the right path so accepted that one.

Have had to work around this as follows:

1) make a copy of the metafield that's being changed, and unpin it from favourites so it doesn't appear on the product edit view. Call it check-field or whatevs

2) when your main metafield (main-field) is in a known-good state, set up a shopify flow that copies the values from main-field to check-field. Schedule that to run about an hour before the beginning on the work day

3) set up a shopify flow that copies from check-field back into main-field. Schedule that to run about an hour after the end of the working day

This effectively backs up your correct values. If they get changed during the day by whatever the hell this bug is, then they'll be corrected at the end of the day.

Let your staff know that if main-field needs changing, they need to let you know. Edit both the values using the bulk edit tool.

What a complete faff to fix something that should not have been a problem in the first place.

G

[rajweb]

Absolutely, I’ll get started on these tasks. Could you please connect me on signature below? I’d be happy to help—thanks again!

[dartacus]

I don't know if this is an auto-reply bot gone sideways, but for the avoidance of doubt this is fixed now and I am *not* commissioning any work.