Why is the products bulk editor harder to use now?

[Jordan42]

The bulk editor layout is much different than it was, and it's now more difficult to use. No longer does the order in which I select columns have any effect on their displayed order, which makes differentiating between things like "cost" and "selling price" less intuitive; I can no longer expand titles to view what item I'm looking at; and the list goes on...

Can someone please advise me on why this is better than the old version?

[Shay]

Hi @Jordan42 

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback on this. Would you be able to share some screenshots of what you are referring to in your bulk editor? It's possible that your account is part of a slow rollout of new features. For reference, when I view the bulk editor in my own store, it looks like this:

Are you seeing the same thing? The columns appear in the order I add them to bulk editor and I am able to resize them as well. 

[Jordan42]

Hey Shay, 

This is currently what we're seeing. It doesn't look like the same thing.

[Shay]

Thank you for the screenshot! I was able to confirm that we are in the process of rolling out a new bulk editor with more robust features for day to day use. Our product team confirmed that the arrangement of the columns and the column widths have changed but they are planning on continuing to update the new workflow for ease of use. 

They sincerely appreciated the feedback about this and if there is any other feedback you want to share, please let me know. 

The benefits of the new bulk editor and why we made this change are:

• Merchants can now add/remove multiple columns from view at once using the "Columns" button found on the top right of the Bulk Editor.
• Merchants can now drag and select multiple cells to edit at the same time.
• The Bulk Editor now validates saved changes. If a change does not save, the Bulk Editor will inform the merchant which product failed to save and why.
• The Bulk Editor now loads 250 product records instead of 50 and has infinite scrolling as opposed to pagination.

[bhh]

Hello Shay,

There is nothing good about the new format, frankly the page is now useless

the columns are fixed width and I can't see my whole product title for editing

any item with 4 tags shows the first 2 and a "+2", despite the fact there is easily room for 5 tags in the ridiculously wide fixed width column

The columns are not persistent, every time i open the bulk editor i have to select the columns i want

after having to open the  6-7 columns i normally use, the last columns are no longer visible without scrolling, despite the fact the the columns visible are far wider than necessary for the data in them

the tag function has changed, surprisingly for the worse!  

I'd like to add 'New Arrivals' tag on 5 products, 2 of these products are already tagged with 'Mens' and 3 with 'Womens'; I'd like to add new tags and keep the current tags as they are.

Under the Old UI, I can select all 5 products and add the new tag at once, all current tags stay the same.

Under the New UI, all the products will be unified having the same tags as the product I'm editing. If the product being edited is tagged with 'Womens', then all the products will be tagged with 'New Arrivals' and 'Womens' only.

It is a complete disaster in every way

[bhh]

I can confirm the changes to the tags function- you can no longer add a tag to a list of items without making them all match, completely useless again.

[bhh]

If the bulk editor remains this way, we will be finding a new provider.

[dtewks]

The change to the bulk editor has vastly made it more difficult updating inventory. I shouldn't have to continually add columns every item I need to make an edit to a different product. Before, I would add the columns once and it would remember which columns I was using. I cannot change the size of the columns, it's an absolute headache.

[Psteensl]

Hey Shay,

the points you are stating are not improvements (except loading more products). The new editor requires more time for each and every small operation and you have a massive display challenge for items (products, tags, etc.)

Instead of "planning to continue to update", why not publish when all is ready? Furthermore, why not simply publish something that is an improvement, a time-saver?

A little time wasted x number of Shopify customers = a lot of time wasted caused by Shopify.

Thank you.

[bhh]

Hello Shay,

I need an update on this issue - the bulk editor page is now completely useless.

[PaperCloth]

Hey Shay,

It is now the end of May and no further useful updates have been made on the bulk editor. In fact, most of the benefits you list for why the update was made don't even work. It doesn't even matter if you can load 250 products...saving too many changes just doesn't work - it just doesn't save. There are so many broken things with this new bulk editor that I am actively looking for a new platform because I work with hundreds of updates each week and adding yet another app for something Shopify broke is not an option just out of principle. Many of us found a workaround that kept things working smoothly but now the workaround has been removed/fixed and we are all back to square one.

Please tell me how much feedback you need before your developers will listen and I'll find that feedback for you. Is it hearing from 200 shops? 2000? Please, I genuinely want to know.

[bhh]

That is not the new bulk editor, this is. If this function remains the same, I will be finding a new provider

[Psteensl]

Hello again,

Every day I use the new and "improved" what is no longer a bulk editor I am reminded of the time I am wasting. Not even able to copy-paste prices nor select multiple fields, I keep asking myself the question: what if Shopify one day sought to improve something before publishing, as opposed to "publish and continuing to improve along the way"?

Would be really swell.

Paal

[bhh]

for now, you can use the trick above - take "products/" out of the URL and it reverts to the good old useful bulk editor.  For now....

[Axr162]

Sadly, I think they "fixed" this workaround.  I wish there's a way we can select if we want the new editor or the old.

[PaperCloth]

This workaround no longer works/is available. Have you found another way to fix this useless update?

[Jordan42]

If you want to revert the bulk editor back to its original state, simply delete '/products' from the URL and reload the page. Hopefully changes continue to be made to the new edition of the bulk editor because its functionality is incredibly stilted.

[bhh]

and by "stilted" you mean.....

[bhh]

It is absolutely, in no way better.

[SeanFlanagan]

I agree! Put it back the way it was before. It went from good to bad!

[vhuddleston]

I am working on a brand new iMac. The bulk editor is painstakingly slow. My computer keeps telling me the bulk editor page is using so much energy that closing the window will speed the computer.

[Jordan42]

You want to know what Shopify's solution to the problem is? Download and pay for a third party app to fix a problem that they broke 😂

[Axr162]

I like how this was accepted as a solution. 🤣

[dtewks]

Can we reopen this thread? This is clearly not a solution. Nor is changing the hyperlink. Please have the option to revert to the old bulk editor.

It's is completely useless and has made updating our inventory easily twice as long as it was previously. It will drastically slow down workflow in busier seasons. 

I should be able to select columns, organize them in the order I want, have it remember which columns I selected so I don't have to select them for each item I want to update. I cannot change the width of the columns any more to see the full product description. I have to scroll right to see all of the columns I have selected. There is zero improvement to the bulk editor other than being able to view more items. But you broke a bunch of features that actually made it useful.

We need a resolution please. Thank you.

[bhh]

I was on chat for about an hour, they are sloooowly making the new page kind of work like the old one....  The tag issue is fixed, but the columns are still not sizeable, and the columns are not persistent or orderable by the user.....  but, you can no longer access the previous bulk editor, so - FAIL

[bhh]

The one  I love, is "download the cvs file" to bulk edit.  I suggested that they not recommend that......

[Jordan42]

Here is a clearer summary of some of the problems stated so far. 

1. You can no longer expand column titles to view the full title of a product page. 

2. You can no longer select columns in the order that you want to view them in.

3. I can no longer see all the tags on an item that has more than two tags. 

4. I can no longer access the side bar menu. Why is the bulk editor forced full screen? 

[Jordan42]

5. The bulk editor no longer remembers the selection of columns I made, making me have to reselect columns every time I go into the bulk editor.

[Jordan42]

Over 570 views and still no adequate response from @Shopify . Please fix the bulk editor. You've ruined it.

[bhh]

Time is money. More time to do everyday tasks is not the reason we signed up with Shopify!!

[Jordan42]

The bulk editor is permanently broken. If you want to fix it, pay and download a third-party application. Shopify -- you should be ashamed of yourselves.

[SimplementVrai]

Switching from Woocommerce to Shopify to find out that Bulk Editing really doesnt work in shopify. Damn. It's slow. Can't select more than 50 products at once. This tool is really broken

[Jordan42]

I'm opening this thread back up, because it's been months since the update, and it's still as unusable as it's ever been. 

[Jordan42]

Another way in which the bulk editor sucks: 

1. You can't spot delete tags. If an item has 10 tags, each beginning with a different letter, you have to click the tags box and scroll down until you find the tag (which can be tedious if you have 50 or so tags beginning with the same letter). The "quicker" option is to type out the tag you're looking for, and then deselect it.

[Jordan42]

@Shopify It's been months and this is still a problem.

[SimplementVrai]

I know it should be integrated in shopify but finally I opted for Hextom Bulk Product. In case you want a better solution than shopify bulk, you should invest 10$ by month with this plugin by hextom. It saves me a lot of time!!! I don't think shopify will patch this issue any soon

[bhh]

I checked out huxtom - you can't edit multiple fields for the same item - changing now, compare, and cost involves 3 different operations and you can't see the other prices. also does not seem to be able track tags.

[Jordan42]

Over a year since I posted this, and @Shopify has made it possible to adjust column width in the bulk editor. 😺 Can you

1. Make it so I can delete tags from the cell without having to scroll through a list of all my tags and uncheck them? 

2. Allow me to choose what order I want columns to appear? 

#ecommerce #ShopifyEXPERTISE #blessed 🤠