Cannot see variant metafields in bulk editing

Shopify Discussion
1

Hi,

Has bulk editing been changed recently? As recently as 2 weeks ago I was able to use the Inventory view to select all my products and then use the edit columns feature to see/edit a variant custom metafield for all of my inventory.

This has now disappeared. Bulk editing at the product level does not give me access to my variant metafields, and bulk editing at the inventory level is now restricted to SKU and stock levels only, I am no longer able to use it to change variant metafields in bulk.

Has anyone else got the same problem? Was this an intentional change by Shopify?

Many thanks,

Gareth

Edit - you can do this on a per-product basis still, but that’s it. No longer possible for all your variants at once, or a subset of your variants at once. Just one product at a time. This will take HOURS longer than it used to now.

2

Hi, try using the Metafields Guru app - there is a way to display variant’s metafields and edit them.

3

Thank you, but I am not paying a monthly fee for something that was included as built-in Shopify functionality the last time I logged in.

G

4

There is a free plan, you could check if it will be good enough for you. I think you are not able to do it natively with Shopify. Maybe with Admin graphQL API.

5

Thank you again for your response. I could see that there was a “free” plan, by which they actually meant free install. I would be required to purchase credits in order to actually do anything meaningful.

API integrations are one answer, but this will not be accessible to most people, and I also seem to recall that API integration is only available for the higher tiers of subscription.

This was built-in, free and simple until now. I’m hoping that this is just a bug and not an intentional change. I really am not sure why this functionality would be intentionally removed.

G

6

You are right, you need also a second and not a free plan to use its functionality. To be honest I don’t recall that it was possible to edit variant’s metafields with bulk natively. But, it would be great if I might hope they will revert it.

7

Yeah, it looks like Shopify changed how bulk editing handles variant meta fields. Frustrating if you were relying on that workflow moon phase match calculator. Have you checked if a third-party app might help as a workaround.

8

Thanks for the confirmation. There’s plenty of apps, but I resent paying for something that was built-in until now.

G

9

I agree. We developed our functionality (including our own custom app) around the ability to bulk edit our custom variant metafields in Shopify. It worked for a long time until recently. Step backwards and a no-no for software feature changes. We invested a lot of time and money that is now wasted thanks. Not sure why they did that but perhaps there is a reasonable explanation that Shopify could explain in this thread or notify us it’s coming back soon.

10

They brought this back, either that or I seriously misremembered how to
access it in Products. But it’s back, I was literally using it today. Good
news.

G

11

I can display only the products’ metafields, not the variants, at least in the default bulk edit. I use Metafields Guru. How do you edit them?

12

Same way as I used to. Select products. Tick the checkbox at the top to select all, or tick the products you want to include. Click Bulk Edit. The selected products will be displayed with all their variants underneath them, hidden and shown via a drop down arrow. Variant metafields are available in the ‘Columns’ control, just tick the ones you want to edit. They’re added as columns to the grid control and you can drag over multiple cells etc.

Presumably this was a regression bug that has now been fixed.

G

That covers product metafields in bulk. For variant metafields, edit in bulk via the Inventory view. Select Inventory, tick at the top, select all products in this store, bulk edit, then use the columns control to show the custom variant metafields you’re interested in. I’ll update the previous answer.

G

13

Thanks, but I can only select the product’s metafield, not the variant’s.

14

Ah, sorry, went sideways with that. Variant metafields can now, once again, be edited in bulk via the Inventory view. Select Inventory, tick at the top, select all products in this store, bulk edit, then use the columns control to show the custom variant metafields you’re interested in. I’ll update the previous answer.

G

15

I need to add and remove variants, is that possible in the bulk edit? or do i have to edit one by one in a csv

16

To the best of my knowledge this can only be done on a product level by setting options. Shopify then creates variants as needed for the various combinations of the different options.

You can of course also use graphQL to do this, refer to the productSet mutation dox here: productSet - GraphQL Admin

G

17

Even if it means paying for an app, a Shopify-native PIM with a proper bulk edit feature is honestly worth a look here. If you’re doing this kind of work on a regular basis, the investment pays off pretty fast compared to manual edits or CSV roundtrips (you can have a look to Peak PIM bulk edit).