How can I bulk edit variant titles to remove extra colons?

Topic summary

Main issue: Variant titles were created with a trailing colon, producing double “::” in cart. Merchant has ~400 products and seeks a bulk fix.

Proposed solutions:

  • Export products to CSV (spreadsheet format), edit in Excel, then re-import. One method: use Text to Columns on the “::” delimiter to split, remove the unwanted part/colon, save, and import.
  • Use an app for bulk edits (e.g., Matrixify, Bulk Product Edit).
  • Use the Shopify API (application programming interface) via a small custom script.
  • Manual fix in Admin: Products > product > Variants > Edit each variant title and remove the colon (not scalable for 400 products).

Cautions and updates:

  • Always back up products before bulk changes.
  • On CSV import, there is an option to overwrite existing products to avoid duplication.
  • One user reported that some original items lingered after import despite changes (new names/SKUs), requiring manual cleanup.

Status: No single definitive resolution; CSV/app/API approaches are recommended, with overwrite and potential post-import cleanup noted.

Summarized with AI on December 27. AI used: gpt-5.

Hello, just wanted to ask if reimporting the updated csv file will duplicate the products, I want to replace multiple variant names.