Import Products with Variant Metafields via CSV

Technical Q&A
1

Hi all,

I’m trying to import products that contain variant metafields, but I’m running into some issues. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

  1. I set up variant metafields on one of my products directly in the admin.
  2. To understand the correct format, I exported that same product to a CSV file, hoping to see the metafield columns and values.
  3. Unfortunately, when I opened the CSV, there were no metafield columns or values for the variants included.

I’m a bit stuck. I was expecting to see something in the CSV that I could replicate for my bulk import. Is there a recommended workflow to get variant metafields included in the CSV export/import process?

Questions:

  • Has anyone successfully imported variant metafields via CSV, and if so, how did you format your file?
  • Are variant metafields just not supported in the standard Shopify CSV import/export process, or am I missing something?
  • Is there a third-party app that can handle variant metafields import/export more seamlessly?

I’m open to suggestions or any best practices you’ve found. Ideally, I’d like to manage variant metafields in bulk without manually editing each product in the admin after import.

Thanks in advance for any guidance or recommendations!

2

Hi, Mdi47

To Answer Your Questions:

  • Has anyone successfully imported variant metafields via CSV?

Not directly via Shopify’s native CSV, but using apps like Matrixify or APIs, you can achieve this.

  • Are variant metafields supported in the standard Shopify CSV?

No, the standard Shopify CSV does not support metafields.

Also you can try:

Use Shopify Admin’s Bulk Editor

While not ideal for large-scale changes, the Shopify Admin bulk editor can manage metafields.

  1. Go to Products > All Products in the Shopify Admin.
  2. Use the checkboxes to select the products you want to edit.
  3. Click Edit products.
  4. Add variant metafield columns to the bulk editor for manual updates.

I hope this helps

Best,

Daisy

3

Hi @mdi47 !

Thank you @DaisyVo for the mention!

Matrixify sure is able to update Variant Metafield in bulk and we also offer a great tutorial on how that can be done. The tutorial should be able to do a good job at guiding you through the process, however, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support if you have any questions at all, we would be happy to help in any way we can!

4

When in the bulk edit in your products list, you can add and remove columns to be seen when “bulking”

if you pay attention, the URL in your browser will change accordingly with the columns shown (namespace and key will be there).

in my CSV i added an extra column and named it “metafield title (product.metafields.namespace.key)”

  • My actual column was “YMM (product.metafields.custom.ymm)” - This is working on product level, and i am able to upload metafield data from the CSV with this additional column.

however, i am trying to follow same procedure at variant level, but i am not getting my values “set” despite import being successful.
CSV column: “Variant-YMM (variant.metafields.custom.variant_ymm)”

Anyone know what should do the trick??

5

Brilliant - This little tip should work perfectly for me at the product level.

6

This worked great for Text meta fields but did not work on “Rich Text” fields… at least in my tests.

7

I’m no expert on this, but did you try converting to html when uploading the rich text data?

8

Ohhh - another good idea.
I’ll give that a try. It should work given the way the description field is exported/imported
Thanks