Bulk Metafield Edit

The Bulk Metafield Editor lets you set, clear, or adjust metafield values for multiple products at once. It supports all Shopify metafield types including text, numbers, dates, references, measurements, and lists.

Opening Bulk Metafield Edit

Select products in the main grid
Open using: Targeted Bulk Edit > Bulk Metafield Edit

Selecting a Metafield

Choose the metafield to edit from the Metafield dropdown. This list is populated from your store's metafield definitions (created in Shopify Admin > Settings > Custom data).

The selected metafield's type is displayed to the right of the dropdown (e.g., "Type: single_line_text_field").

Note: Only metafields with definitions in Shopify appear in the dropdown. If you don't see a metafield, create its definition in Shopify Admin first.

Operations

Choose an operation from the Operation dropdown. Available operations depend on the metafield type:

Operation	Description	Available For
Set Value	Set all selected products to a specific value	All types
Clear	Remove the metafield value entirely	All types
Increase by %	Multiply current value by (1 + percentage/100)	number_integer, number_decimal, rating
Decrease by %	Multiply current value by (1 - percentage/100)	number_integer, number_decimal, rating

Set Value

The value input changes based on the metafield type:

Type	Input Method
Text (single_line, multi_line)	Type directly in the text box
Number (integer, decimal)	Type the number
Boolean	Type `true` or `false`
URL	Type the full URL
JSON	Type JSON or click Edit for the JSON editor
Date / Date-Time	Click Edit to open the date picker
Color	Click Edit to open the color picker
Money	Type shorthand (e.g., `19.99 USD`) or click Edit for the currency picker
Rating	Type value (e.g., `4.5`) or click Edit for the rating editor
Weight / Dimension / Volume	Type shorthand (e.g., `2.5 kg`) or click Edit for the unit picker
Rich Text	Click Edit to open the rich text editor
Lists	Click Edit to open the list editor
References	Click Browse to open the reference picker

Clear

No value input is needed. All selected products will have the metafield removed.

Increase / Decrease by Percentage

Enter the percentage amount (e.g., 10 for 10%). The operation multiplies the current value:

Increase 10%: Current value x 1.1
Decrease 10%: Current value x 0.9

For number_integer metafields, the result is rounded to the nearest whole number. Products without a current numeric value will show as invalid in the preview.

Reference Types

For reference metafields (product, collection, variant, metaobject, etc.), click Browse to open the Reference Picker dialog.

Supported Reference Types

Reference Type	What You Can Select
Product	Products from your store
Variant	Individual product variants (by SKU or title)
Collection	Collections (smart or manual)
Page	Shopify pages
File	Uploaded files and images
Metaobject	Metaobject entries (filtered by the metaobject type defined on the metafield)
Mixed	Any of the above -- a type selector lets you choose which resource type to search

Using the Reference Picker

Click Browse next to the value field
The picker opens showing resources matching the metafield's reference type
Type in the search box to filter results (searches by title, handle, or SKU depending on resource type)
Click a result to select it
Click Select to confirm

For mixed reference metafields, a resource type dropdown appears at the top of the picker. Choose the type of resource you want to search (Product, Collection, Page, etc.), then search and select as usual.

Multi-Select for List References

For list reference types (e.g., list.product_reference, list.collection_reference), the picker allows selecting multiple items:

Click items to add them to your selection
Selected items appear with a checkmark
Click a selected item again to deselect it
Click Select to confirm all chosen items

Quick Entry

You can also type a product handle, collection handle, or variant SKU directly in the text box instead of using the picker. The value is validated via API lookup when you generate the preview.

Preview

Click Generate Preview to see what changes will be made before applying:

Column	Description
Include	Checkbox to include/exclude from operation
Product	Product title
Current Value	Current metafield value (empty if not set)
New Value	Value after the operation
Status	Green checkmark (valid) or red X (invalid with error message)

Status Counters

Above the preview grid:

Will Change: Number of products that will be modified
Invalid: Number of products with validation errors
Included: Number of products included in the operation

Excluding Products

Click Exclude on individual rows to remove them from the operation
Click Exclude All Invalid to remove all products with validation errors at once

Applying Changes

Review the preview grid
Click Apply Changes
Confirm when prompted

A backup is automatically created before changes are applied. You can restore from the Backup Manager if needed.

The operation runs with a progress modal showing each step (validation, backup, execution, cache update).

Validation

Values are validated before the preview is generated:

Type checking: Value must match the declared metafield type (e.g., numbers for number_integer)
Constraint checking: Value must satisfy any min/max, regex, or choice constraints defined on the metafield
Reference validation: Referenced resources must exist in the store
Format validation: Money, rating, and measurement values must use correct format

If validation fails, the value input shows a red border with an error message below it.

Supported Metafield Types

Type	Set	Clear	Inc/Dec %
single_line_text_field	Yes	Yes	No
multi_line_text_field	Yes	Yes	No
number_integer	Yes	Yes	Yes
number_decimal	Yes	Yes	Yes
boolean	Yes	Yes	No
date	Yes	Yes	No
date_time	Yes	Yes	No
color	Yes	Yes	No
url	Yes	Yes	No
json	Yes	Yes	No
money	Yes	Yes	No
weight	Yes	Yes	No
dimension	Yes	Yes	No
volume	Yes	Yes	No
rating	Yes	Yes	Yes
rich_text_field	Yes	Yes	No
product_reference	Yes	Yes	No
collection_reference	Yes	Yes	No
variant_reference	Yes	Yes	No
file_reference	Yes	Yes	No
page_reference	Yes	Yes	No
metaobject_reference	Yes	Yes	No
mixed_reference	Yes	Yes	No
list.* (all list types)	Yes	Yes	No

Tips

Create definitions first: Metafield definitions must exist in Shopify before they appear in the dropdown. Go to Shopify Admin > Settings > Custom data > Products to create them.
Use shorthand for money/measurements: Type 19.99 USD or 2.5 kg directly instead of opening the editor for quick entry.
Preview before applying: Always generate and review the preview to catch unexpected changes.
Check for invalid rows: Use "Exclude All Invalid" to quickly clean up the preview before applying.

Troubleshooting

"No metafield definitions found"

Ensure your Shopify custom app has read_products scope
Create metafield definitions in Shopify Admin > Settings > Custom data

Value shows as invalid in preview

Check the error message in the Status column
Verify the value matches the metafield type and any validation constraints
For reference types, ensure the referenced resource exists

Metafield not updating after apply

Check the operation results for errors
Verify the metafield definition hasn't changed in Shopify
See Shopify Metafield Troubleshooting for common issues

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Apply changes
Escape	Cancel / Close

Variant Metafield Bulk Editing

In addition to product-level metafields, HF Product Manager supports bulk editing metafields on individual variants. This is available from the toolbar via Targeted Bulk Edit > Bulk Variant Metafield Edit.

How It Differs from Product Metafield Editing

The variant metafield editor works the same way as the product metafield editor described above -- the same operations (Set Value, Clear, Increase by %, Decrease by %) are available, and all the same metafield types are supported. The key differences are:

Scope: You are editing metafields on individual variants rather than on products. If a product has three variants, each variant's metafield is shown and edited separately.
Metafield definitions: The dropdown shows variant-level metafield definitions (created in Shopify Admin > Settings > Custom data > Variants), not product-level definitions.
Preview context: The preview grid shows both the Product Title and Variant Title for each row, so you can tell exactly which variant will be affected. The window title also shows the total variant count rather than the product count.
Selection: You still select products in the main grid. The editor then operates on all variants within those selected products.

Everything else -- the value input controls, validation, reference picker, preview generation, exclude/include, and the apply workflow with automatic backup -- works identically to product metafield editing.