Moving Prefixed Tags to Metafields
It was once common practice to use prefixed tags, like brand:Ablestar to store additional product data in Shopify. With Shopify's focus on metafields, and the new Search & Discovery app, you may need to move the data from these prefixed tags into metafields.
For example, you may need to set a 'Brand' metafield to be the value of whatever comes after the 'brand=' part of a tag.
In this article we will show you how to set these metafields using Ablestar Bulk Product Editor:
Creating a New Metafield Definition
A new metafield definition should be created in the Shopify admin as a first step. This is the name of the metafield where the value from the prefixed tags will be stored in the data.
From the Shopify Admin dashboard, click the Settings gear icon → Custom data menu → Products section → Add definition button:
- Specify a custom field name (rather than choosing from an existing list) and then click (+) Select Type button
- Choose 'Single Line Text'
- Click the Save button to create your new metafield definition
Refresh and Sync Data
From the Ablestar Bulk Product Editor navigation menu:
- Click 'Settings' from the navigation menu
- Select the Metafields section
- Click the Refresh button
Wait a few seconds for the new metafield definitions to appear. Once refreshed you can edit with prefixed tags.
Edit the Metafield using a Prefixed Tag
Return to the dashboard of our app and search for the products you want to edit. Once you have them filtered, click to Edit products and then fill specific fields:
- Field to edit: Choose the metafield that you want to set from the dropdown
- How to edit: Specify the parameters required
- Click Add dynamic value and search and input 'Tag Suffix' from the dropdown:
- Enter the part of the tag like 'Size=' that you want to look for and click on the Add dynamic field button
Verify that the products look accurate in the preview and click on the Run Edit button to apply changes.
✅ Tips and Troubleshooting
- Review this Shopify article to understand more on metafield definition creation
- See other Tag suffix examples in this article
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