Category Metafield Manager

In this video I want to talk to you about how to

manage category meta fields for your

product data. So here I am in the

Shopify admin on a product page and you

can see that this product is in the

chocolate category um already. Now if I

scroll down farther on the page you'll

see this category metap fields section.

So there are category meta fields and

product meta fields and the way the

difference between them is product meta

fields show up and are available for all

products in your Shopify store. Category

meta fields show up only if that

category that the metap field is

assigned to is the category that is

selected for this product. So if I was

to for example change the category for

this product to nuts and seeds,

save that.

The categories down here will change. So

now I see nut processing method and nut

seed type. So the meta fields that show

up at the category level for each

product will change when you change the

uh meta field or the category for that

product. Let's change it back to

chocolate. And some products you'll see

it's kind of a fine line. Is this

chocolate or is it nuts? And you just

have to make the decision on your end

which is the most appropriate one for

your product catalog. But now when I

switch it back to chocolate, I'll see

that these five meta fields show up. Now

we can control which meta fields display

for which categories. And that happens

inside of the datafy app. So let's go

there. Here I am still in the same store

Shopify admin. I've got the Datafi app

pinned down here in the nav menu. So I'm

going to click on that.

And the second item that shows up here

is going to be the manage category meta

fields. Now, you want to do this work of

managing category metap fields after

you've managed your categories. And I've

already done that for this store. So,

I've gone through the category manager

and determined what categories I want in

this store and which categories I don't

want in this store. So, once that's

done, you can go in and manage your

category meta fields. So, I'm going to

open up that manager,

and what it's going to show me are is a

category tree structure just like you

see in the category manager. I'm going

to expand them all. Now, these are the

categories that are assigned to products

in your catalog. So, let's go down to

the chocolate category, which is right

here, which has 157 of the products.

Most of the products in the store in

this one category. Now, if I click on

the little gear icon, it'll bring up the

meta fields that are assigned to that

category. Now, Shopify has a list

category by category. There's like

10,000 categories in the Shopify

taxonomy. And for each category, Shopify

says here are the potential meta fields

you could apply to that category. Now in

this case because this is the most

frequently used category we've taken all

the meta fields the recommended ones and

assigned them already to that category.

Now Shopify when you create a category

will sometimes automatically assign some

of the meta fields and sometimes leave

them as recommended. And that's why we

created this manager for you to go

through and look through all those

settings and make the choices if and

change whatever you want to change if

you want to change them. So let's for

example look at the candy category and

it also has all the meta fields but in

this case candy has a chocolate type and

we've got chocolate already as a sibling

node to candy. We're going to put all of

our chocolate in the chocolate category.

So in this store, we're going to say

none of our candy will have a chocolate

type because if it did, it would

actually be classified as the chocolate

category. So we're going to remove that

one from the the node.

So now what it does is it opens it up

here in this view where I've got to go

ahead and remove the chocolate chip. It

gets a little bit confusing here

unfortunately, but Shopify doesn't allow

us to do this any other way. So here I

am. I'm looking at the chocolate type

meta field, the category level meta

field. Here I can see it's assigned to

nuts and seeds, candy, and chocolate. So

I'm going to open this up and I'm going

to say I don't want it assigned to

candy. And I also don't want it assigned

to nuts and seed because all those we're

going to put in the chocolate category

in this store. Right? A different store

may choose to have its chocolatecovered

nuts show up in the nuts and seed

category. Um, but in this store, we

making the decision that any chocolate

covered nuts, just as an example of a

product, we're going to put in the

chocolate category. So, we're going to

hit done on that and save.

So, like I said, that's a little bit

confusing of a step, but unfortunately,

it's the only way Shopify allows us to

take that action. But now I can see my

chocolate type is no longer assigned to

candy. And while I was doing that, it's

no longer assigned to fruits and nuts

also or nuts and seeds. So now I hit

done on that. And if we go into a

product that is tagged as candy, let's

actually do it this way. It's easier to

get there. So I'm going to go to the

candy here. I'm going to click on one of

these.

And I can see that beer brittle is uh

classified under the candy category. So

now what I'm going to do is I'm going to

go back to the product list and go to

beer brittle

just to show you that the meta field is

not there.

So this product is in the category of

candy. And if we scroll down to the

category meta fields, you can see that

the chocolate category meta field is no

longer there.

So what you want to do in the meta field

manager is go through the whole tree

structure here and and we put the little

gear icon next to any category that has

products in it and you can click on it

and see what is assigned and not

assigned. And so here we are on greeting

and note cards and maybe we want to have

a celebration type like thank you,

birthday, anniversary. So we're going to

add that. Now in this store where we

don't have that many uh gift cards, you

we probably don't need all the other um

elements here like color and style. A

card store might go that detailed in

their specification of that product

data. But here in a chocolate store,

we're not going to go that detailed. So

when I'm done with that, I can just say

done and then [clears throat] we're good

and I can move on to the next category.

And category by category, you can look

at the meta fields that are already

assigned. These are category meta

fields, which like I said is defined by

the Shopify product taxonomy. So they've

got that whole list of potential meta

fields for the coffee, beans, and ground

coffee category. And you can look at

them and say, "Yeah, I want that or I

don't want that." add and remove them

from each of the areas.

So that is managing your categories and

how they're assigned.

Sorry, that is managing your category

meta fields and how they're assigned to

categories.

And remember, you want to do this step

after you've gone in and managed your

categories inside of the Datafi app,

which is why we've got manage categories

as the first element. Once you're done

with that, go ahead and then click on

your manage category meta fields. And

when you're done with those two steps,

as you go in and out of products inside

of your Shopify experience, inside the

Shopify admin or however else you're

engaging with your products, you'll be

able to choose the right categories. And

when you do, those meta fields will show

up and you can start accepting or adding

to the values that are in those.

All right, good luck with the category

meta fields manager.