How to create product metafield definitions (not metaobjects) in “Metafields and metaobjects” UI?

[Import_lab]

Hi,

In the current Admin UI, I’m trying to create Shopify product metafield definitions, not metaobjects. I want to pre-create them, so then I can import them in bulk with the Matrixify product import. I want to specifically use a native Shopify product metafield assigned to categories, because it is supposed to have better discoverability.

Path I’m using:

• Settings → Metafields and metaobjects → Metafield definitions – Products → Add definition

However, after I save, the UI on the “Product metafield definitions” page shows the type as “Metaobject”, instead of metafield.

My questions:

1. In the current Admin UI, what’s the correct step‑by‑step way to create a native Shopify product metafield definition, not a metaobject?

2. What’s an alternative way to create the product metafield definitions?

Thanks!

[Maximus3]

It is a Metafield. This is correct behavior when you select category. Shopify automatically sets the type to Metaobject reference because category attributes are backed by standard Metaobject entries as per Shopify Taxonomy. This doesn’t mean it’s a Metaobject definition, it’s just saying the value type within the definition. There’s nothing wrong here.

[Ablestar_Daniel]

Hi @Import_lab,

The product category metafields can get a bit confusing but at a high level you have:

1. A product metafield (ie, shopify.color-pattern)
2. The type of that metafield is a list of metaobject references to a specific metaobject type (ie, shopify–color-pattern)
3. That metaobject has different entries for the different values (ie, red, blue etc..)

To answer your questions:

Shopify Metafields in the Admin UI

In the Admin UI you cannot directly create these metaobject or metafield definitions because they’re ‘standardized’ and controlled by Shopify. It is possible to enable them by doing the following:

1. Create a test product in your Shopify store
2. Set the product’s category to a category that has the fields you want (eg, choose ‘T-Shirts’ to add fields like Color)
3. Scroll down to the ‘Category metafields’ card and click on the metafields to enable them:

When you click the ‘+’, Shopify will enable the metaobject definition and create the metafield definition linking to those metaobjects.

Alternative Way to Create Product Metafield Definitions

We have an import/export app named Altera which can be used to import metafield definitions as well as metaobject definitions and product data in a spreadsheet format:

A few nice things about this:

• When you import product data with category metafields, Altera will automatically enable the standard category metafields for you
• You can bring over any custom metaobject definitions and metafield definitions without having to manually create them first.
• The format is compatible with Matrixify so you can just upload your existing files and it will work

If you just have a few category metafields you want to setup, just creating a test product in the admin is probably the easiest, but if you have more, or are transferring data between stores I’d suggest taking a look at Altera.

I hope that helps, if you have any other questions about the product category metafields I’m happy to help.

Best,
Daniel