Manual bulk editing
Make manual changes across multiple products without AI
Need to update the same field across many products? Manual bulk editing lets you make changes to multiple products at once using values you specify - like updating statuses, replacing text, or setting values - instead of letting AI choose the content.
Before you start
This guide assumes you're familiar with browsing your catalog and selecting products. If you want to use AI to generate content instead, check out Making bulk changes.
When to use manual bulk edit
Manual bulk edit is perfect for:
- Updating statuses across multiple products (like setting them all to "Active")
- Search and replace to fix typos or update terminology across descriptions
- Setting consistent values like updating a brand name or category
- Cleaning up data by clearing out fields or removing specific text
Unlike AI-powered bulk changes, manual edits give you direct control over exactly what changes are made.
Starting a manual bulk edit
To begin, find and select the products you want to edit. Use filters to narrow down your catalog, then select products by clicking their checkboxes.
For example, you might filter for products with a specific status, or products in a certain category that need updating.
Once you've selected your products, click Create proposal in the selection popup at the bottom of the screen.
After clicking Create proposal, you'll see the proposal screen. Click Manual Edit at the top of the window to switch from AI generation mode to manual editing mode.
This opens the manual edit interface where you can choose which field to edit and what action to perform.
Choosing a field and action
In the manual edit window, you'll need to:
- Select which field to edit - Choose from any available product field like Description, Status, Meta Title, etc.
- Select an action - The available actions depend on the type of field you selected
The actions you can perform vary based on the field type:
Text fields
For single-value text fields like Description, Title, Meta Title, or custom text fields. This includes text, HTML, and URL field types.
| Action | What it does | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Set value | Replaces the entire field with the same text for all products | Setting all product descriptions to a placeholder text |
| Search & replace | Finds specific text and replaces it across all products | Updating "XL" to "Extra Large" in all descriptions |
Using Search & Replace
Search & replace is particularly powerful for making consistent updates across your catalog. Simply enter:
- Search for: The text you want to find
- Replace with: What you want to replace it with
By default, the search is case-insensitive, meaning it will match text regardless of capitalization. For example, searching for "wool" will match "Wool", "WOOL", and "wool".
If you need an exact case match, check the Case sensitive checkbox. With this enabled, "wool" will only match "wool" and not "Wool" or "WOOL".
Preview your changes
After creating the manual edit proposal, you'll see a preview of all changes before publishing. This lets you verify the search & replace worked as expected.
Single-select fields
For single-select fields like Status, Type, Country, or other select fields where products can only have one value:
| Action | What it does | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Set value | Sets all products to the same option | Changing all selected products to "Active" status |
Multi-select fields
For multi-select fields like Tags where products can have multiple values at once:
| Action | What it does | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Set value | Sets all products to the same option(s), replacing any existing values | Setting all products to have only the "Sale" tag |
| Add to existing | Adds an option without removing current values | Adding a "New" tag to products that already have other tags |
| Remove from existing | Removes a specific option while keeping other values | Removing a "Discontinued" tag from products while keeping other tags |
Clearing field values
To clear a field entirely, use the Set value action and leave the value empty. This will remove the current value from all selected products.
Numeric fields
For numeric fields like Price, Number, or Weight, you can adjust values by a percentage or a fixed amount:
| Action | What it does | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Increase by % | Increases all values by a percentage | Raising all prices by 10% for a price adjustment |
| Decrease by % | Decreases all values by a percentage | Applying a 20% discount across products |
| Increase by | Adds a fixed amount to all values | Adding 5.00 to all prices |
| Decrease by | Subtracts a fixed amount from all values | Reducing all weights by 0.5 |
Percentage vs absolute
Use percentage changes when you want proportional adjustments (like a 10% price increase across all products). Use absolute changes when you want to add or subtract the same fixed amount from every value.
Other supported field types
Manual bulk edit also supports these field types:
| Field Type | Available Actions | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Set value | Assigning products to a specific category |
| Boolean | Set value | Setting a true/false field like "Featured" or "Published" |
| Metaobject Reference | Set value | Linking products to a specific metaobject |
| List text fields | Set value, Add to existing, Remove from existing | Multi-value text fields |
Unsupported field types
The following field types cannot be edited with manual bulk edit:
- Color - Use individual product editing
- Image - Use individual product editing
Need to edit unsupported fields?
If you need to bulk edit one of these field types, contact Emfas and we can look at adding support for it.
Creating the proposal
Once you've selected your field and action, and entered any required values (like the replacement text or the new value), click Create proposal.
Emfas will process your manual edits and create a proposal showing all the changes that will be made. This happens quickly since no AI generation is involved.
Reviewing and publishing
After the proposal is created, you'll see a list of all products with the changes that will be applied:
- Products are listed on the left
- The proposed changes are shown on the right
- You can click through each product to verify the changes
Just like with AI-generated proposals, you can:
- Edit individual changes if something doesn't look right
- Publish individual products by clicking the publish button for each one
- Publish all using the button in the top right to apply all changes at once
Review search & replace carefully
When using search & replace, it's a good idea to click through a few products to make sure the replacement worked as expected before publishing everything.
After publishing
Once you publish, the changes are immediately applied to your products in the catalog. You can:
- View the updated products in your catalog
- Revert the changes if needed using the revert option in the proposal
- Make additional manual edits or generate AI content for other fields