Update Metafields

Update Metafields refreshes all of the PromoSync data attached to your products and their variants without re-importing the product.

That hidden PromoSync data is what powers the tier pricing block on your product pages, the minimum order quantity, the decoration selector, the cart line-item details, and anything else that reads from PromoSync-managed fields. When you change a setting in PromoSync (for example, your pricing formula), the new value doesn’t apply to products you’ve already imported until you run this action.

What’s a “metafield”? Think of it as a hidden tag attached to a product or variant. Shopify can’t show it on its own, but apps and theme code can read it. PromoSync stores everything it needs to know about a product (supplier code, decoration list, tier prices, minimum order quantity, gallery images) in these hidden tags.

When to Use It

⚠️

This action doesn’t change the visible variant price you see in Shopify’s product editor. That’s controlled by Update Prices. This action updates the hidden PromoSync price data that the tier pricing block reads on your product pages.

Before You Run It

Your products need a supplier link, a hidden tag PromoSync attaches to every product it imports so it knows which supplier product the Shopify product came from. (Internally this is the psrestful.extra_id metafield.)

Source of the productHas a supplier link?Will this action work?
Imported through PromoSync’s Product SearchYesYes
Imported through “Onboard to PromoSync” or “Link to PromoSync”YesYes
Has a PromoSync supplier_code and product_id but no extra_idPromoSync can usually figure it outProbably yes
Created by hand in Shopify, never touched by PromoSyncNoNo, the product will be skipped

If a product doesn’t have a supplier link, run Onboard to PromoSync on it first, then come back.

How to Run It

  1. In Shopify Admin, go to Products.
  2. Tick the checkboxes next to the products whose data you want to refresh. You can also filter and “Select all” to refresh a whole collection or supplier.
  3. Click the ... button, then Apps > Bulk Product Sync.
  4. In the dropdown, pick Update Metafields.
  5. Click Submit.

The window closes after a couple of seconds. The job runs in the background and emails you when it’s done.

Updating metafields for your entire catalog at once is fine, but it can take an hour or more for a large store. If you only changed a setting that affects one supplier, filter by that supplier first so you’re not waiting on products that don’t need it.

What Happens Next

You’ll get an email titled “Metafield Update Results”. It includes:

The email goes to the notification contacts you’ve set up in your shop settings.

How Variants Get Matched Up

Each Shopify variant needs to be paired with the matching variant in the supplier’s catalog so the right data is written to it. PromoSync tries three ways, in order:

  1. By part ID. Every variant PromoSync imports gets a hidden tag with the supplier’s part ID. If that tag is present, the match is exact.
  2. By SKU. If the part ID tag is missing, PromoSync checks whether the variant’s SKU matches a part ID from the supplier.
  3. By color and size. As a last resort, PromoSync matches on the color and size labels. This isn’t perfect, but it handles most cases where you’ve edited a SKU by hand.

If none of those match, that variant is left alone (the rest of the product is still updated).

Why Something Might Be Skipped

What the email or log saysWhat it meansWhat to do
”could not determine extra_id”No supplier link, and PromoSync can’t figure out which supplier product this is.Run Onboard to PromoSync on the product first.
”No metafields to update”The supplier returned no usable data for this product.Open the product on the supplier’s catalog and confirm it’s still active.

If a variant was left alone but the rest of the product was updated, it’s because none of the three matching methods (part ID, SKU, color and size) worked for that variant. The most common cause is a SKU you edited by hand to something the supplier wouldn’t recognize. Either restore the original SKU, or accept that PromoSync-managed data won’t be refreshed for that one variant.

Common Questions

Will this overwrite my custom prices?

The visible price you see in Shopify’s variant editor is not changed by this action. That’s controlled by Update Prices. The hidden PromoSync price data (used by tier pricing on the product page) is overwritten with whatever your current pricing formula produces.

Will it overwrite my custom product description or title?

No. This action only writes to PromoSync’s own metafields. Your product description, title, tags, and SEO settings are not touched.

Will it touch images?

No. This action does not upload or remove any product images.

The product will be skipped and listed in the email with a clear reason. Run Onboard to PromoSync on the skipped products to rebuild the link, then run Update Metafields again.

How is this different from re-importing the product?

A re-import would create a new product (or fail because the product already exists). Update Metafields keeps the same Shopify product (same product ID, same URL, same handle, same hand-edited title or description) and just refreshes the hidden PromoSync data.

How is this different from Add New Variants?

Add New Variants finds variants that don’t exist yet on your Shopify product and adds them. Update Metafields refreshes the data on variants that are already there. You can run them back to back if you want both.