Imagine you're setting up your Shopify store, and you want to display more than just basic information about your products - like a size chart, care instructions, or special product details your customers frequently ask for. Shopify doesn't always have built-in fields for these unique pieces of information. That's where Metafields come in!
What are Metafields?
Think of Metafields as invisible sticky notes attached to your products. Each sticky note (Metafield) stores specific extra information that your customers won’t see directly, but that helps your online store display essential details clearly.
Real-Life Example of a Metafield:
Let's say you sell handmade candles, and customers frequently ask, "How long does this candle burn?" Shopify doesn't have a built-in field called "burn time." With Metafields, you create an invisible sticky note that stores this information:
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Burn Time: 40 hours
Your online store can easily read and display "Burn Time: 40 hours" on your product page.
(Technical Term: "Burn Time" here is a product Metafield.)
Metafield Types and Definitions
Metafields come in different types, such as text, number, date, image, or URL. These "types" help Shopify understand exactly how to use the information stored in the Metafield.
Example:
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Text: "Handmade with love"
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Number: 40 (hours of burn time)
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Date: "2024-12-25" (holiday release date)
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Image: An extra product image
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URL: Link to a detailed care guide
A Metafield definition acts like a template - it tells Shopify what type of information you're storing, making it easy and error-proof for you or your team to fill in consistent data.
Shopify Native Fields vs. Unstructured Fields
Historically, Shopify only supported "unstructured fields", essentially free-form Metafields where you had to remember exactly how you structured the information every time you used it. These fields were flexible but often led to errors and inconsistencies.
Now, Shopify offers "native fields" (fields with definitions). These fields have clear, pre-defined structures and validation built in. Native fields are like filling out a simple form—quick, clear, and consistent.
Example:
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Unstructured Field: You manually type in burn times and might accidentally write "about 40 hours" or "40hrs."
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Native Field (with definition): Shopify prompts you specifically for a numeric value, ensuring consistency and accuracy every time.
Custom Types by Accentuate
Before Shopify introduced Metafield definitions, Accentuate Custom Fields provided their own set of predefined Metafield definitions to help merchants manage data more easily. While these custom definitions served merchants well in the past, most of them are now considered outdated. We recommend using Shopify's native metafield definitions (clearly marked as Shopify >> in Accentuate) when creating new Metafields, as they offer better consistency, validation, and integration within Shopify. If you're considering migrating existing custom fields to Shopify's native fields, stay tuned - we're working on automating this process to make the transition effortless.
Metafield Scopes: Where Can You Use Metafields?
Metafields can be attached not just to products but also to different areas of your store, known as "scopes." Shopify allows Metafields in these areas:
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Products
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Variants
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Collections
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Pages
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Blogs
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Articles
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Orders
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Customers
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Shop
Additionally, Accentuate Custom Fields offers extra scopes specifically for unstructured Metafields:
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Vendors
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Locations
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Product Types
These extra scopes can provide even more flexibility, allowing you to customize your store exactly how you want it.
(We'll explore Metafield scopes more deeply in another article!)
How Can Metafields Help Your Store?
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Enhanced Customer Experience: Clearly present extra product information like sizes, materials, care details, and more.
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Consistency & Accuracy: Ensure your product information remains consistent across your entire store.
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Efficiency: Easily manage additional details without cluttering your product descriptions.
Getting Started with Metafields
With Accentuate Custom Fields, managing Metafields on your Shopify store is effortless, even if you're not technical. Simply create the Metafield once, fill it in, and watch as the information appears exactly where needed on your product pages!
Ready to enhance your products with Metafields?
