Bulk edit categories & collections
When your catalog grows past a handful of categories, opening each one to tweak its name, slug or SEO metadata becomes a chore. Bulk Edit mode turns the category/collection listing into a flat editable table, Notion-style, so you can sweep across the whole store in one pass.
Where to find it
Categories (or Collections on Shopify) page → ✎ Bulk Edit button in the top-right header.
Toggling it collapses the hierarchy into a flat alphabetical list and replaces the read-only table with live inputs in every cell. Click ✓ Done editing to return to the tree view.
What's editable
| Column | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | text | The public name, shown on storefront listings |
| Slug | text (monospace) | URL segment — leave empty to keep the platform default |
| Meta Title | text | SEO <title> override for the category page |
| Meta Description | textarea (2 rows) | SEO <meta name="description"> — 150-160 chars optimal |
| Description | textarea (2 rows) | Long-form description shown to shoppers |
| Image URL | text (monospace) | URL of the hero image; upload isn't supported yet (pending) |
The Status column is read-only and shows Visible/Hidden, or a save-progress flash (Saving… / ✓ Saved / ✗ Error) when the row has an in-flight request.
How saving works
There is no global Save button. Every cell auto-saves when you click out of the field:
- Click on a cell → we capture the current value as a snapshot
- Edit freely — changes appear in the UI immediately (optimistic)
- Click out of the field → we diff against the snapshot; if anything changed, we send a
PATCHrequest for that field only - On success, the row flashes ✓ Saved for 2 seconds
- On failure, the row flashes ✗ Error, rolls back to the snapshot value, and a toast explains what went wrong
This means you can Tab across a whole row editing four cells, and each one saves independently. Network blips only roll back the specific cell that failed.
What's not in bulk edit
- Enrichment fields (AI description, reasoning, search keywords, quality scores) — these live on the individual category detail's Edit tab, where they carry OVERWRITE confirmations to avoid accidental loss.
- Image upload — you can paste an existing image URL, but the uploader (with Cloudinary/S3) is pending.
- Visibility toggle — hiding/showing a category isn't bulk-editable yet; use the detail view.
- Reordering — sort order is fixed to what the platform sends.
Tips
- Meta Title sweet spot: 50-60 characters. Anything longer gets truncated in Google SERPs.
- Meta Description sweet spot: 150-160 characters. Two full sentences.
- If a category has no SEO metadata filled in and your platform (BigCommerce especially) also doesn't expose one, shoppers and LLMs will see your raw title/description. Filling Meta Title + Meta Description is one of the highest-ROI things you can do from this screen.
- Bulk Edit works on both Shopify Collections and BigCommerce Categories. The URL path and platform vocabulary are different but the UI is identical.