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Stone & Water

Maintain Shopware custom fields and change them in bulk

Shopware custom fields hold everything the standard does not know: material, care instructions, energy class, internal flags. In PIM for Shopware you maintain them per language in the detail view, change them for many products via bulk edit, clear them in a targeted way and exchange them as separate CSV columns. Which fields appear in the PIM is set in the config matrix.

Key facts
  • Detail view: custom fields in one section or grouped by sets, per sales channel and language.
  • Bulk edit: a separate "Custom fields" tab with all product custom fields by type and a language selection.
  • Clearing: single custom fields in the "Clear fields" tab, with a snapshot.
  • CSV: columns cf_<name> and per language cf_<name>__<language code>.

Custom fields in standard Shopware

In Shopware you create custom fields under Settings → System → Custom fields as a set and assign the set to products. Each field has a technical name and a type, such as text, number, date, switch or select. The values belong to the product and are stored per language: if a language has no value of its own, the value of the default language applies. Variants add inheritance: without a value of its own, a variant shows the value of its main product.

In daily work there are three sticking points: many sets make the product page in the admin long and cluttered, a new value for a hundred products means a hundred single edits, and when exchanging data with spreadsheets custom fields are often missing as separate columns.

Maintain Shopware custom fields and change them in bulk in the PIM

Detail view: per channel and language

In the detail view you choose the sales channel and language in the channel bar at the top. The custom fields are in their own section and use Shopware's input fields matching the field type. With "Group custom fields by sets" the PIM shows each set as its own section with the set name. The setting exists separately for the master data page and for the variant window.

Which fields appear

In the config matrix the Products tab lists all product custom fields under "Configure fields & tabs" in the section "Custom fields". You switch off fields nobody maintains one by one, or all at once via "Deselect all". This keeps the detail view short without deleting anything in Shopware. In addition, "Add custom column" brings a custom field into the product list as a column, sortable if you like.

Variants: inherited or own value

In the variant window the PIM shows the inherited value of the main product as a grey placeholder for empty custom fields. If you enter a value, it becomes the variant's own value, and the link to the main product is removed for this field. When a variant is saved, a notice tells you how many custom fields get their own value as a result.

Bulk edit: the "Custom fields" tab

The tab shows all product custom fields with an input per type: yes and no for switches, a select list for select fields, number fields, text fields for text and HTML, and date fields. Fields left empty are not changed by the run. As soon as a value is entered, the selection "Channels & languages" appears: the value is set in the default language and additionally written to every chosen language. Without a selection the PIM writes only the default language.

Clear custom fields

In the "Clear fields" tab you set custom fields to empty in a targeted way, for all or for chosen languages. There is deliberately no switch for all custom fields at once, so that dozens of fields cannot disappear by accident.

Custom fields via CSV

In the CSV export every custom field appears as a column cf_<name> for the default language. For further languages there are columns such as cf_material__en_GB, which you switch on per language in the export. If several sales channels share a language code with their own language, each language gets its own column with a channel prefix. On import the PIM recognises the values: yes/no, true/false or 1/0 become switch values, values separated by | become a list, dates and numbers are converted. Empty cells are skipped by the import.

Step by step: set a custom field for a product group

  1. Check the field: make sure in the config matrix that the custom field is shown in the PIM, and add it as a column to the product list if needed.
  2. Filter products: narrow the product list down to the affected products and save a preset.
  3. Open bulk edit: choose the preset as the source and switch to the "Custom fields" tab.
  4. Enter the value: fill in only the fields that should change. All others stay empty and therefore unchanged.
  5. Choose languages: under "Channels & languages" choose which languages the value is additionally written to.
  6. Run and check: start the run and check the result via the column in the product list.
Snapshot: before the run the PIM saves the custom fields of the affected products, also when clearing. In the config matrix in the Snapshots tab you restore the previous state or compare it with the current one in the diff view.

Use cases

  • New mandatory detail: fill a new custom field for a whole product group in one run.
  • Translated values: set a care instruction in the default language and write it to the languages of the country shops right away.
  • Remove old data: remove the values of a custom field that is no longer used in the "Clear fields" tab.
  • Supplier data: import technical attributes as cf_ columns via CSV, lists separated by |.
  • Clear detail view: group sets and hide fields that only interfaces use.

Frequently asked questions

What are custom fields in Shopware?

Custom fields are additional product fields you create in Shopware as a set, for example for material or energy class. Shopware stores their values per language.

Can I change custom fields for many products at once?

Yes. The "Custom fields" tab in bulk edit sets values for all chosen products, optionally in further languages too. Fields left empty stay unchanged.

What are custom fields called in the CSV?

The column is cf_ plus the technical field name, for example cf_material. For further languages the language code is added, such as cf_material__en_GB.

Why does a variant suddenly have a different value than the main product?

As soon as a variant gets a value of its own, it no longer inherits this field. The PIM shows inherited values in grey in the variant window and points out newly created own values when saving.

Can I hide custom fields in the PIM?

Yes. In the config matrix in the Products tab you switch off every custom field one by one, or all at once. The field remains in Shopware.

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