When you change your default shipping options or default product attributes, existing products keep the values they were saved with. The overwrite tools copy the current defaults into the products you already have, so you don’t need to edit them one by one.
There are two tools that work the same way:
- Overwrite Existing Product Shipping Data in Products > Settings > Shipping
- Overwrite Existing Product Attributes Data in Products > Settings > Attributes
Before you start
The tools always use the currently saved defaults. If you changed the shipping or attribute table on the settings screen, save those settings first and then run the overwrite. The tool asks you to save first when it detects unsaved changes.
The overwrite only updates published products. Drafts, pending and private products keep their current values.
Overwriting replaces data in every published product, so consider making a database backup before you run it on a large catalog.
Overwrite shipping data
What you can overwrite depends on the Shipping options source setting:
- Shipping options and prices set per product – you can overwrite Shipping Labels, Shipping Prices, or both.
- Global shipping options with prices set per product – you can overwrite Shipping Prices only.
- Global shipping options and prices for all products – the tool is not shown, because products do not keep their own shipping data.
Shipping notes and shipping address settings are global, so the tool does not copy them. See Shipping Configuration for how the source modes and defaults work.
Overwrite attribute data
What you can overwrite depends on the Attributes source setting:
- Attribute names and values set per product – you can overwrite Attribute Names, Attribute Units and Attribute Values.
- Global attribute names with values set per product – you can overwrite Attribute Values only.
- Global attribute names and values for all products – the tool is not shown.
The defaults come from the attribute table on the Attributes settings screen. See Product Attributes for how to set them.
How to run an overwrite
- Save your default shipping or attribute settings.
- Go to the Overwrite Existing Product Shipping Data or Overwrite Existing Product Attributes Data box below the settings.
- Select the values that should be updated in existing products.
- Optionally check Overwrite with empty defaults too.
- Click Apply Selected to Existing Products.
Empty default values
By default, the tool does not replace existing product values with empty defaults. This protects product data when a default field is blank.
If you check Overwrite with empty defaults too, empty defaults are copied as well. Use it to clear old product values in bulk.
A value of 0 is treated as a real value, not as an empty one. For example, you can overwrite product shipping prices with 0 to make a shipping option free.
Progress
The overwrite does not update all products in one page load. It is queued and runs in the background in batches, through the same updater that the catalog uses for other product data updates. The box shows how many items have been processed and a message when the overwrite is done.
Only one product data update can run at a time. If another one is in progress, wait for it to finish before you start an overwrite.