How to Use Shopify Metaobjects: From Definition to 1,000 Entries

In our first article, we sorted out the difference between metafields and metaobjects: a metafield adds one detail to something you already have, while a metaobject is a reusable block of info you build once and use everywhere. This is the hands-on follow-up.

By the end, you’ll know how to set one up, fill it in, attach it to your products, and get it showing on your store — all from the admin, no developer needed. We’ll also cover the part that trips people up: what to do when you have hundreds of entries to create, not five.

Definition vs Entry

Two words to keep straight. The definition is the template — you decide once what information goes in, like a name, an image, and a few details. An entry is one filled-in copy of that template. Build a “Size chart” template, and each chart you add is an entry. That’s the whole idea.

The Four-Step Workflow

Here’s the full routine in four steps, all point-and-click.

Step 1: Build the template

Go to Settings → Custom data → Add definition. Give it a name, then add a field for each piece of info you want to store, and save. (Good to know: each template holds up to 40 fields, and your Shopify plan sets how many templates you can have)

Step 2: Add your entries

Go to Content → Metaobjects, click your template, and hit Add entry. Fill in the fields, set it to Active, and save. Repeat for each one.

Step 3: Connect it to a product

Go to Settings → Custom data → Metafields → Products → Add definition, pick Metaobject as the type, and choose your template. Then open any product and select the entry you want to attach. Update that entry later and every product linked to it updates automatically.

Step 4: Show it on your store

The easy route: in the theme editor, add a section and connect it to your metaobject. Shopify calls these dynamic sources, and it’s all drag-and-drop. (If you’d rather, a developer can place it with code, or you can publish an entry as its own standalone web page.)

The Catch: Scale

A single template can now hold up to 1,000,000 entries (per Shopify’s limits) — plenty of room. But the admin only lets you add them one at a time: add entry, fill it in, save, repeat.

Five entries? Easy. Five hundred size charts, or a few thousand ingredient lists? That’s a long, error-prone afternoon.

The Shortcut: Import a Spreadsheet

The way around it is a CSV. Each column is a field, each row is an entry — import the file and they all land at once.

That’s exactly what HeadlessDB does. Upload a spreadsheet and it can even build the template from your column headers for you, then drop every entry straight into your admin. No code, no API, no developer.

Once your entries are in, the real payoff is reuse — that's where treating metaobjects as a CMS for shared size charts and ingredient lists comes in.