Keep your product tags clean with metafield mode
Categorify can now mark categorized products using a metafield instead of a tag, keeping your product tags completely untouched.
What's New
You can now choose how Categorify stamps products as "already categorized." Previously, Categorify always added a categorized-by-ai tag to each processed product. Now you have two options:
- Tag mode (default): Works exactly as before—adds a tag to each processed product
- Metafield mode (new): Writes a metafield instead, leaving your product tags untouched
Why This Matters
Product tags can be visible to shoppers depending on your theme, and they're often used for storefront filters, search, and tag-based collections. When Categorify adds its marker tag, it can clutter your tag list and potentially appear in places you don't want it, like storefront filtering or smart collections.
Metafield mode solves this by keeping Categorify's bookkeeping out of your tags entirely. Your catalog stays cleaner, and there's no risk of the marker showing up where customers can see it.
If you're happy with the tag approach, nothing changes—Tag mode remains the default and is fully supported.
How to Switch
- Go to Settings in Categorify
- Find Categorization marker
- Choose Tag or Metafield
- Click Save
The metafield is visible and editable on each product in Shopify admin, so you can always see which products have been processed.
Important: What Happens When You Switch
When you change the marker mechanism, Categorify only checks the new medium going forward. This means products that were marked under the old method become eligible for categorization again. If you have automatic categorization enabled and later modify one of these products, it will be re-categorized—which uses a credit.
Categorify shows a confirmation dialog when you switch so you're aware before making the change.
For full details on how the marker works, see Understanding the Categorization Marker in our help documentation.