Bulk edit Shopify translations with a spreadsheet

Mixtable lets you bulk edit Shopify translations with a spreadsheet: product titles, descriptions, SEO titles and meta descriptions, collections, pages, blogs, articles, metafields, and even image alt text, across every language your store has configured. Shopify gives you two native ways to manage translations: edit them one resource and one language at a time in the admin or in Translate & Adapt, or export a translations CSV, change it offline, and import it back. Mixtable keeps the whole workflow live in a spreadsheet instead. You review the source and translated content side by side, paste or fill translations across many rows, and sync everything back to Shopify in one click, with no CSV files to export and re-import.

Here is what bulk translations look like in Mixtable: the original product fields in one set of columns, with a translated column for each language you add, like Spanish and French below.

Shopify stores translations at the resource level: each product title, description, collection, page, and so on can have a translated value per locale (the language code, like fr or es), and optionally per Shopify Market. Keeping all of that current one record and one language at a time is slow. Mixtable turns it into a familiar spreadsheet: add a translation column for any field and language, then edit it like any other column.

What you need before you start

• Your Shopify store must have at least one non-primary language configured. You add languages in Shopify under Settings → Languages.
• You need a Mixtable worksheet that syncs the Shopify object you want to translate (Products, Collections, Pages, etc.).

Only the languages you have added in Settings → Languages are available to translate into from Mixtable. That screen lists each defined language and its status, like the English default plus French and Spanish below.

How translations work in Mixtable

When you add a translation column to a worksheet, Mixtable:

1. Loads the current translated value for that field and locale from Shopify into the column.
2. Lets you read and edit the translated content directly in the spreadsheet, one row per resource, one column per translatable field and language combination.
3. Pushes your changes back to Shopify when you click Sync to Shopify, updating the translation for every edited row at once.

You can have as many translation columns as you need, for example, a French title column, a Spanish description column, and a French SEO title column all in the same worksheet.

If your store uses Shopify Markets, you can also scope a translation column to a specific market so the translated value only applies to that market’s customers. Market scope applies to the fields where Shopify supports market-specific translations, such as titles and descriptions. Some fields are language-level only: URL handles, for example, are translated per language and are not market-specific, so leave those columns set to All.

Important: Shopify does not send Mixtable notifications when translations are changed outside of Mixtable (for example, via the Shopify admin or a third-party translation app). If your translations are updated elsewhere, your worksheet will not reflect those changes automatically. Use the Download button described below to pull the latest values from Shopify on demand.

Step-by-step: add a translation column (Product Title example)

The steps below use Product Title → French as an example, but the process is the same for any field and any language.

1. Open a Products worksheet in Mixtable. If you don’t have one yet, set up a spreadsheet and add a Products worksheet.

2. To load new Shopify data, start by selecting an empty column — any column with a non-green header (green headers mean the column is already linked to Shopify data). Then, click the button in the column header to open the selection window to choose the data you want to pull in.

   

3. In the column settings window that opens, select Translations.

4. In the field list, find and select Product Title. Use the search box to filter the list if needed.

5. Under Languages, select the locale you want to translate into, for example, French.

6. If your store has Shopify Markets configured, choose All to set a store-wide translation, or pick a specific market to target only that market’s customers.

7. Click Save. Mixtable adds the column, labelled Product Title (French), and loads any existing French translations from Shopify.

8. Type or paste your translated content into the cells. You can fill down, paste from Excel, or use Find & Replace to make bulk edits.

9. Click Sync to Shopify to push all changes to Shopify at once.

Translate Shopify image alt text in bulk

Shopify doesn’t give you a practical way to bulk edit translated image alt text with a spreadsheet. Mixtable does: it exposes the Image ALT tag translation from the Media Images worksheet, so you can manage translated alt text across many images at once and sync it straight to Shopify.

The workflow is the same as any other translation column:

1. Create a Media Images worksheet, or open one you already have.
2. Add a translation column for the Image ALT tag field in the language you want, for example Spanish.
3. Type or paste your translated alt text into the cells, one row per image.
4. Click Sync to Shopify to write the translated alt text back to Shopify for every edited row.

Translated alt text helps your images show up in each language’s image search and keeps your store accessible to screen-reader users no matter which language they browse in. If you haven’t written your alt text yet, start with adding and editing Shopify image alt tags, then add translation columns to translate them.

Download the latest translations from Shopify

Whenever a worksheet contains at least one translation column, click the Translations download button in the Shopify sync widget.

Clicking Download pulls the current translation values from Shopify and updates the relevant cells in your worksheet. This is useful when:

• Translations were edited directly in the Shopify admin or by another app after you loaded your worksheet.
• You want to confirm that your worksheet reflects the current state in Shopify before making further edits.

This gives you the same starting point as a Shopify translations CSV export, your existing translated content loaded into a spreadsheet, except the cells stay connected to Shopify. You edit them in place and sync back, so there are no CSV files to download, import, or re-upload. If you do need a file to share with a translator or agency, you can still Export to Excel or Export to CSV from the worksheet.

Use the Translations pre-built template

If you want to get started quickly, Mixtable’s Translations spreadsheet template creates a ready-to-use workbook that covers the most common translatable fields across products, collections, pages, and more, organized by language. It’s the fastest way to get an overview of your store’s translation coverage and start filling gaps.

To use it, click Create Spreadsheet from the Mixtable dashboard and select the Translations template from the template list.

Supported Shopify objects and translatable fields

Mixtable supports translation columns for the following Shopify objects and fields. Text metafield translations (the Single-line text and Multi-line text metafield types) are also supported on all objects where metafields are available.

Products

Field	Description
Product Title	The product’s name
Handle	The URL-friendly identifier
Description	The product’s body HTML
Product Type	The product type label
SEO Page Title	The SEO meta_title field
SEO Meta Description	The SEO meta_description field
Option 1 Name	Name of the first product option (e.g. “Color”)
Option 2 Name	Name of the second product option (e.g. “Size”)
Option 3 Name	Name of the third product option

Product Variants

Works from a Products (with variants) worksheet. You can translate both the parent product fields and the variant-specific fields from the same worksheet.

Parent product fields:

Field	Description
Product Title	The parent product’s name
Product Description	The parent product’s body HTML
Product Handle	The parent product’s URL handle
Product Type	The parent product type label
Product SEO Page Title	The parent product’s SEO meta_title
Product SEO Meta Description	The parent product’s SEO meta_description
Product Option 1 Name	Name of the first product option
Product Option 2 Name	Name of the second product option
Product Option 3 Name	Name of the third product option

Variant-specific fields:

Field	Description
Variant Option 1 Value	The variant’s value for option 1 (e.g. “Red”)
Variant Option 2 Value	The variant’s value for option 2 (e.g. “Large”)
Variant Option 3 Value	The variant’s value for option 3

Collections

Field	Description
Title	The collection name
Handle	The URL-friendly identifier
Description	The collection body HTML
SEO Page Title	The SEO meta_title field
SEO Meta Description	The SEO meta_description field

Pages

Field	Description
Title	The page title
Handle	The URL-friendly identifier
Body	The page body HTML
SEO Page Title	The SEO meta_title field
SEO Meta Description	The SEO meta_description field

Blogs

Field	Description
Title	The blog title
Handle	The URL-friendly identifier
SEO Page Title	The SEO meta_title field
SEO Meta Description	The SEO meta_description field

Articles

Field	Description
Title	The article title
Handle	The URL-friendly identifier
Body	The article body HTML
Summary	The article summary HTML
SEO Page Title	The SEO meta_title field
SEO Meta Description	The SEO meta_description field

Media Images

Field	Description
Image ALT tag	The alt text for product images

Note: Shopify’s admin doesn’t offer a practical way to bulk edit translated image alt text with a spreadsheet. Mixtable lets you translate product image alt text in bulk and sync those translations directly to Shopify.

Troubleshooting

• No languages showing in the picker: Make sure Shopify has at least one non-primary language enabled under Settings → Languages. Then click the Reload Languages button inside the column settings panel to refresh the list.
• Market scope options not appearing: Markets only show up if your store has Shopify Markets configured. If you don’t see market options, translation columns will apply globally to all markets.
• Translation not appearing on the storefront after sync: Confirm the language is published in Shopify (Settings → Languages). Unpublished languages can receive translation data, but translated content won’t appear to customers until the language is published.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bulk edit Shopify translations?

Yes. Add a translation column to any Shopify-linked worksheet, choose the field and language, and edit the translated values in the grid. When you click Sync to Shopify, Mixtable updates the translation for every edited row at once.

Can I bulk translate product titles and descriptions?

Yes. On a Products worksheet you can add translation columns for the title, description, product type, and option names in any language your store supports, then edit them all in one place. The same approach works for product descriptions and SEO titles and meta descriptions.

Can I translate Shopify metafields?

Yes, for text metafields (the Single-line text and Multi-line text types) on any object that supports metafields, such as products, collections, and pages.

Can I translate Shopify image alt text?

Yes. Shopify doesn’t provide a practical way to do this in bulk from a spreadsheet, so it’s a handy thing to have. Add a translation column for the Image ALT tag field on a Media Images worksheet and sync your translated alt text back to Shopify. See Translate Shopify image alt text in bulk above for the steps.

Can I export Shopify translations to a spreadsheet?

Yes. Add the translation columns you want, then click Download to pull your existing Shopify translations into the worksheet. That gives you the same content as a Shopify translations CSV export, loaded straight into a live spreadsheet, where you can edit it and sync back without re-importing a file. If you also need a file to hand to a translator, you can Export to Excel or Export to CSV from the worksheet.

Does Mixtable work with Shopify Markets translations?

Yes. If your store uses Shopify Markets, you can scope a translation column to a specific market so the translated value only applies to that market’s customers, or leave it store-wide to apply across all markets. Market scope works for the fields where Shopify supports market-specific translations, such as titles and descriptions. Fields like URL handles are language-level and aren’t market-specific.

Does Mixtable automatically translate my content?

No. Mixtable is built for editing and managing translations in bulk, not machine translation. You bring the translated text (from a translator, an agency, or an AI tool), paste or fill it into the spreadsheet, and Mixtable syncs it to Shopify. Because you see the source and the translation side by side, it’s easy to review and correct translations at scale.

How is this different from Shopify Translate & Adapt?

Translate & Adapt is built for editing translations one resource at a time in the Shopify admin, and Shopify also lets you export and import a translations CSV for larger changes. Mixtable sits between those two: you get the bulk reach of a spreadsheet, but it stays connected to Shopify, so there are no CSV files to export and re-import. You can work across many rows and languages at once, paste translations in bulk, run Find & Replace across them, and edit fields the admin and CSV flows make awkward, like image alt text. You don’t have to choose one approach: Mixtable reads and writes the same Shopify translations, so you can keep using Translate & Adapt too.

Is customer language the same as translating my content?

No. The customer language field is each customer’s preferred locale, which influences the language Shopify shows them. Content translations are the translated text itself: the product titles, descriptions, and other fields shown on your storefront in each language. This page covers content translations.

You're ready!

Mixtable is an online spreadsheet designed to sync data with Shopify. It looks, feels, and behaves like Excel (including formulas), but runs in your browser. With Mixtable you can:

• Bulk add products to collections, edit metafields, add or remove tags;
• Change product prices, including international prices, and review price history;
• Manage customers with a spreadsheet CRM for Shopify;
• Use Excel features like sort ascending or descending, find-replace, filter, and more.

Best of all, you can sync changes back to Shopify with a single click. Find out more about the Mixtable suite of products here.