Product templates decide how Synq fills in every Shopify product it creates. You set the format once, and every card or sealed product you add follows it. A template controls the title and description, plus optional fields like vendor, category, product type, SKU, barcode and theme template.
Setting templates up once means your catalog stays consistent: every product reads the same way, carries the codes you want, and lands in the right place in Shopify, without you formatting each listing by hand.
Getting started
You will find templates in Synq under Settings, then Products. Every store starts with one Default template that applies to all new products. You can edit it, and you can add more templates that apply to specific products.
To create or edit a template:
- In Synq, open Settings, then Products.
- Under Product templates, click New template, or click an existing template to edit it.
- Give the template a name so you can recognize it later, like "Pokémon singles".
- Fill in the title and description, then turn on any optional settings you want.
- Click Save.
Only the title and description are always applied. Vendor is set per game (see Vendor). Category, product type, SKU, barcode and theme template are optional and off by default. When an optional setting is off, Synq leaves it blank on the Shopify product instead of guessing a value.
How templates are chosen
Each template can be limited to certain kinds of product and certain games:
- Type of product: singles, sealed, decks or accessories.
- Games: the games you sell, like Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon.
When you add a product, Synq picks the template that matches it most closely. A template that matches on both product type and game beats one that matches on only one of them, which in turn beats the Default template. If a template lists a type or game that does not match the product, it is skipped. When two templates match equally well, the one edited most recently wins.
If nothing else matches, the Default template is used. Leaving a template with no product or game limits makes it apply to everything, which is what the Default template does.
Title and description
The title and description are the only required fields, and they are the title and description Shopify shows on every product. You write them using plain text plus macros, which are placeholders that Synq replaces with the real card details when it creates the product.
For example, this title:
{name} - {set_name} - {collector_number}
becomes:
Gateway Plaza - Guilds of Ravnica - 247
The editor shows a live Preview with sample card data so you can see the result as you type. The description supports bold, italic, links and bullet lists, so you can build a clean product layout.
For guidance on titles and descriptions that read well and rank, see write product titles that rank and avoid thin or duplicate descriptions.
Macros
Macros work in both the title and the description. Click a macro chip in the editor to copy it, then paste it where you want it. If a card does not have a value for a macro, Synq removes it cleanly so you never get blank gaps.
| Macro | What it inserts |
|---|---|
{name} | Card or product name |
{set_name} | Set name |
{set_code} | Set code |
{collector_number} | Collector number |
{rarity} | Rarity |
{printing} | Printing, for example 1st Edition or Foil |
{product_type} | Single, Sealed, Deck or Accessory |
{game_name} | Game, for example Pokémon TCG |
{vendor} | Maker, for example The Pokémon Company |
The description has one extra macro:
| Macro | What it inserts |
|---|---|
{description} | Card text or product description from the catalog |
Vendor
The vendor is the brand shown on your Shopify products, like The Pokémon Company or Wizards of the Coast. Shopify uses it to group and filter products, so it keeps your catalog organized and lets shoppers filter by maker in your store. The {vendor} macro above also pulls from this value.
The vendor is a per-game default, not a per-card field. Synq assigns a sensible vendor for each game automatically from the catalog, so every product for that game uses the same vendor and you set it once instead of choosing it on every card.
To change a vendor, open the Product templates page in Synq and find the Vendors section. Edit the game whose vendor you want to change, choose Custom to type your own value (or leave it on the catalog default), and save. New products for that game will use the new vendor.
Because the vendor is tied to the game, products that already exist keep their current vendor until you apply the change. After editing a vendor, use Update products you already added to push it to existing products. To match a game to the right destination at the same time, see games and collections.
Product category
Turn this on to set the Shopify product category, which Shopify uses for filtering and for Google Shopping. Choose a specific category, or leave it on Auto to let Synq suggest one based on the kind of product. When this is off, Synq does not set a category.
Product type
Turn this on to set the Shopify product type, a label used to group products, like "Pokémon TCG". Leave the field blank to use the game's name, or type your own value. When this is off, Synq does not set a product type.
SKU
Turn this on to put a SKU on each variant. You have two options:
- TCGplayer SKU: uses TCGplayer's SKU for each item, matched by condition and printing. This is the simplest choice and keeps your codes aligned with TCGplayer.
- Custom: create your own code with a pattern, the same way you write a title.
The default custom pattern is:
{set_code}-{collector_number}-{condition}
Keep {condition} in your pattern so each condition gets its own unique code. Custom SKU patterns can use these macros:
| Macro | What it inserts |
|---|---|
{condition} | Condition, for example NM or LP |
{set_code} | Set code |
{collector_number} | Collector number |
{printing} | Printing, for example 1st Edition or Foil |
{rarity} | Rarity |
When this is off, Synq does not set a SKU.
Barcode
Turn this on to write the catalog's UPC or GTIN to the product barcode. This only applies to sealed products, since singles do not have a barcode, so the option appears only when the template's scope includes sealed products. When this is off, Synq does not set a barcode.
Theme template
Turn this on to use a custom product page layout from your Shopify theme. The dropdown lists the alternate product templates your theme provides. If your theme has none, this option is greyed out, and you can create one in your theme to use it here.
Saving a template
When you save a template, Synq keeps you on the editor so you can keep tweaking, and shows a Template saved confirmation. From that moment, every new product you add uses the saved format. Products you already created do not change yet, so editing a template is always safe to do.
Update products you already added
When you change a template, you can bring the products you already created in line with it, without recreating anything. Synq compares each existing product against what the template would produce now, and lets you review and apply the differences in bulk. This is how you keep your whole catalog consistent after you tweak a title format, switch on SKUs, or change a vendor.
You apply changes from the Product templates page, not from the template editor:
- Save your edits to the template.
- Open Settings, then Products. Each template that has out-of-date products shows a " products to update" badge and a Review changes button.
- Click Review changes. Synq lists every product that will change, with the new Title and Description shown above the old values, and an Other updates column that badges any other field that will change, such as Vendor, Type, Category, SEO title, SEO description, SKU, Barcode or Theme. Only products that actually differ are listed.
- Click Update products. Synq updates them in your Shopify store in the background and shows its progress, like "Updated 40 of 120 products". When it finishes you return to the Product templates page and the badge clears.
The first time you open the Product templates page, Synq analyzes your existing products to work out what is out of date, showing Analyzing your products… for a moment. The badges and counts appear once that finishes, and it only runs once.
A few things to know:
- It updates every listed product at once. There is no way to pick a subset, and no cancel button once it starts.
- It changes only the fields the template manages: title, description, vendor, product type, category, SEO title and description, SKU and barcode. It never changes price, stock, product status (active or draft), or images.
- It overwrites manual edits to those managed fields. If you hand-edited a title or description in Shopify, applying the template replaces it. That drift is exactly what the badge flags.
- Only products Synq created are included, and each product is matched to the template that wins for its type and game, so editing a narrowly-scoped template like Pokémon singles only affects products in that scope. When nothing differs, the review page shows Everything is up to date.
Once your templates are set, add products to your store and they will follow the format you defined.