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Published (Variant) level

Control whether specific product variants are published or unpublished on your Shopify store based on feed indicators, stock levels, and selected sales channels. This setting provides granular visibility management during product additions, updates, and exports.

Available on: ✔️ Add | ✔️ Update | ✔️ Export

How to Set Up Published (Variant) Mapping

Go to App → Feed Settings → Step 2: Field Mapping

Map Field: Map the Published (variant) field to your feed file's column header name or index.
Configure Indicators: Set the text or numeric values in your feed that trigger publishing or unpublishing.
Set Rules & Channels: Enable force-unpublish toggles or select target sales channels if required.

Mapping at the variant level provides granular control compared to global feed-level auto-publish settings.

Published (Variant) Smart Settings / Detailed Breakdown

1. Publish (variant)

Defines the value indicators in your feed file that trigger a product variant to be published on Shopify.

By default, the publish value indicator is set to true.

To publish a product variant, its inventory quantity must be greater than or equal to 1.

Example Indicator Mapping:

Indicator Value	Action	Description
`1` (or `>= 1`)	Publish	Triggers publish status when inventory quantity is available.
`show`	Publish	Text indicator to publish the variant.
`publish`	Publish	Standard text indicator to publish the variant.
`back-in-stock`	Publish	Text indicator suitable for stock replenishment feeds.
Custom string	Publish	Custom string or value defined in your feed file settings.

2. Unpublish (variant)

Defines the value indicators in your feed file that trigger a product variant to be unpublished on Shopify.

By default, the unpublish value indicator is set to false.

Unless Force unpublished is enabled, a variant will not be unpublished if quantity is still available.

Example Indicator Mapping:

Indicator Value	Action	Conditions
`0`	Unpublish	Unpublishes variant when quantity equals 0.
`false`	Unpublish	Default text indicator to unpublish variant.
`hide`	Unpublish	Custom text value to hide variant.
`unpublish`	Unpublish	Standard text indicator to unpublish variant.
`out-of-stock`	Unpublish	Useful for inventory status feeds.

3. Force Unpublished When Quantity Is Still Available

Enabling this option forces the variant to unpublish automatically, even if the feed file shows remaining inventory.

Enable this toggle if you want your feed's unpublish indicator to override active inventory counts.

If a cell in your feed is empty, you can use the value indicator setting to replace empty cells automatically.

4. Edit Sales Channel for Publish

Select specific sales channels where the product variant should be published, avoiding unintended publishing across all active store channels.

Selecting specific channels prevents new or updated products from going live on secondary channels like POS or Shop App.

Key Rules & Technical Details

Quantity Requirement: Publishing requires an inventory quantity of 1 or greater (>= 1). Unpublishing requires a quantity of 0 unless force unpublish is enabled.
Priority Sequence: Feed Value Indicator Match → Quantity Verification → Force Unpublish Override → Sales Channel Assignment.
Empty Cells: Empty cells in feed files can be handled by setting a default fallback indicator value.

Troubleshooting Steps

Issue: Variant remains published even though feed value is false → Solution: Check the variant quantity in your feed. If quantity is greater than 0, enable Force unpublished when quantity is still available.
Issue: Product variant publishes to unintended sales channels → Solution: Go to Edit sales channel for publish and check only the specific channels you wish to target.

Good Articles to Continue

[Auto Publish Matching Products Setup] → Learn how to configure global feed-level auto-publishing rules.
[Field Mapping Overview] → Master field mapping options, column headers, and column indexes.

Updated on: 27/10/2026

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