Product Save & SyncHow to copy products between Shopify stores — FAQ
Short answers to the questions merchants ask before installing. For anything not covered, open the in-app help centre, or use Get Support inside the Shopify admin app dropdown.
Copying between stores
Can I copy products between two Shopify stores?
Yes. Install PSS on both stores, generate a share token on the source, paste it on the destination — the snapshot transfers directly between the two PSS installations with no ZIP round-trip. Products clone onto the target by handle, variants by SKU: updated if found, created with the original handle if not.
What's a share token?
A one-time handle PSS generates on the source store. Pasting it on the destination tells PSS where to pull the snapshot from. Sharing is opt-in: no one can access your snapshots unless you give them a token, and the receiving store gets its own independent copy.
Can I review what's about to change on the target before it runs?
Yes. Both Restore (same-store) and Sync (cross-store copy) produce a per-resource preview — every create, update, match and skip listed — which you approve before any writes happen. A detailed import summary afterwards shows exactly what was created, updated, matched or skipped.
Does it work between any two Shopify stores (dev ↔ live, regional, rebranded)?
Yes. Live → dev, dev → live, regional store, rebrand store, separate domain — all the same flow. Both stores just need the app installed.
What happens to Shopify product IDs across a cross-store copy?
Shopify IDs don't transfer between stores — the target issues its own. In cross-store copy via Sync, products, collections and metaobjects are matched by handle on the target. Same-store Restore and Duplicate use the Shopify ID, because it's stable within a store.
What's included
What gets copied?
The full product and everything connected to it:
- The product itself — title, handle, description (HTML), vendor, product type, tags, status, SEO title and description, Shopify category, and gift-card flag.
- Variants — SKU, barcode, price, compare-at price, tax settings, weight, country/province of origin, HS tariff codes, shipping requirements, inventory policy, and option selections.
- Media — images, videos and 3D models as the actual files (downloaded from the store's CDN), plus YouTube/Vimeo embed links.
- Custom fields (metafields) — values on products, variants, collections, locations and selling plans, plus the full schema definitions (name, type, validation, access settings, pinned status).
- Files referenced by metafields — file-type metafield values bring the referenced file along with the snapshot (PDFs, spreadsheets, images, anything a merchant has attached). The file itself is downloaded and included, not just the URL.
- Metaobjects — every metaobject instance referenced by your products, plus their definitions. References from product metafields are followed and rewritten to point at the right entries on the target.
- Inventory — stock quantities at every location, including deactivated and legacy locations; plus inventory item details (country of origin, HS tariff codes, unit cost, weight).
- Collections — every collection a copied product belongs to, including title, description, image, SEO, sort order and smart-collection rules.
- Sales channels — which channels each product is published to.
- Subscriptions / selling plans — plan group associations plus the plan details themselves (billing and delivery policies, plan names).
- Custom theme templates — the template file itself (e.g.
product.pre-order.json) is saved and restored alongside the assignment. The defaultproduct.jsonthat ships with every theme is deliberately excluded.
Can I export Shopify metafields with all namespaces?
Yes, including private metafields within the app's granted scope.
Does it handle metaobjects?
Yes — instances and definitions. References from product metafields are followed and resolved on the target. This is the piece generic export tools typically miss.
Are images included as files or URLs?
Files. Actual media is downloaded and bundled with the snapshot, so the import doesn't depend on the source store being online or the CDN URL being stable.
What isn't copied?
- Orders, customers, and other non-product store data — PSS is product-data only.
- Shopify Markets market-specific pricing — managed outside product-level data.
- Selling plan group creation — if a matching group exists on the target, PSS associates the product with it; it does not create new groups. That configuration lives in your subscription app (Recharge, Bold, etc.).
- Scheduled or automated exports — exports are on-demand today. See roadmap.
- The base
product.jsontheme template — built into every theme. Custom templates (e.g.product.pre-order.json) are saved and restored. - YouTube / Vimeo video files — we save the embed link, not the hosted file (doing otherwise would breach platform terms).
Import modes
What's the difference between Restore, Duplicate and Sync (cross-store copy)?
- Restore (same store) — overwrite an existing Shopify product with the saved snapshot. Matches by Shopify ID; if the product was deleted it is recreated. Full reconciliation.
- Duplicate (same store) — create a brand-new product from the snapshot. Purely additive — nothing on the target store is overwritten, cleaned up or reconciled. Shared resources (custom field definitions, collections, metaobjects) are reused as-is if they already exist; only missing ones are created.
- Sync (cross-store copy) — clone products from one store to another. Matches by handle on the target; updated if found, created with the original handle if not. Variants match by SKU within each matched product. Full reconciliation.
What does "full reconciliation" mean, and which modes use it?
In Restore (same-store) and Sync (cross-store copy), PSS brings the target product into exact alignment with the snapshot. Extra variants, custom field values, channel assignments, inventory at extra locations, collection memberships and selling plan associations that aren't in the snapshot are removed or zeroed on the target. Duplicate does none of this — it only adds.
Can I preview a destructive import before it runs?
Yes. Restore (same-store) and Sync (cross-store copy) both show a per-resource preview of every create, update, match and skip. Nothing writes to the target until you approve it.
How are shared resources (metafield definitions, collections, metaobjects) handled?
They're all matched first, never blindly duplicated. The rules differ by mode:
- Restore / Sync (cross-store copy) — if a match is found, the definition or entry is updated to match the snapshot (display name, validation rules, collection title/image/rules, metaobject field values, pinned status). You review and approve each change in the preview.
- Duplicate — if a match is found, it's reused as-is. Mismatches with the snapshot (different display name, different collection title, different metaobject field values) are logged as warnings in the import summary for you to review manually.
In all three modes, missing definitions or entries are created fresh.
What happens when a target collection has a different type (custom vs smart)?
Shopify doesn't allow changing a collection's type in place. When PSS detects a mismatch, it shows a dialog with three options per collection: delete and recreate with the correct type (recommended), create a new collection with a timestamp suffix, or keep existing and copy other fields as far as possible.
What about selling plan groups from subscription apps?
PSS matches selling plan groups on the target by merchant code. If a matching group exists, the product is associated with it. If not, it's skipped — PSS doesn't create new subscription groups, because that configuration is owned by the subscription app (Recharge, Bold, etc.). Install and configure the same subscription app on the target before importing.
Snapshots & data security
Where are my exports stored?
Every export creates a snapshot on our servers, visible on the Snapshots page alongside any snapshots transferred to you from other stores. Import, download or share directly from there — no need to download and re-upload to run an import.
How long are snapshots kept?
Up to 3 server-side snapshots per store. When a fourth export would be created, the oldest is automatically removed. Downloaded ZIPs on your own computer are unaffected.
Do I still need to download a ZIP?
No — download is optional. Use it to keep an offline backup or move a snapshot to a device that doesn't have store access. The archive is assembled on the fly and streamed to your browser; the ZIP itself is never stored on our servers.
How is my data protected?
Every piece of data, including media files, is individually encrypted at rest before being stored. Each store's data is fully isolated. Share tokens are opt-in: no one can access your snapshots unless you generate a token and give it to them. More detail in the privacy policy.
Data & privacy
Will this slow down my store?
No. Export processing runs on our servers, not yours.
What personal data does Product Save & Sync store about my shop?
Only the store name, for identification in our system. App-usage data is anonymised — feature counts and error logs with no personal identifiers. Full detail in the privacy policy.
What happens to my data if I uninstall?
All store-specific data is deleted from our servers within 30 days of plan cancellation or uninstall. Aggregated, non-identifiable analytics may be retained for service improvement. Details in the privacy policy.
Compatibility & pricing
Does it work on Shopify Plus?
Yes. No Plus-specific features are gated — Shopify Plus product backup, restore and cross-store copy all work identically to the standard tier.
Does it handle stores with tens of thousands of products?
Yes. Processing is chunked; very large jobs simply take longer, with a real-time progress indicator and per-product error logs.
How much does it cost?
See the pricing section on the landing page for current Free Starter limits, the Unlimited price and the price-lock statement. All three import modes — Restore, Duplicate and cross-store copy via Sync — are included in both plans.
How do I get help?
Open the in-app help centre for the full capability docs. For anything the help centre doesn't cover, use Get Support in the Shopify admin app dropdown (next to Manage app, Review app) — it opens a direct conversation with us through Shopify.