The AI Bulk Update Assistant lets you update product attribute values across large sets of records using a plain English prompt — no spreadsheets, no CSV exports, no imports. This article walks through how to run a bulk update, how to write effective prompts, and what to expect when the update is complete.
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Please note: The AI Bulk Update Assistant is currently only available to Admin users. |
How to run a bulk update
In Product Hub, click the AI Bulk Update Assistant "Try It Now" button in the banner at the top of the screen.
Enter a plain English prompt describing the products you want to target and hit Search.
The assistant identifies matching product records and presents them for review. Check that the correct products are in scope before proceeding by reviewing the list on the right. This preview will show up to 10 products. The full update will apply to all matching products.
Next create a prompt regarding what you would like to change on those products in the text box on the upper right side, and hit Preview Updates. Read more about prompting below.
The screen on the right will show the updated field. If you need to try another prompt, you can enter a new one and hit "Preview Updates" again until you are satisfied with the results.
Once you are satisfied with the results, hit "Continue." The Assistant will analyze the request and prepare the updates. This can take some time and you can navigate away from this page. When it is finished processing, you will receive an email stating "your bulk update changes are ready to review" that will link you back to the page to continue.
You will then hit Continue to Preview. If you are satisfied with the changes, you can hit "Apply Updates."
The assistant applies the changes across all matching records and sends you an email summary listing everything that changed. The summary is formatted so you can use it to reimport the previous values if you need to correct anything. After you hit "Apply Updates" you will be sent back to the main product screen.
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Please note: At any point you can run a new search on the bottom left hand side of the screen to update the products you initially searched for or start a new search. Click to zoom
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Writing an effective prompt
The assistant is built to understand intent — you don't need to follow a specific syntax. Prompts work best when they're clear about three things:
- Which products to target — by category, collection, status, supplier, or other identifying criteria
- Which attributes to change — up to three per operation
- What value to apply — the new value for each attribute
Example: "Find all active products in the Fall 2025 Outerwear category where inventory is below 10 units and set Status to Clearance, Price Tier to Discounted, and Availability to Limited."
Other common use cases:
- Pricing updates: Update price tier, cost basis, and margin flag across a product line
- Compliance: Apply a compliance status, warning flag, and effective date across a set of SKUs
- Channel readiness: Flag a category as channel-ready by updating status, content approval, and syndication fields
- Supplier changes: Update supplier name, ID, and lead time across records after a vendor transition
- Product lifecycle: Set end-of-life status, support end date, and replacement SKU across a discontinued product family
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Please note: The more specific your prompt, the more precisely the assistant can scope which records to update. If your prompt is broad, take extra care when reviewing the matched products before confirming. |
Limits and scope
Keep the following in mind when using the AI Bulk Update Assistant:
- Maximum of 1,000 products per operation
- Maximum of three attribute values per prompt
- Product attribute values only — asset, image, and object assignment updates such as adding products to channels or catalogs are handled through other workflows in Canto
- Available to Admin users only during initial rollout
- Inline change history is on the roadmap — the email summary sent after every operation is your current record of what changed
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