In July 2026, Shopify replaced smart and manual collections with a model built on collection sources. A single collection can now combine automated rules, hand-picked products or variants, other collections, and app-provided product groups.
Matrixify added a unified Collections sheet for this model in September 2026. Altera has had a unified Collections data type since Shopify shipped the model in July.
For Matrixify users, the change with the most practical effect is a deprecation. The Smart Collections and Custom Collections sheets are being retired, and they do not work with multi-source collections.
What are collection sources?#
A collection source is a building block that adds products or variants to a Shopify collection. Every collection is made of one or more sources, and the collection contains the combined result. There are four kinds:
- Products sources hold inclusion rules, hand-picked products, or both at once, plus exclusions. “Everything under $100, except preorder items, plus these five products” is now one source.
- Variants sources work at the variant level, so a collection can contain only the red variants or only the sizes on sale.
- Collection sources pull in the contents of other collections. This gives Shopify native subcollections: a “Sale” collection built from “Summer sale” and “Clearance” that updates when they do.
- App sources are product groups published and kept up to date by an app, like a bestseller tracker’s “Trending this week”.
Under the old model, a collection was either smart (rule-based) or manual (hand-picked), permanently, and the two could never mix. The new model removes that split entirely. Our guide to Shopify collection sources covers the full model in detail.
What happens to Smart and Custom Collections files#
Matrixify’s release note marks the Smart Collections and Custom Collections sheets as deprecated and says they will be removed in a future version. They still run for now, but they do not work with multi-source collections. Any collection that uses a new capability has to go through the Collections sheet.
That matters if you have scheduled jobs, saved templates, or scripts that produce Smart Collections or Custom Collections files. They keep working until one of the collections they touch is edited in Shopify’s new collection editor. Adding an exclusion, or hand-picking a product onto a rule-based collection, is enough to put that collection outside what the old sheets can handle. The UPDATE error this produces has its own page.
Altera’s Collections data type uses the same Matrixify-compatible layout, and Altera still accepts the old Smart and Custom Collections files as well.
How Altera handles the new collections#
Altera has supported the new model since the day Shopify shipped it, through a unified Collections data type. You can:
- Export every collection in the store, including how each one is built. Each source gets its own rows in the sheet, with columns for the source target, conditions, exclusions, and hand-picked products or variants.
- Import the full model: rules and hand-picks in the same collection, exclusions, subcollections, variant-level collections, and app sources.
- Edit one source without touching the rest, using the
Source Commandcolumn to update or delete a single part of a collection. - Restore backups exactly, because exports capture the complete definition of each collection, including manual sort order.
The format is the Matrixify-compatible layout you already know, with extra columns for sources. The collection fields reference documents every column, and there is a full write-up of how Altera handles Shopify’s new collections in the help center.
Keeping up with Shopify#
Shopify shipped the new collections model in July 2026. Altera supported it the same month. Matrixify added support in September.
Collections are one example. Altera also covers data types Matrixify does not: metafield definitions, metaobject definitions, inventory transfers, market translations, linked product options, catalogs, and locations.
Frequently asked questions#
Does Matrixify support Shopify’s new collections?
Yes, since September 2026, through a unified Collections sheet. It covers the four source types, inclusion and exclusion conditions, variant targeting, and hand-picked products.
Do my existing Matrixify collection spreadsheets still work?
For now. Matrixify has deprecated the Smart Collections and Custom Collections sheets and says they will be removed in a future version. They do not work with multi-source collections, so a collection edited in Shopify’s new collection editor needs the Collections sheet. Altera reads both the old files and the new format.
Can a spreadsheet import create subcollections or variant-level collections? Yes, in both tools. In Altera, a Collection source row references the child collections to pull in, and a Variants source row holds variant-level conditions or hand-picked variants.
Why is a collection missing from my export? Check which sheet you exported. The legacy Smart Collections and Custom Collections sheets do not handle multi-source collections. Export the unified Collections sheet instead, in either tool.
Can I use Altera’s collections with Matrixify for everything else? Yes. Altera uses the same Matrixify-compatible spreadsheet format. You can use Matrixify for data types it supports and Altera for market translations, metafield definitions, metaobject definitions, inventory transfers, linked product options, variant sales channel publishing, multiple barcodes per variant, and other data types Matrixify doesn’t cover.
See our full Altera vs. Matrixify comparison for a breakdown of all the differences between the two tools, or check the FAQ for more common questions.
