Meta Box – How to Bulk Edit Custom Post Types in a Spreadsheet

Let’s see how to bulk edit custom post types created with the Meta Box plugin using an intuitive spreadsheet on WordPress.

Related tutorials:

• Export and import Meta Box post types using CSV files
• Export and import Meta Box post types with Google Sheets

When you add different content types to your WordPress site using the Meta Box plugin, you need a time-saving and efficient way to manage them. Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t provide you with many options to do this.

So, in this tutorial we’re going to use the WP Sheet Editor plugin, which allows you to view and edit WordPress posts, pages, and custom post types in a spreadsheet.

With WP Sheet Editor, you can:

• Edit thousands of custom post types in bulk
• Use any field of your custom post types as a search filter, that is, search for post types based on specific fields and values
• Export custom post types to CSV files
• Import custom post types from a CSV file
• Save hundreds of hours to manage your Meta Box custom post types

You need to follow the steps in the sections below in order to bulk manage Meta Box custom post types with WP Sheet Editor.

1- Generate a spreadsheet for your Meta Box custom post type

The first step is to generate an intuitive spreadsheet for your Meta Box custom post type.

In this example, we have created a custom post type called “Books” and added custom fields to it with the Meta Box plugin, so we need to generate a spreadsheet to view and edit our custom post type.

For this, we need to go to WP Sheet Editor > Setup Spreadsheet.

Once there, we need to select the custom post type we want to edit in the spreadsheet and click on Save.

Next, we will see all the fields that will be displayed in the spreadsheet as columns. If you don’t want to view a specific column in the spreadsheet, you can move it from the Enabled to the Disabled side.

Once done, click on Save.

After these steps, you’ll see your custom post type displayed in the spreadsheet. Every row is a post and every column is a field.

2- Edit your Meta Box custom post type in the spreadsheet

As you will see in your spreadsheet, WP Sheet Editor allows you to edit all fields as columns.

Every single field that you create with Meta Box is displayed in the spreadsheet and can be edited directly, with the correct editor for its type.

Below is a precise list of Meta Box field types and how each one behaves inside the WP Sheet Editor spreadsheet. Additions and complex structures are expanded into editable columns so you can modify them safely in bulk.

• Text — edit inline in the cell.
• Textarea — edit longer content directly in the cell.
• WYSIWYG / Visual Editor — open a text editor as a popup.
• Number — only numeric values are allowed; useful for counts, prices, etc.
• Email — edit inline in the cell.
• URL — paste and edit links directly.
• Password — enter or replace password values (if used).
• Range — numeric values (behave as numbers in the spreadsheet).
• Checkbox — toggle true/false values with a click.
• Checkbox List — displays a different spreadsheet column for every checkbox.
• Radio — pick a single option from the available choices.
• Select (Dropdown) — double-click to view and select one option.
• Select Advanced — searchable dropdown inside the spreadsheet cell.
• Autocomplete — search and pick values directly in the cell.
• Hidden — values appear as regular editable text fields (if shown in the sheet).
• Date — pick a date from a calendar popup.
• Datetime — select both date and time values.
• Time — select only time values.
• Color — select colors using a color picker.
• Image — open the WordPress media library to select or upload images from the cell.
• File — open the media library to select or upload files.
• File Advanced — select multiple files from the media library.
• oEmbed — paste supported embed URLs (YouTube, Twitter, etc.).
• Post — search and link to another post (post picker).
• User — search and link to users (user picker).
• Taxonomy — assign existing terms or create new terms directly in the sheet.
• Button — shows separate columns for button label and link.
• Custom HTML — displays editable HTML content inside the cell.
• Group — each group subfield is displayed as its own spreadsheet column so you can edit subfields directly.
• Cloneable fields — each clone instance appears in separate columns for safe editing.
• Repeater fields — repeated rows and their subfields are expanded into editable spreadsheet columns.
• Relationships (posts, users, terms) — searchable and assignable directly in the spreadsheet.

This means you don’t just see “raw metadata” — you get a real editor for each Meta Box field type, inside the spreadsheet.

Dropdown selector fields will allow you to select the correct option, displaying all available options when you double-click on the cell.

Date fields will display a calendar so you can select the date you want.

File and image upload fields will open the media library so you can select the image or upload the file you want.

Taxonomy term fields will display the terms for you to select and you can create new terms right from the spreadsheet.

Group/cloneable/repeater fields expand into separate columns, so you can edit each subfield or clone safely without touching serialized arrays.

When you are done editing all the fields, you will need to click the “Save” button to apply the changes. This is great because you won’t have to open and edit your custom posts one by one. You can edit hundreds of rows and columns and you only need to save the changes once.

3- Use any field as a search filter

WP Sheet Editor contains an advanced search tool that you can use to find groups of posts with common fields and values.

You can use any field as a search filter, and you can combine search terms to narrow your search results further and further.

You can open it by clicking on Search.

Example 1 – Search for posts by taxonomy term

You can find your posts by taxonomy terms such as category, tag, etc.

To do this, just enter the category, tag or custom taxonomy and click Run search.

Below you can see that we have filtered our posts by taxonomy term.

Example 2 – Search based on image fields

You can search for your Meta Box post types based on image fields.

For example, we have added an image custom field called “Book cover”, so we can search for all the posts missing book cover.

For this, we need to tick the Enable advanced filters checkbox and select these values:

• Field: Select the field.
• Operator: =
• Value: Leave this field empty
• Click on Run search.

As you can see here, we have filtered all the books missing book cover. This is a great way to find all your Meta Box posts missing image.

Example 3 – Search based on dropdown selector fields

You can also search for posts based on dropdown selector fields.

You just need to enable the advanced filters, select the dropdown selector field you want to use as a search filter, the = operator, and select the dropdown option you want to find.

Finally, click on Run search.

We have filtered all posts using a dropdown selector option and the results have been displayed in the spreadsheet.

Example 4 – Search based on number fields

If you have number fields, you can use them as search filters.

For example, we have created a field called “Page count” for our Meta Box custom post type called Books.

We want to find all books that are 200 pages or more, so we need to tick the Enable advanced filters checkbox and select these values:

• Field: Select the field.
• Operator: >=
• Value: 200 in this case.
• Click on Run search.

As you see here, we have used a number field as a search filter and all the results have been displayed on the spreadsheet.

After filtering your Meta Box custom post types, you can proceed to bulk edit all the search results. This is a great way to save a lot of hours editing thousands of posts.

4- Bulk edit Meta Box custom post types with a few clicks

WP Sheet Editor allows you to bulk edit hundreds of posts added with the Meta Box plugin. This way, you can save a lot of hours of work, because you can apply the same values to hundreds or thousands of posts with a few clicks.

You can start by opening the Bulk Edit tool.

When using the bulk editor, you can edit each field according to its type. This means that the dropdown selector fields will show the options you want to select, the image fields will allow you to upload or select the image, the checkbox fields will allow you to check or uncheck the checkbox, etc.

The procedure for all bulk edit types is the same and requires you to do this in the bulk edit tool:

1. Select the rows you want to update
2. Select the field you want to update
3. Select the type of edit you want to apply
4. Select the values you want to apply
5. Execute the bulk edit

Bulk edit Meta Box custom post types now!

As you can see, WP Sheet Editor allows you to view and bulk manage your Meta Box custom post types in a spreadsheet. You can save thousands of clicks and hundreds of hours. You don’t need to open and edit your posts one by one—even for complex fields like repeaters, groups, cloneables, and relationships.