Product Options

An option is something your products vary by: Size with S, M, L; Color with Black and White; Format with MP3, WAV, and Stems. Define one once and every product can use it, so "Large" means the same thing on every product you sell and buyers filtering your store see one Large instead of four spellings of it.

Your options live under Store then Options.

Creating an option

1. Go to Store then Options.
2. Click New Option.
3. Give it a name, like Size or Format. If you already have an option with that name it is reused, whatever the capitalisation.
4. Choose how it is shown: Text, Colour swatch, Dropdown, or Image.
5. Type the values, separated by commas, like S, M, L, XL. You can add more later.
6. Click Create option.

Shown as

This is a hint about how the option should be presented:

• Text for plain values like Large or Signed.
• Colour swatch for colors. Setting this is what gives you the color wheel when you pick a value on a product, and what makes buyers see a round color chip rather than a word.
• Dropdown for a long list of values.
• Image for values best represented by a picture.

Adding values

Each option card lists its values as chips. Click the plus on the card to add more, type them separated by commas, and click Add values.

Values you already have are left alone rather than duplicated, so you can paste a full list without worrying about what is already there.

Retiring an option or a value

Nothing here is deleted, it is retired. Click the archive icon on a value chip, or on the option card itself, and confirm.

A retired option or value:

• Disappears from the pickers, so nobody can build a new version on it
• Leaves every product already using it working exactly as before
• Leaves every past order reading correctly, because orders record what the buyer was sold as at the time

That is the whole point of retiring rather than deleting. You stop offering "Neon Pink" without rewriting the history of everyone who bought one.

How options are used on a product

On a product, the Varies by row is where you say which options this particular product uses, up to three of them. The picker suggests the options you already have, with a count of how many values each one holds.

Then each version of the product picks one value on each option. The full flow is in product versions.

Naming that works

• Name the option after the thing, not the product: Size, not Shirt size. It is going to be reused.
• Give colors names buyers recognise. "Forest Green" reads better on a product page than a color code.
• Keep values short. They become buttons on your storefront.
• Use one option per thing that varies. A product that varies by size and by color has two options, not one option with values like "Black / Large".

Where to go next

• Putting options to work on a product: product versions
• Grouping products for buyers to browse: categories and collections
• Back to the basics: creating a product