Options
Keep a library of options such as Size and Colour so you don't retype the same values on every product.
Options are the ways a product's variants differ from each other, such as Size, Colour or Material. You keep a library of them so you can add them to products quickly.
You manage the library at Catalog → Options. You can import standard sets from Google's product attributes, or you can define your own options.
When you build a product, the option picker offers the options from this library. The library saves you from typing the same values on every product, and it does nothing else.
A library you build up
Each option in the library has these parts:
- a display name
- a type
- a list of suggested values, which you can edit at any time
- a count of how many products use it
An option has one of four types:
single choice
multiple choices
free text
colour swatchImport a standard set, or write your own
Turn on Browse to add to import options from the catalog of standard product attributes. Litestore takes these from Google's product attributes.
Click New to create an option from scratch when no standard one fits.
Most-used first
The option picker on a product lists the options that are marked as variant options.
Litestore orders them by how often your store already uses them. The few options you actually work with come first, and the rest of the standard set you imported comes after them.
The chosen options generate the variants
Once you set a product's options and values, Litestore builds the variant grid from them.
If two variants have the same combination of values, you can't publish the product until you fix it. The values you pick therefore also decide whether the product can go live.
An option's values are copied into the product, not shared with it
When you pick an option, Litestore copies its values into the product. The product doesn't keep a link to the library entry. If you later edit the option's suggested values, the products you already built from it don't change. The library saves you typing, but it doesn't define your catalog.
When to add something to the library
Add an option to the library when you expect to use it again. The count of products that use each option shows you whether you guessed right.
Use New for a one-off option that no standard attribute covers. You don't need to add it to the library afterwards.
Don't edit a library option and expect the change to reach your products. It won't, and the products you already built keep the values they were given.
Treat the library as a starting point. As soon as you add an option to a product, the product owns its own values.