Adding categories

Main Categories and Subcategories

Categories make it easier to keep the online store organized and navigable. You can set up both main categories and subcategories.

How to Create Categories

Main Category

1. In your control panel, go to Main Menu > Product Catalog > Products.
2. Click on "+CATEGORY".
3. Fill in the information about the category:
   1. Category Name: This will be the category name displayed in the online store. Categories can have the same name, but not the same Category ID.
   2. Category ID: This is part of the category's URL address. It is recommended not to change this later.
   3. Visibility: Choose whether the category should be displayed in the online store.
   4. Subcategory of: Choose whether the category should be a new main category or a subcategory of an existing category.
   5. Order: Enter the desired order in relation to other categories. Use numerical values from 0 and up, where "0" places the category at the top/left in the online store.
   6. Image: Used to illustrate the category in the online store.
4. Click on "Create New Category" to create the category.

Subcategory

Now you have created a main category. You can now choose to add products to the main category or create subcategories to organize the products. Here are the steps to create subcategories:

A subcategory helps you structure categories that have many different products. This makes it easier for customers to find the products in the online store. Here's how to create a subcategory for the main category:

1. Click on "+CATEGORY".
2. Enter the desired name and a unique category ID for the subcategory 
   (category ID is automatically generated and marked with a green check mark; make sure it is unique).
3. Select "Subcategory of" and select where the subcategory should be placed.
4. Click on "Create New Category".

If you create a subcategory in a main category that already contains products, you will receive an error message when you open the category. The solution is to move the products from the main category to the subcategory.

Maximum Number of Subcategories

The control panel has no restrictions on the number of subcategories, here you are free to build up the product catalog as you wish.

In the online store (frontend) there is a limit of 3 levels:

1. Main Menu
   1. Subcategory 1-1
      1. Subcategory 2-1
   2. Subcategory 1-2
      1. Subcategory 2-2
      2. Subcategory 2-3

Dynamic category

Dynamic categories use rules to automatically include matching products, streamlining category management. This article explains how to create and manage dynamic categories in Acendy.

Creating a dynamic category

To create a dynamic category:

1. Hover over the category you want to make dynamic in the side menu and click the lightning bolt button. This will take you to a new page with rules.
2. Dynamic categories always start as a regular category. First, create a category as normal, and then set rules for it.

Defining rules

Set up one or more rules that must all be true for products to be automatically added to the category.

• The rules use an AND condition, meaning that all rules must be true for a product to be visible in the category.
• You can return to the rules at any time to change or remove them.

Recognizing a dynamic category

Recognizing a dynamic category is easy and can be done in several ways:

1. In the side menu, in the overview of all categories, a dynamic category is indicated with a folder icon with a lightning bolt.
2. When you are inside a category, it will have a label under the name that says "Dynamic" or "Static".

Note! If you choose to associate rules with a static category, all existing products will lose their connection to the category.

Previewing a category

If you want to preview a category in the online store without giving customers access to it, you can do so by activating Hide this category in the online store menu and then going directly to the category's address.

Disabling a dynamic category

If you want to set a dynamic category back to static, you must remove all rules.

• The category will then be converted to Static, but it will contain all the products that were in the category before it was made static.
• Once that is done, you can manually remove or add products in the usual way.