Properties / Filters

In shopware it is possible to define item properties, for example the colour, the material, form or type of an item available in your shop. Your customers can filter their searches by these properties and tailor individual searches exactly to their needs. Customers might e.g. look for a red t-shirt. So if you have kept your item properties neat, this will generate additional value for your customers by allowing to search for all kinds of properties that might be important for them personally. This makes it much easier for your users to find products they are really looking for. How to successfully employ item properties in your shop will be described in this article.

The module

The module is arranged in 4 sections, the sets (1), group assignments (2), all groups (3) and the options (4).

In the "sets" section you find all your sets (e.g. clothes). Clicking one of these sets will activate the section "group assignments" which shows you all the assigned groups. In "all groups" you can see all your groups (e.g. colour or size). In options you can see all your options (e.g. S, M, L, XL).

A set can be built in various ways. In our example we set it up by item type. This will make life much easier for you, as many of those items that share a type-set will most likely also have similar properties. This way it is relatively easy to assign properties to each of the items later. Please note that a group can be part of multiple sets. On the other hand, an item can only be assigned to one set. That's why you should always make sure, your set contains all of the required groups and options.

Creating sets

Click on "Add set", enter a name in the corresponding field (e.g. clothes) and click the pencil symbol to check or uncheck the following options :

Comparable: If active, the properties of this set will appear in the item comparison table.
Position: This determines the position of the set, if multiple sets are to be sorted, e.g. in the listing.
Sort: This will handle the order of the groups within this set, choose between: alphabetical, numeric and position (manual Sorting by Drag and Drop in "Group Assignment").

You can choose only one set per item, so make sure, that your set contains all possibly required groups.

Creating groups

To create a group, click "Add group" and enter a name in the appearing field, e.g. "colour" or "size". Then decide, whether or not this group should be filterable in the frontend:

After this, click on "Update" to save the new group.

Creating options

To create options, select the group you want to add the options to first. On the right-hand side the section labeled "options" will refresh. Now click "Add option" and enter a name for your option in the appearing field (e.g. "red").

After saving the option, you can edit it by clicking the pen icon. Here you can choose an image fitting for your option, which will be displayed in the frontend filter area.

Assigning groups to a set

To enter the properties of your item, you have to assign the respective groups to a set first. To do this, select the desired set on the left, e.g. clothes. The area "group assignment" will refresh. Then drag and drop the desired group(-s), e.g. "colour" and "size" into the area "group assignment", these groups are now assigned to the selected set.

Assign properties to an item

Assigning properties to your item can be done via the Properties tab in the Item details window. When the item has no properties yet, the window will appear like in the screenshot above. Choose the set, e.g. clothes, then the property area will become active. Select an existing group like "colour". After choosing the group, an option field will become active. Just select one of the options, e.g. "red" and the property will appear in the property area below. When you have assigned all properties, save your item. The result should look like this:

While assigning properties you can navigate across the surface using your keyboard. Just press "tab" to move ahead and "shift"+"tab" to move backwards. Use the arrow keys to navigate through the dropdown fields and press "Enter" to confirm your selection.

View in the frontend

Properties will certainly be used in the frontend, although mainly in the listing for filter purposes, but also on the comparison and the detail page.

Listing

In the listing properties are used for filtering, your customers can filter the category listing by any of the existing properties. If you already set images for your options, these will also be shown here. This is especial useful e.g. for colors. Here is an example of filters using properties:

Users can select any desired property and thereby filter the listing:

Detail page

On the details page you can also find the properties, located below the description:

Item comparison

In the section "item comparison" you will be presented with the basic item data , but also the properties:

Tips & tricks

Dealing with many groups / options

If you have created many groups / options in your shop, you might experience performance issues. In that case try and set the MySQL option "optimizer_search_depth" to "0". If you have no clue how to do this yourself, contact your hoster.