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Reference Guide

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Catalog

Attribute Templates

Attribute templates allow you to create an attribute once, and apply it to many products, instead of recreating the same attribute over and over. For example, let's say that you sell a hundred different tshirts and all of them are available in small, medium, and large. Assuming that you aren't going to import your product data, you could:

  1. Create the first t-shirt product.
  2. Create an attribute "Size", with options "small", "medium" and "large"
  3. Create the second t-shirt product. Create an attribute "Size" with options "small", "medium" and "large".
  4. Repeat for all of your shirts.

Obviously this is not very efficient, and a faster method is to create the attribute "Size" as part of a template, and then apply the template to all of your t-shirts. Templates can also contain more than one attribute. For example, you could create a template that included the attributes Size, Color, and Fabric.

To Create An Attribute Template

The instructions in this section describe the general process of creating and using an attribute template. If you have never created attributes and options before, or for detailed information on all of the attribute and option fields, please see Catalog > Edit Product > Attributes Tab. You might find it easier to practice manually creating an attribute in the Attributes tab, and then return to this section to create a template.

  1. Go to Menu> Catalog > Attribute Templates tab.
  2. In the Attribute Templates tab, click Add Template Add.
  3. In the Add Attribute Template screen:
  4. 3.1. Enter an Attribute Template Code. The code identifies the attribute in the admin interface.

    3.2. Enter an Attribute Template Prompt: This is the name you will see when you apply your template to a product. See To Apply an Attribute Template to a Product.

    3.3. Click the Add button

  5. A new field called "Reference Count" appears. This field displays the number of products that are using this attribute template. (Because this is a new template, the reference count is zero.) A new tab called "Attributes and Options" also appears.
  6. Edit Attribute Template

  7. Click on the Attributes and Options tab.
  8. In our example, we'll create two attributes: Size and Color. If you aren't sure how to create attributes, or if you want detailed information on all of the attribute fields, please see Catalog > Edit Product > Attributes Tab.

    Edit Attribute Template

    We created two attributes for our template: Size and Color.

  9. When you have finished adding your attributes and options, go back to Menu> Catalog > Attribute Templates tab. The template that you created will be listed in the Attributes Templates main screen.
  10. To Apply an Attribute Template to a Product

    This section assumes that you have already created an attribute template

    1. Edit a product and select the Attributes tab.
    2. In the Attributes tab, click the Add Template button.
    3. Edit Attribute Template

      2.1. In the Add Attribute Template dialog box, select a template from the list box that you've already created.

      2.2. Click on either the Copy button or the Link button.

      • If you click on the Copy button, the system essentially creates a copy of the template and applies it to your product. If you change the attribute template later on, those changes are not applied to attribute template used by the product.

        For example, if at some time in the future you edit the template and add another attribute called "Material", the Material attribute won't show up for this product.

      • If you click on the Link button, the system links your product to the original attribute template. If you edit the attribute template later on, those changes will be applied to this product, because the product is linked to the original template.

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