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Bulk create groups and automations

Bulk create finds groups in your catalog once, and you pick which ones to create. Automations keep grouping products as you add or edit them in Shopify.

Bulk create

Bulk create works on every plan.

1. Open Product Groups and click Bulk create.
2. Under Choose detection method, pick one:
   • Title pattern: groups products that share most of their title. "Linen Shirt — Sand" and "Linen Shirt — Olive" become one group, with Sand and Olive as option values.
   • Handle pattern: does the same with URL handles, like linen-shirt-sand and linen-shirt-olive.
   • CSV import: upload a file. See Migrate from another swatch app for the file format.
3. Click Next.
4. Set the Option name, for example Color or Size. You can change it later.
5. Set the Minimum group size. Groups with fewer products are skipped. The lowest value is 2.
6. Click Generate products.
7. Review the suggested groups. Click Create group on each one you want. Once it is created, the button changes to View group.

Good to know:

• The scan reads up to 2,500 active and draft products, sorted by title.
• Products that are already in a group are left out.
• Each new group is active right away. Each product's swatch starts as its product image.
• On the Free plan, once you have 10 groups, new groups are saved as drafts. See Pricing and limits.

Smart Fill

When you add products to a group, FD Combined Listings fills in each new product's option value for you. It tries these in order:

1. A product option with the same name as the group's option, if it has a single value. For a Color group, a product whose only Color value is Navy gets Navy.
2. The part of the title that differs between products. "Womens Haven Leggings - Beige" and "Womens Haven Leggings - Black" get Beige and Black.
3. A product code at the end of the title, when every title ends with a different code made of letters and numbers. "Pink Stripe Fabric - JBRTHO66" gets JBRTHO66.

Values you already set are kept. To refill all values on a saved single-option group, click Smart Fill above the product list.

Automations

An automation groups the products that match its rule, and updates its groups when you add or edit products in Shopify. Automations need a paid plan:

Create an automation

1. Open Automations and click Create automation.
2. Under Choose an automation type, click Use template on one of these:
   • Product title pattern: reads the option value from the title. Pick a pattern such as <Product Name> - <Product Type> or <Product Name> (<Product Type>). "Hoodie - Blue" becomes group Hoodie, value Blue. You can also pick Custom and enter a regex, or list fixed Option Values to find in titles.
   • Product conditions: puts every product that matches your conditions into one group, with each product's title as its value. Choose whether products must match all or any conditions.
   • Shared title with option: groups products that have the exact same title, and takes each product's value from its own option, such as Color. The option must have one value on each product.
   • Advanced rules (Pro plan): takes the group name from a product metafield in namespace.key format, such as custom.color_group. Each product's title is its value. The metafield must be a single line text field.
3. Set the option name and the rule.
4. Optional: under Excluded products, add conditions for products the automation should skip.
5. Under Group settings, set the minimum number of products a group needs before it shows on your store (default 2), and the product order.
6. Set Automation status to Active to start creating groups as soon as you save.
7. Click Save.

Conditions you can use

Product conditions and Excluded products can check Product title, Product handle, Product type, Product vendor, Product tag, Price and Product Id. Title, handle, type and vendor support starts with, ends with, contains, does not contain, is equal to and is not equal to. Tags support is equal to, is not equal to and starts with. Price supports is equal to, is not equal to, is greater than and is less than.

Product order

Under Group settings, pick Manual order (the default), Lowest price first, Highest price first, or Display config. Display config uses the order from the automation's display settings, for a fixed sequence like XS, S, M, L. After you save, Edit display settings sets swatch display once for all groups the automation manages.

What happens when products change

• New matching product: joins its group. A new group is created once a second product matches it, so you don't get one-product groups.
• Product that no longer matches: leaves the group, or moves to the group it now matches.
• Deleted or archived product: leaves the group.
• Draft product: is grouped, so its swatches are ready when you publish it.
• Product in a group you made by hand: is skipped.

On a group run by an automation, Add products is turned off. To change which products are in it, change the automation's rule.

Related

• Multi-option and subcategory groups
• Migrate from another swatch app
• Pricing and limits
• Use Shopify Sidekick

Install FD Combined Listings