An automated collection automatically groups your products, based on conditions that you
define.
You can use types, tags, prices, and other details as conditions.
This saves you time and is especially useful if you have inventory that you update regularly.
Keep watching to learn everything you need to know about creating automated collections.
To create an automated collection, click “Products”, then “Collections”, and then click “Create
collection”.
Start by entering a title, like T-shirt sale.
Adding a description is optional, and is only visible if your theme has the option to show
it.
But you might want to create a description anyway using keywords for SEO purposes.
Now select “Automated” as the collection type.
In the “Conditions” section, open the first dropdown menu to see the different options
you can select.
In this example, I want to create a collection that includes products with the word T-shirt
in the title.
To do this, I select the “Product title” option.
In the next drop-down menu, I select “Contains”.
And then type “T-shirt” in the text field.
Next, I need to add another condition because I only want to include T-shirts that are on
sale.
In the first drop-down list, select “Compare at price”.
Then select “Is greater than”.
In the text field, enter the number “0”.
Finally, choose whether you want products to match “All conditions” or “Any condition”.
I keep “All conditions” selected because I specifically want to include products with
“T-shirt” in the title that are marked on sale.
Both conditions must be met to be included.
In the future when any products are updated to meet these conditions, it will be automatically
included in this collection.
Next, if you click “Edit Website SEO”, you can make changes to the collection’s
search engine listing.
By default, search engines use the information from the collection’s title and description.
I’m not going to make any changes in this section for now.
Then decide where you want this collection to be visible by using the “Collection Availability”
card.
Deselect the checkboxes for channels you want to exclude.
If you want to link the collection in your navigation menu, then you need to keep “Online
store” selected.
If you want to schedule this collection to be published at a future date, then click
”Schedule Availability” and select another date.
Keep in mind that you can only add a collection to your navigation menu after it’s been
published.
If you’d like, you can add an image to represent this collection.
But just remember that adding an image is optional, and will only be visible if your
theme has the option to show it.
If you choose to add an image, be sure to also add ALT text for the image by clicking
“Edit” then “Edit image alt text”.
Alt text serves a couple different purposes.
If a media item can't load for any reason, then alt text is shown instead.
It's also used by assistive technology to describe an image to a customer who's visually
impaired.
Alt text can also boost your SEO, making it easier for customers to find your products.
Keep your alt text brief and descriptive.
The maximum length is 512 characters, but 125 or less is recommended.
Here I’ll write “Rack of colourful T-shirts on wooden hangers” and then click “Save”
When you’re done making changes, click “Save” The page is updated to show a Products section
where you can see the products that match your automated conditions.
If you don’t see anything here, then check your conditions for spelling mistakes or errors.
To sort the products, choose an option from the dropdown menu.
If you choose to manually sort, then drag and drop the products into the order you want
them to appear.
To finish, you need to link the new collection in the store’s navigation bar so customers
can find it - this is not done automatically.
Click “Update your menu” or click “Online Store”, then “Navigation”.
Click “Main Menu” and then “Add menu item”.
Enter a name to match the collection.
Then in the “Link” field, select “Collections” and find the collection you just created.
Click “Add”.
Click the six-dot icon beside the menu item, and drag it where you’d like it to appear.
If you want to create a dropdown menu, drag and drop it under another menu item to nest
it.
When you’re done, click “Save”.
To preview everything, click the eye icon next to “Online store” to open a new browser
tab.
Here you can see how the new collection fits in the navigation bar.
You can also open the collection to confirm everything is in working order.
And that’s all there is to it!
If you have any questions, visit help.shopify.com for more information.