Hi,

I have setup all my categories prior to uploading all my inventory.

Prior to uploading inventory I was able to assign the section ID number from the categories to the inventory list. I needed to upload my inventory items to the proper category instead of doing all of them manually.

The problem is I have red * next to many of my inventory items and when I go to look further in the modify I noticed there are no categories assigned to these inventory items even though they have the correct section ID associated with them.

I have also noticed that the items that don't have the categories assigned also appears the categories are missing from the Product Admin. However, when going to the category section the categories are actually there.... just not visible in the product admin section when attempting to assign the category.

I have also noticed that the categories that seem to be missing are assigned as (categories can be assigned instead of products can be assigned).

I have thousands of items assigned and cant do all this manually, also changing any of these categories from (categories assigned) to (Products assigned) messed up my entire categories which I have over two thousand of.

If someone can take a look at my inventory to help me figure a way to make this work correctly I would appreciate it.

Im sure I will have to provide a username and password to get to the admin section?

www.acmecarparts.com

Thanks

Hi

Can you let us know how you originally set up all the categories, did you do that manually or in some other way?

Andy

Please feel free to review / rate our software

Hi Andy,

I setup all the categories through the admin, manually.

It looks like I need all the categories and sub categories set to (Products can be added to this category).

However, if I try to do this it looks as though I loose all the sub categories underneath the categories set to (Categories can be added to this category).

All my inventory is listed in Red.

The inventory listed in red with asterix seem to be under categories set to (Categories can be added to this category) which is why I need to change all my categories to be set to (Products can be added to this category)

If you can take a quick look and advise how I might do this?

Thanks

You are going to have to change that manually I'm afraid.

Remember that top level categories (those which contain sub-categories) will need to be set to "Categories can be added to this category"

Bottom level categories (those which have no sub-categories, just products) will need to be set to "Products can be added to this category".

Andy

Please feel free to review / rate our software

Hi Andy,

I change this manually I am going to lose all of my subcategories?

The other issue is how do I get all my products to show on both categories and sub categories, not just sub categories?

Is there a possibility you might take a look and advise me how I should do this without losing all my data and info assigned to my products. I have well over 2300 items, this is somewhat confusing and I have reviewed the documentation for further details however there seems to be nothing available to guide me.

This will require me to redo over two thousand categories... and in the process ALL of my inventory I have added with be unnasigned to categories already assigned.

Thanks

Categories that contain sub categories cannot contain products.
By default technically they are already part of that.
If a customer selects the breadcrumb to view all products in the parent category, they will see those products in the sub categories.

Hi Dave,

It appears my solution would be to duplicate all my categories that are setup for subcatgories into categories that can add products. IE:

I have a category named ELECTRICAL, it is setup (Categories can be added) This means that NO PRODUCTS can be added to this... Is this correct?

However, if I make an exact additional clone of this Category (Using the clone button) and choosing (Products can be added) then it would work and I could add products to this category. AND display ALL the inventory items under this category as well as separate specific sub categories. Does this sound like a workable solution? Thoughts are welcomed...

What I am attempting to do is as customers click on the top navigation that is shows all the products under each category and sub category. It may already do this however I cant tell or see if this is the case due to so much of my inventory being assigned to categories that are strictly for subcategories.... lol,, if this makes sense to anyone... linda blair moment as my head spins...

Since I am using a third party bulk editor for inventory it allows to bulk edit assign categories so all might not be lost... I am tinkering for a bit to test it... I will report back...

The site I am using as a template for mine is www.denniscarpenter.com, If you drill down into the electrical categories, then several sub categories you will see how their product displays. This also explains why their Breadcrumbs don't work.

Thanks for the help and suggestions

Looking at that other site, I think you could just drop all products into the electrical category then setup product attributes and assign the products those attributes then add the product filer so once customers land on electrical, they can then filter alternator, battery, generator, horn, etc...

Hi Dave,
I thought about that.. However, for example, Alternators, there are many types, one for every year and model, and then there are 6volt and 12volt versions, dual belt or single belt, different amps sizes and output. There wouldn't be enough attributes for me to use and setup and I don't think that would be a proper use potentially? I think there is only three? if I remember correctly?

I could see setting up attributes for alternators for same category years and use attributes for different volts, either 6v or 12v, 50 or 90 amps, single or dual pulley, I will play around and see what I come up with.

I had to make some decisions based on selling auto parts as I haven't build a year, make or model database yet to further query out search info. For auto parts ever part practically needs its own category/group due to the variety of each same part. Hopefully I will figure a simple solution and pass it along.... Thanks again,