Automatic collection with status condition

[tangletownfarm]

Hi,

I want to be able to make product status (active/draft) a condition for my automatic collections. Is there an app that does this? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Summer]

Hey, @tangletownfarm!

This is Summer from the Social Care team at Shopify. Thanks for your question! I understand you want to use product status as a condition in automated collections. This isn't natively possible as we aren't able to customize the collection conditions, however, it's a great idea that may be achieved through apps.

I browsed through the apps in the Shopify App Store and while I didn't find any apps that specifically mention they have the ability to use product status as an automated collection condition, I found some that provide advanced functionality in creating collections. You can check them out through the links below.

• Collection Creator
• Advanced Collections

The best way to find out if these apps can offer the function you need is to install the apps and test them in your store. They have free trial periods or plans, so you can utilize these to see if they're suitable for your website. Alternatively, you may contact the app's support team to inquire about a feature, through their contact details under the Support section in the listing.

Is there any particular reason why you wanted to use product status as an automated collection condition? If you're concerned about the product being visible on the website while they're still in draft, I can assure that the products with a draft status will not appear on the website, even though they're added to a collection. Only products with an active status will be visible on the website.

Feel free to respond to this post and let me know how this feature can help your website. I'd be happy to submit a feature suggestion to our development team on your behalf, especially if this can positively your business!

[tangletownfarm]

Summer, thanks for the app recommendations! I will check them out. 

Our main reason for wanting product status as a collection condition is because our product offerings change according to the season (we are basically an online farm-to-table grocery store), so we do not want to have to scroll through all of the products in the collection when the majority of them are not being offered at a given time. Hopefully, that makes sense.

I am aware that using a manually-created collection would likely solve this problem, but my boss does not want to have to deal with manually adding and removing products.

Any other advice?

[Summer]

My pleasure, @tangletownfarm!

It absolutely makes sense for your online farm-to-table grocery business to have seasonal products. Also, I get that manually adjusting a large number of products in collections may be a tedious process. Since that's the case, I recommend sticking with automated collections and using product tags as conditions.

You can add tags to your products and tag them by season, or by a more specific category such as months, then use product tags as conditions in the automated collection to add the products. Every time the season changes, you can simply adjust the conditions – remove the irrelevant tags from the collection and replace them with the relevant ones to modify the products within the collection. You can add tags individually or by bulk through the bulk editor, through a product CSV file, or through an app.

If products are removed from the collection but they have an active status, they won't be visible on the collection page but they may still be accessible through the product page link. Anyone can access the link if they have it saved in their browser. To ensure the products are inaccessible, you can change their status to draft. This can be done individually through each product page or by bulk through the Products > All products page with the following the steps below.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Products > All products.
2. Check all the products you wish to change the status of. If these products are tagged, you can also filter them by tag to pull them up and easily check them all.
3. Click More actions.
4. Select Set as draft.
5. Click Set as draft on the popup.

For a significantly large volume of products, you can also use a product CSV file to adjust the status.

While you're working on collections, you may want to consider optimizing them so your business can benefit from the collections and so they can bring in sales. This article shares best practices on setting up collections for them to drive traffic and boost your store's credibility. It's got some great tips that I believe will help.

I hope the product tag method works! If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know.