Automated collections

An automated collection uses selection conditions to automatically include matching products. You can add as many selection conditions as you like, and you can specify whether products need to meet all conditions or any condition to be included in the collection.

If you want to choose specific products for a collection, then you can create a manual collection instead.

Learn how to create an automated collection:

If you don't want to publish the collection as soon as you create it, then you can set a specific date when the collection will be published to your online store. Learn more about future publishing.

To create an automated collection:

Add selection conditions for an automated collection

When you create an automated collection, you can add one or more conditions for it in the Conditions section. That section will also show any conditions that you've already added to the collection.

To add a condition to an automated collection:

Condition types

You can add one or more conditions to match products based on the following details:

• Product title, product type, product vendor, or variant title
  
• Product tag
  
• Product price, compare at price, weight, or inventory stock
  

You can also add more than one condition to define a range of product prices, compare at prices, weights, or inventory stocks.

Set conditions based on product title, variant title, type, or vendor

You can add a condition to include a product in a collection based on the product's title, variant title, type, or vendor. You can select from the options in the second drop-down list to control how a product needs to match the condition value that you enter in the third field. The text that you enter in the third field is compared to your products according to the condition's settings, and matching products are included in the collection. The condition is not case-sensitive.

You can select from the following options to control how a product needs to match the condition value that you enter:

Example

You can set the following condition to include only the products that have titles that end with the words limited edition:

1. Select Product title from the first drop-down list.
   
2. Select ends with from the second drop-down list.
   
3. Enter limited edition:
   

   
   

With this condition set, products that have the following titles are added automatically to the collection:

• T-shirt with logo, limited edition
  
• Belt with silver buckle - special limited edition
  
• 2018 Baseball Cap with Logo, Limited Edition
  

Products that have the following titles are not included in the collection, because their titles don't end with the specified text string:

• Limited edition T-shirt
  
• Belt with silver buckle - limited edition 2018
  
• 2018 Baseball Cap, Limited Ed.
  

Set conditions based on product tags

You can set a condition to include products with a particular product tag. When a condition uses product tags, you need to enter the exact tag as a condition value.

For example, to set up a condition that selects products tagged with accessories:

1. Select Product tag from the first drop-down list.
   
2. Select is equal to from the second drop-down list.
   
3. Enter accessories.
   

Set conditions based on price, weight, or inventory stock

You can add a condition to include a product in a collection based on its price, compare at price, weight, or inventory. You can set the condition to include products that match its value exactly, or products that are greater or less than its value:

For example, to set up a condition that includes products that are priced $100 or less:

1. Select Product price from the first drop-down list.
   
2. Select is less than from the second drop-down list.
   
3. Enter $100.01.
   

Using multiple selection conditions

You can set more than one selection condition to control which products are included in a collection. You can choose whether products must match all the conditions to be included in the collection, or any of the conditions.

For example, suppose that you set the two following conditions for a collection:

• Product tag is equal to shirt.
  
• Price is less than $100.01.
  

If you select all conditions, then products are included only if they are tagged with shirt and are also priced at $100 or less. Products need to match both conditions to be included in the collection.

If you select any condition, then products are included if they are tagged with shirt or if they are priced at $100 or less. Products need to match only one condition to be included in the collection.

Set multiple conditions to define a range

To include the products with a price, weight, or inventory value within a range, you need to set more than one condition. The low end of the range is defined in one condition, and the high end of the range in another. You need to select all conditions to include only the products that fall within the range.

For example, to set up a collection that includes products priced within a range of $50-$150, you would set up the two following conditions:

1. Product price is greater than $49.99.
   
2. Product price is less than $150.01.
   

Change the publish date of a collection

You can set a specific publishing date for a collection to become available in your online store:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections.
   

2. Click a collection.
   

3. In the Sales channels section, click the calendar icon beside Online Store:
   

   
   

4. Set the date and time that you want to publish the collection.
   

5. Click Save.
   

Change the contents of an automated collection

You can change the contents of an automated collection by editing the conditions or by editing a product so that it doesn't meet the conditions.

To edit a collection's conditions:

Example: Create a sale collection

You can create an automated collection to feature products that have a sale price. To make your collection show only the products that are on sale, you can set a condition for the collection to include products that have a Compare at price. To learn more about using Compare at prices to put products on sale, see Setting sale prices.

To create an automated sale collection:

Example: Create a collection that contains products from other collections

Collections always contain products. You can’t create collections of collections. However, by using product tags and automated collection conditions, you can create a collection that contains all the products that are in other collections.

Jayla runs a clothing store that also sells belts, hats, and other accessories. She wants to create a collection for belts and a collection for hats. She also wants a collection that contains all of her accessories, including all the belts and hats. By creating these collections, she’ll be able to display her related products in various ways on her online store.

She starts by creating the products, and enters a tag to identify each one:

Next, she creates two automated collections, each with a single condition:

Now, Jayla can create another collection for all of the accessories, by using multiple conditions:

The collection, which she calls Accessories, has two conditions:

• Product tag is equal to hat
  
• Product tag is equal to belt
  

The any condition option is selected, so a product that matches either of those conditions is included in the new collection.

Later, if she adds other types of accessories, such as scarves, then she can tag them with scarf and add the condition Product tag is equal to scarf to her Accessories collection.

Having created the collections, Jayla can display them in her online store, and can update her online store navigation to link to the collections from menus.

Delete a collection

To permanently delete a collection: