Knowledge Base

Overview

Learn how to add product variants from your Shopify admin:

Creating variants for a new product

To create variants while you're adding a new product:

1. From the Add a product page, click Add variants:

   

2. Accept the default Option name (Size) or type a different option name into the field.

3. In the Option values field, enter each value followed by a comma. When you enter a comma, the variant options appear as tags:

   

4. If your variants differ in more than one way, then click Add another option, for example, if the product is available in different colors as well as different sizes. You can have a maximum of three option names.

5. Now you can Modify the variants to be created. Look through the list of variants and uncheck the boxes next to any combinations that you don't sell. You can also add prices, SKUs, and barcodes for individual variants at this stage.

   

   Note

   You can show different product images for each variant with Variant Images.

6. Click Save.

If you are selling custom products that have more than three options or 100 combinations, then you can edit your theme code to extract line item properties and get more information from your customers.

Changing the variants of an existing product

You can make changes to the variants of an existing product at any time:

1. From your Shopify admin, click Products (or press G P P): 

   

2. Click the name of the product that you want to update.

3. On the product details page, find the Variants section:

   

4. There are several ways to change a product's variants:

   • Click Reorder variants to change the variant display order on your website.
   • Click Edit options to change an option name for all your variants. Enter a new name in the boxes or click Add another option.
   • Click Add variant to create a new variant.
   • Click Edit next to a variant you want to change. You can then change the variant options, prices, inventory, and shipping information.

5. Click Save when you've finished updating the variant information.

Creating additional variants of an existing product

If you want to sell new varieties of an existing product, then you'll need to create additional variants.

Add or duplicate a variant

1. From your Shopify admin, click Products (or press G P P): 

   

2. Click the name of the product that requires additional variants.

3. In the product information page, find the Variants section:

   

4. You can either add a new variant, or duplicate an existing variant:

   • Click Add a variant to create a new variant.
   • Click Edit next to a similar variant, then click Duplicate.

5. Update the variant information as required to create a unique variant.

6. Click Save.

Bulk duplicate existing variants

1. From your Shopify admin, click Products (or press G P P): 

   

2. Click the name of the product that requires additional variants.

3. In the product information page, find the Variants section:

   

4. Check all the variants you want to duplicate.

5. In the Bulk actions dropdown, select the new variant you want to create:

   

6. In the Duplicate Variants dialog, enter the option you want for the variant you selected.

   

7. Click Done.

You will now see new variants with the option that you entered, and options from the variants that you selected in step 1.

Changing the order in which variants are shown on your store

You can change the order in which your variants are shown on your store from your Shopify admin.

To change the variant display order:

1. From your Shopify admin, click Products (or press G P P): 

   

2. Click the name of the product whose variants you want to re-order.

3. In the product information page, find the Variants section:

   

4. Click Reorder variants.

5. In the Reorder variants and options window, click and drag an option name to move it to a different position:

   

   When a customer is on the product page, they will see the options for this variant in the order you set.

6. Click and drag a variant name to move it to a different position:

   

   Variants at the top of this list will show up first when a customer views the product page.

7. Click Save.

Variant limits

If you get an error message while attempting to add variants to a product, it means that you've exceeded the limit of 100 variants per product. This limit cannot be raised for any account or plan.

How do I know how many variants my product has?

On the Products page of your Shopify admin, under the Inventory column, you will see how many variants a product has.

So I can only have 100 variants. What about options – can I have more than 3?

Each product can have a maximum of 3 options, for example Size, Color, and Style. Note that options can differ from product to product. One product might use Size, Color, and Style, and another might use Weight, Finish, and Material. This limit of 3 options per product cannot be raised for any Shopify account or plan.