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Add an option after creation

A product's options and values aren't entirely fixed once it's created — see options and variants for what can and can't change. This recipe covers the two ways to extend an existing product's options: adding a value to an option it already has, and adding a whole new option dimension.

Add a value to an option the product already has​

Use this when the option itself is right — you just need another choice, such as adding "XL" to an existing Size option.

  1. Go to Catalogue → Products and open the product.
  2. In the Options card, find the option's row and select its Add control.
  3. Type the new value's display label and confirm. The value is added immediately.

Existing variants are unaffected — none of them switch to the new value automatically. The value simply becomes available to use the next time you create a variant for this product.

Add a whole new option​

Use this when the product needs a dimension it doesn't have at all yet — adding Colour to a product that only varies by Size, for example. This is a bigger operation than adding a value: it touches every existing variant.

  1. Go to Catalogue → Products and open the product.
  2. Select Add option, next to the Options card heading. This opens the add-option wizard.
  3. Define the option — its display name (for example "Colour"), a machine name derived automatically from what you type, and its values. Pick one value as the default: this is the value that gets back-filled onto every one of the product's existing variants, so each of them ends up with a value for the new option too.
  4. Review the matrix preview. Every existing variant is listed as back-filled with the default value. Below that, every new combination — each existing variant paired with each non-default value — is listed with a suggested SKU you can edit, and a checkbox to keep or skip it. Skipped combinations aren't created.
  5. Select Add option. This runs as one operation: your existing variants are back-filled with the default value, and a new variant is created for every combination you kept — each starting in Draft status, inheriting stock tracking and weight from the existing variant it was built from.

The five-option ceiling​

A product can carry at most five options in total, counting both the ones it was created with and any added afterwards. Publishing to a sales channel only supports three — a product carrying four or five options can't be published to a channel at all, and there's no way to remove an option once it's been added, so weigh this before adding a fourth or fifth option to a product you plan to publish. See options and variants for more on the publish limit.