Adding variants

You add variants to a product that has more than one option, such as size or color. Each combination of option values for a product can be a variant of that product.

When you add a product, you adjust the Pricing, Inventory, and Shipping settings for the product from the product details page. However, when you add variants to the product, you need to adjust those settings for each variant from the variant details page.

Considerations for adding variants

Before adding variants to your product, review the following considerations:

• You can create up to 100 variants for a product.

• Each product can have up to 3 options. The options can be different from product to product. For example, one product can use size, color, and style, and another product can use weight, finish, and material.

Note

If you need to sell a product that has more than 100 variants or more than 3 options, then you can use a third-party app from the Shopify App Store, or customize your theme code to extract line item properties so that you can get custom requirements from your customers.

• If you want to save specialized information for your variants, then you can add custom fields to your variant details pages by using metafields. If you have an Online Store 2.0 theme, such as Dawn, the free Shopify theme, then you can add references to your product variant metafields through the theme editor.

• Stores with 50,000 or more variants are subject to a daily rate limit for uploading variants by using an app or CSV file import. You can add up to 1,000 new variants in a day before the limit is reached. If you exceed this limit, then an error is displayed and you need to wait 24 hours before you can add variants by using an app or CSV file import. Plus stores are exempt from this limit.

• If you're adding a variant for the online store and you select Continue selling when out of stock, then you can continue selling products when your inventory reaches zero and below. For example, you have zero stock but are using a product listing as a pre-order and want customers to be able to buy the product. As the product is purchased, your stock levels will drop below zero. However, if you deselect this option because you don't want to sell a product that has sold out, then customers can't buy the product.

Add variants when creating a product

If you're in the process of creating a product, you can add its variants at the same time.

Desktop

Steps:

1. In the Variants section of the Add product page, click + Add options like size or color.
2. In Option name, enter a name for the option, for example Size. Customers see this name.
3. In Option values, enter each option value in a separate field, for example Small, Medium, Large. Customers see these option values when they choose a variant.
4. If your variants differ in more than one way, then click + Add another option. You can have up to 3 options for each product.
5. Optional: As you add the product options, a list of variants appears. Check the boxes next to any combination of options that you don't sell and click Actions > Delete variant. You can also click Actions to edit prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for individual variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.
6. Click Save.
7. Optional: Add a different product image for each variant.

iPhone

Steps:

1. In the Options section of the Add product screen, tap Add options.
2. In Option name, enter a name for the option, such as Size. Customers see this name.
3. In Option values, enter each option value and then tap +, for example Small, Medium, Large. Customers see these option values when they choose a variant.
4. If your variants differ in more than one way, then tap Add option +. You can have up to 3 options for each product. As you add the product options, a list of new variants is created. Tap new variants ^ to view a list of variants that will be created.
5. Tap Done to create the variants.
6. Optional: Add a different product image for each variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for individual variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.
7. Tap Save to create the product.

Android

Steps:

1. In the Options section of the Add product screen, tap ADD OPTIONS.
2. In Option name, enter a name for the option, such as Size. Customers see this name.
3. In Option values, enter each option value and then tap +, for example Small, Medium, Large. Customers see these option values when they choose a variant.
4. If your variants differ in more than one way, then tap Add option +. You can have up to 3 options for each product. As you add the product options, a list of new variants is created. Tap new variants ^ to view a list of variants that will be created.
5. Tap ✓ to create the variants.
6. Optional: Add a different product image for each variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for individual variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.
7. Tap ✓ to create the product.

Add options to an existing product

If you've already created a product, you can add options to it to generate new variants. After you save the variants, you can add prices to them.

Desktop

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the name of the product.

3. In the Variants section, click + Add another option.

4. Enter the option information in the fields.

5. Click Save.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify app, go to Products > All products.
2. From the All products screen, tap a product.
3. In the Variants section, tap Edit and then Add option +.
4. Enter the option name and values in the fields.
5. Tap Done.

Android

1. From the Shopify app, go to Products > All products.
2. From the All products screen, tap a product.
3. In the Variants section, tap ⋮ > Edit options and then Add option +.
4. Enter the option name and values in the fields.
5. Tap ✓.

Add values to an existing option

If you've already created a product with variant options, you can add new values to it to quickly generate the multiple new variant combinations.

For example, if you currently offer three sizes (Small, Medium, and Large) and two colors (Red and Blue), and you want to add a third color Yellow, this method will create the 3 possible sizes of yellow variants at one time.

Desktop

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, click Edit next to the option you want to add a value to.

4. Add another value in the Add another value field.

5. Click Done.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.

7. Click Save.

iPhone

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Tap the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, tap Edit and then tap the option that you want to add a value to.

4. Add another value in the Option value field, and then tap +.

5. Tap Done.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.

7. Tap Save.

Android

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Tap the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, tap ⋮ > Edit options and then tap the option that you want to add a value to.

4. Add another value in the Option value field, and then tap +.

5. Tap ✓ to save the variants.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.

7. Tap ✓ to save the product.

Add a variant manually

You can add variants one at a time. Before you can save a new variant, at least one of its option values must be new. You can't save an exact duplicate of another variant that already exists.

Note

This method creates only a single variant. It doesn't create all possible combinations of the new value with the other existing variant options. To add multiple variant combinations at one time, add a new value to an option or duplicate multiple variants with a bulk action.

Desktop

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, click Add variant.

4. Add the variant values in the existing Options fields.

5. Click Save.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details. If you do make changes, click Save.

iPhone

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Tap the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, tap +.

4. Add the variant values in the existing Options fields.

5. Tap Done.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.

7. Tap Save.

Android

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Tap the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, tap ⋮ > Add variant.

4. Add the variant values in the existing Options fields.

5. Tap ✓ to save the variant.

6. Optional: Add a different product image for each new variant. You can also add prices, quantities, SKUs, barcodes, HS codes, country/region of origin, and locations for the new variants, or use the defaults based on the product details.

7. Tap ✓ to save the product.

Add a variant by duplicating an existing variant

You can duplicate a variant to save time when adding similar variants, rather than entering the same details again. The duplicate variant has the same details as the original variant.

Before you can save a duplicated variant, you need to edit at least one of its option values. You can't save an exact duplicate of itself or another variant that already exists.

Note

This method creates only a single variant. It doesn't create all possible combinations of the new value with the other existing variant options. To add multiple variant combinations at one time, add a new value to an option or duplicate multiple variants with a bulk action.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click the name of the product that requires another variant.

3. In the Variants section, click the name of the variant to duplicate, and then click Duplicate.

4. Edit at least one option value to create a unique variant. You can add a new option value, or add one that is already in use for the product variants.

5. Click Save.

Duplicate several variants by using a bulk action

If you need to create a new variant with the same options as a variant that you've already customized, then you can use a bulk action to duplicate the existing variant and add a new option.

To use a bulk action to add new variants, you select multiple similar variants and duplicate their details and then change at least one option value.

For example, you might sell T-shirts with two options: Size and Color. Your blue and red shirts are well-stocked and cost the same, but all of your yellow shirts are limited-edition, cost more, and are stored at a different warehouse. If you wanted to introduce green as a new limited-edition color, duplicating the yellow variants will save you time when setting quantities, prices, and locations for your green variants.

If a variant already exists, then duplicating a variant won't create a second copy. For example, you sell yellow T-shirts in small, medium, and large. You manually add a green T-shirt variant for size small. If you duplicate the color variant (yellow) to create green T-shirts in all available sizes, then the duplication will only create green T-shirts in medium and large, as the green T-shirt in size small already exists.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

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

3. In the Variants section, click an option value beside Select at the top of the variants list to select all the variants of a single option to duplicate. The variants you select need to have the same option value for the option you are adding, and different option values for all other options, such as green T-shirts in small, medium, and large.

4. Click ... and then in the DUPLICATE VARIANTS section, click the "...in another Option" based on the set of variants you selected.

5. In the Create duplicate variants dialog, enter the value for the new variants that you want to create and select the information to copy from the existing variants.

6. Click Duplicate.

The product now has new variants with the option value that you entered, and the other option values duplicated from the variants that you selected. You might need to add additional information for the new variants depending on what you selected to copy from the original.