Categories, brands and attributes: common questions
Quick answers to the things people ask most about deleting, importing and managing categories, brands and attributes.
Quick answers to the issues sellers hit most when organizing categories, brands and attributes. For step-by-step guides, see the articles above.
Tip. To hide a category or brand without deleting it, untick Active. It stays out of the way but keeps its history.
Common questions
Why can't I delete a category? It says it has associated products or sub-categories.
A single category with products or sub-categories attached is protected. Reassign or remove the products and delete or move the sub-categories first. Deleting from the tree with checkboxes handles descendants for you, since selecting a parent cascades to everything beneath it.
Why can't I delete a brand? It says it has associated products.
Products are still assigned to it. Reassign those products to another brand, or clear their brand, then delete. The brand's Products count on the list shows how many are attached.
Why won't my attribute delete?
It's still in use. Either a product uses the attribute, or one of its options is linked to a variant SKU. Detach it from those variants first, then try again.
I tried to remove an option while editing an attribute and it stayed. Why?
That option is assigned to a product variant. The app keeps it and warns you which values it held onto. Detach it from the variants that use it, then remove it.
My imported categories came in flat instead of nested. What went wrong?
Each child row's Parent Name must match another row's Name exactly. Matching is case-sensitive, so a difference in capitalisation leaves the category at the top level.
An import row was skipped. What happened?
With Skip rows with errors on, bad rows are reported in the summary so the rest still import. Fix the listed rows and re-run them.
I can't see the Add, Edit or Delete buttons. Why?
Those depend on your role's product permissions. Ask an owner or admin to grant the create, edit or delete permission under Settings → Roles & Permissions.