Rebuild a variable product as options

Most shops that want options already have variations. A polo in five colours and five sizes is twenty-five rows to build, price and maintain, and nothing about switching to option sets is appealing if it means building it all again by hand.

From 1.12.0 you do not have to. AddOnBoss reads the variable product you already have and builds the option version beside it.

Where to find it

Open any variable product and go to the Product options tab. At the bottom sits a card headed Options instead of variations. The same offer appears as a row action in the products list, so you can start from there too.

The card shows the sets it would make, using your own choice names, so you can see that Colour and Size will become two sets before you decide anything.

What carries over, and what does not

The card answers that plainly, in two columns, before you press anything. Some of it depends on whether your shop runs Pro.

What	Free	Pro
Prices	Each choice carries an extra charge. A pair costs its choices’ charges added together.	Every pair keeps its own price, even one no colour plus size step adds up to.
Weight and dimensions	Every pair keeps its own.	Every pair keeps its own.
Choice photographs	Each photograph shows on its choice.	Each photograph shows on its choice, and the product picture follows the choice.
Stock	Does not carry over. Stock counts on the whole product.	One stock figure for each pair.

On the free plugin, some pairs may not cost their choices added together. The card then says how many pairs will cost a different amount, before anything is built.

If a Pro licence lapses, products you already converted keep charging each pair its own price.

Does not carry over, on any plan

• Sale prices. A pair holds one figure, so the full price is kept and a sale would otherwise have become permanent.
• SKUs. A product with options has one SKU, so a shop that works from the code of each combination should stay with variations.
• Reviews, at first. They stay with the original until the copy takes its place, which brings them across.

A column only appears when it has something to say. A product that loses nothing shows one column, not an empty heading.

Nothing happens until you say so

Pressing Duplicate with option sets asks first, naming the product. Your variable product is never touched: what you get is a draft copy beside it. Nothing reaches a shopper until you publish it.

Checking the draft

Open the draft and its Product options tab opens on a check card headed Built from <your product>. It samples three pairs, the cheapest, one from the middle and the dearest, and shows what each was charged before, so you can compare against your own variations screen without counting through every row. Under that it lists what to check on the page. It says where each photograph shows and, if your variations held stock, where stock counts now.

Taking the original’s place

When the draft reads right, Publish and take its place does the swap. It asks first, and spells out what it means: the name and the web address change hands, the reviews come across, and the original retires to a draft. Nothing is deleted, so you can always go back.

When to stay with variations

Rebuilding is not always right. Stay with variations if:

• you work from a separate SKU for each combination
• you count stock per colour and size, and do not have Pro
• you do not have Pro, and the card says some pairs will cost a different amount

The card tells you which of these apply to the product in front of you rather than leaving you to work it out.