How to Apply Attributes to Products

This how-to is a part of the How to Filter Products Using Attributes series. Click below to navigate to the other articles in the series: 

1. How to create Attributes and Attribute Groups
2. How to Apply Attributes to Products
3. How to Display Attribute Filters on Category Pages
4. Optional: How to Create Attributes and Attributes Groups (Import)

Once you are finished creating the attributes and attribute groups, it is time to apply the attributes to the products. There's two ways to apply attributes to products:

• In the admin console on the product edit screen
• Product import.

We'll cover both methods in this article. 

Applying Attributes to Products using the Product Edit Screen

To apply attributes to products using the product edit screen, navigate to Catalog > Products, and edit a product you would like to apply attributes to, then click the Attributes tab. Click New to add attributes to the product:

 On the Edit Attribute Screen, select the appropriate attribute group, then select the attribute, and click save. Attribute Value and Primary Attribute are optional settings. Repeat this process for each attribute you need to add to the product:

How to Apply Attributes to Products with a Product Import

To make this process easier, we're first going to do a product export with a Column Mapping. Before performing the export, it is a good idea to add attributes to one product with the steps outlined above, in order to see how the attributes are formatted in the CSV. 

To perform an export, click Tools > Data Export > Product Export, then click the plus icon next to the Column Mapping Drop Down. On the Export Column Mapping edit screen, give the mapping a name, click the Check All box twice to uncheck all the columns, the check ItemID, ItemName, and AttributeList. Click Save, then refresh the page to see and select the column mapping you just created in the column mapping dropdown. Click Export in the top right. You'll see your export show up in the bottom left corner. Click download to download the CSV: 

Next, Edit the CSV File and add the attributes to the AttributeList column using the appropriate format: 

 Once you add all the attributes to the CSV, be sure to save the file in the .csv format, then navigate to Tools > Data Imports > Product Import and run the import. 

 Proceed to next article in series >>