Appearance
Product Search
Search any product or collection and see every option set that applies to it — in the order your customer sees them on the product page.
Overview
The option set editor answers "which products does this set apply to?". Product search answers the opposite question: "which sets apply to this product?"
That's the question you're actually asking when a customer reports a missing option, when you're not sure whether a set is reaching a product through a collection, or when two sets are stacking in an order you didn't expect.
Find it as Product search in the app's left navigation, between Option Sets and Settings.
It's a read-only view
Product search shows you what applies and why. It doesn't change anything — assign, reorder, and edit from the option set editor as before.
Searching
The search card at the top has two tabs:
| Tab | Searches | Shows on each result |
|---|---|---|
| Products | Your Shopify products by title | Product type · variant count, and a set-count badge |
| Collections | Your Shopify collections by title | Product count, and a set-count badge |
Leave the search box empty and you get your most recently updated products or collections, so there's always something to click.
The set-count badge tells you at a glance whether a product is covered:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 3 sets | Three active option sets apply |
| None | No option set applies — customers see only your theme's default options |
| 2 inactive | Shown alongside the count when some of the sets that target it are inactive |
Search matches the start of words
Search runs against Shopify, and Shopify matches from the beginning of a word — so owl will not find "Bowl". Search for bowl instead. If you can't find a product you know exists, try the first few letters of a word in its title.
Only the first 25 results
Results aren't paginated. Past 25 matches you'll see Showing the first 25 — refine your search to see more. Type a more specific term rather than scrolling.
Your store's hidden add-on products — the ones the app creates behind the scenes for price add-ons — are filtered out, so they never clutter your results.
The Product View
Pick a product and the panel beside it (or below it, on a phone) shows:
- A header with the product's thumbnail, title, and type · variants · price
- Applies to this product — every option set that targets it
Each option set row shows four things:
| Part | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Position number | Where the set sits in the stack on the product page, top to bottom |
| Set name | The option set, as named in your admin |
| Why it applies | Assigned directly, Via collection {name}, or All products |
| Meta | The number of options, and the set's Order value when it has one |
The numbers are the stacking order
Position 1 is the set your customer sees first on that product page, 2 next, and so on. This is the same order the storefront renders them in.
The position is not the Order field
They're different things, and they often disagree:
- Order is the sort key you set on the option set. It can have gaps, ties, or be left blank.
- Position is where the set actually lands on this product, once every applicable set is sorted.
A set with "Order 5" can sit at position 1 — if it's the only set with an Order value, everything else sorts after it. That's why the row shows both, labelled separately (3 options · Order 5).
One set also sits at different positions on different products, depending on what else applies there.
Sets that take no number
Two kinds of row are listed but not numbered, because the storefront never renders them:
| Row | How it looks | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Inactive set | Greyed, badged Inactive, marked Not shown to customers | Its status is inactive. It sits where it would stack if you activated it |
| Set with no options | Marked No options — not shown to customers | An empty set renders nothing |
Neither shifts the numbering of the sets below it. Activating an inactive set, or adding an option to an empty one, is what gives it a number.
Numbering is the stack, not a guarantee of what's visible
Conditional logic runs on the storefront, against things this page can't see — the product's tags, the customer, what they've already selected. A condition can hide every option in a set on a given product, which moves the sets below it up.
So treat the numbers as the order sets are stacked, not a promise of what a given customer will see. To check the real outcome, view the product page itself.
Why a set applies
The badge on each row tells you how the set reached this product:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Assigned directly | The product is picked in the set's Product selection |
| Via collection {name} | The product belongs to a collection the set targets |
| All products | The set targets every product in the store |
This is usually the fastest way to answer "why is this option showing up here?" — particularly when the answer is a collection you'd forgotten the set targets.
The Collection View
Switch to the Collections tab and pick a collection to see the option sets assigned to that collection, active and inactive.
Two differences from the product view:
- No position numbers. Customers never see a per-collection stack — the order only becomes real on a specific product, where "All products" sets and directly-assigned sets join in.
- "All products" sets aren't listed. They apply to the collection's products, but they're not assigned to the collection, so listing them here would be misleading. Check a product in the collection to see the full picture.
A collection showing no sets
Option sets assigned to a collection appear here once that collection's products have synced. If you've just created or changed the assignment, give it a moment.
If a set is still missing — particularly one that came over in a migration — use Re-sync collections on the Option sets page.
On a Phone
Below tablet width the page drills down instead of splitting:
- The search card stays at the top
- Tapping a result replaces the list with that product's option sets
- All results takes you back to the list, returning you to the row you came from
Sharing a View
The page keeps its state in the URL — the tab, the search term, and the selected product. Copy the address and you'll hand someone the exact view you're looking at, which is handy for a support thread or a question to a teammate.
Reloading the page keeps your selection too, even if it isn't in the first page of search results.
Common Questions
A customer says an option is missing. Where do I start? Search the product. If it shows None, no set targets it — assign it to one, or add it to a collection a set targets. If sets are listed but the option still isn't on the storefront, check whether the set is inactive, has no options, or is being hidden by a condition.
Two sets are stacking in the wrong order. The positions here are the real order. Change the Order value on the sets — see Option Set Order. Remember Order is a sort key, not the position: what matters is how the values compare to each other.
Why does this product have an option I never assigned to it? Check the why it applies badge. It's almost always an All products set, or a set reaching it Via collection.
A set I just activated still shows no number. Reopen the product — the page refetches each time you select one. If it still has no number, check whether the set has any options.
Can I edit an option set from here? Not yet. Open it from the Option sets page. This view is read-only for now.
Related
- Apply Product Selection — how sets are assigned to products and collections
- Option Set Order — controlling the stacking order
- Option Set Status — activating and deactivating sets
- Setting Up Conditions — why a set that applies can still be hidden
- Price Add-Ons — the hidden products this search filters out