We all know how difficult it is to find the right product from the infinitely long categories of an e-shop with bigger product collections. At the same time, with a convenient collection filtering solution, you can quickly reach the right product out of several thousand products.

Previously, adding filters to product collections to the site created on the Shopify platform was relatively time-consuming and limited. The e-store manager had to choose either a theme that supported product tag filtering or add additional functionality to their Shopify store by installing an extra app.

With the latest update, the creation and management of collection filters have been added to the Shopify’s base functionality and is available in all Shopify plans. The lates metafield management update, that we wrote about in our previous posts, set a good base for the new collection filtering functionality.

You can still see active collection filters in Online Store → Navigation → Collection and search filters in the Shopify admin panel, but to manage filters, you would need to install Shopify’s own app “Shopify Search & Discovery”. 
“Search & Discovery app” was added automatically to your store if you already used filter functionality. Otherwise, you can easily add it from Navigation like on the next image.
Please check your theme version first and see whether it supports the new collection filter functionality. If you’re unsure if your theme supports it then ask your theme developer support and you’re sure to get an answer. 
“The current theme doesn’t support filters.” notification means you either need to update your theme or select a new theme for your store.

All filters depend on the information that you have added to your products. By default, all Shopify stores can add a filter by stock, price, product type, product tag and brand (vendor). But only if you have added information to the product type and brand (Vendor) fields of course.

If your store has products with variations, then you can also set them as filters. Shopify also allows you to add multible variation options as filters, such as product color and size.

If your e-shop does not have products with variations, you will not see this setting option in the administration view.

Shopify now also allows you to create filters for any collection with metafields. If you have not used any metafields before, you can easily create them yourself. (watch video)

Creating a new metafield is easy by itself, but adding information to each product is already a lot more work. You must open each product in the Shopify admin and add exact values to it. It is worth remembering that words with uppercase and lowercase letters are considered different values. For example, if you add values to the material field, don't add “Birch” to one product and “Birch” to another, or have two different filter options in your store collection filter. Unfortunately, adding values to metafields with Shopify built in export / import functionality is impossible, and you have to do all the product data enrichment in the Shopify admin panel.

We created two example filters in our test store product material and room where the product would be suitable.

If you want to be able to select several options for one product to the same filter then you need to select Text → Single line text → check box in the “Accept list of values” box when creating the metafield. This way, you can choose a product that is suitable for both the kitchen and the living room. See our example in the following video.

Shopify merchants and developers have been waiting for a long time for this kind of a functionality to add a multi-value filter.

Feel free to let us know if you have any trouble creating filters or if you would like us to create an online store for you instead.