This guide helps you understand and configure categories in Flxpoint to ensure products are organized correctly. Learn through interactive tutorials, practical how-to guides, detailed explanations, and a comprehensive reference.

What is Managing Categories?

Managing Categories in Flxpoint lets you view and edit the category assignments on your products. Think of it as organizing the aisles in your online store, grouping similar items together so customers (and your team) can find them easily.

The Managing Categories feature helps you standardize your product catalog across multiple suppliers and channels. For example, if one vendor calls an item “Handbags” and another “Purses,” you can map both into a single category so your storefront stays consistent. It also saves time by letting you push category updates to all connected sales channels at once.

Merging Categories

Flxpoint lets you combine duplicate or overlapping categories so every product lives under a single, unified category tree. Merging happens in draft mode first, giving you a chance to review before saving.

Key Rules

• Category 1 ➞ Category 1: You can merge any top-level category into another top-level category. All of its children follow automatically.
• Category 2 & 3 ➞ Same-level only: A Category 2 can merge into another Category 2 (under the same Category 1). A Category 3 can merge into another Category 3 (under the same Category 1). (Future releases may allow cross-parent merges.)

All merges remain pending until you click Save. Nothing touches your live catalog or channels until then.

What You’ll See

• Link icon 🔗 next to a merged category. Hover to see the original source names.
• Success banner after saving: Flxpoint retags the affected products immediately. If any product can’t be updated, the banner lists them so you can investigate.

How-tos

This section provides step-by-step instructions to complete common tasks, like following a recipe.
 

How to Filter Products by Category

1. In Inventory or Products, click the filter (funnel) icon.
2. Select a category (e.g. “Totes”) from the dropdown.
3. All items in that category (and its parent, e.g. “Bags & Totes”) will appear.

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How to Edit a Category

• On a Product page, click the tag-shaped Manage product categories button.
• In the panel:
  • Find your category in the list or tree.
  • Click the ⋮ menu next to it and choose:
    • Rename: Type a new name and hit Save.
    • View Products: See every product assigned to that category.
    • Move: Pick a new parent category and confirm, the entire sub-tree moves with it.
• Click Save at the bottom of the panel to apply your changes.

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Convert a Child Category to a Parent

1. On any Product page, click Manage product categories (tag icon).
2. In the category tree, hover over the child category you want to promote and click its ⋮ menu.
3. Select Convert to Parent Category.
4. A confirmation modal appears, explaining that “any child categories will be moved with it.” Review the warning, then click Yes, continue to finalize.
5. Click Save in the top-right corner of the panel to persist the change.

Note: Once converted, this category becomes a top-level parent and retains all its former children.

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How to Merge Categories

1. Open any product and click Manage product categories ![tag-icon].
2. In the category tree, choose the source category, click ⋮ → Merge.
3. In the modal, pick the destination category from the same level list.
4. Review the preview and click Merge.
5. When all edits look right, click Save in the upper-right corner.
6. (Optional) Click Apply changes to sales channels, choose the channels, and apply.

How to Sync Changes to Sales Channels

• After editing and clicking Save, choose Apply changes to sales channels.
• Select one or more channels (e.g. Amazon, eBay).
• Click Apply and wait for the confirmation banner.

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How to Bulk Delete Orphaned Categories

Available on Standard and Pro plans.

An orphaned category is one that is no longer linked to any product parents or listings. They accumulate over time as products are rebuilt, categories are reassigned, or listing channels are reconfigured. Rather than deleting them individually, you can bulk-delete all orphaned categories in a single action from either the Product Catalog view (product-level orphans) or the Channel Listings > View Categories view (listing-level orphans, per channel).

1. For product-level orphans: Navigate to Product Catalog → View Categories and use the Delete Orphaned Categories action in the Category Manager toolbar.
2. For listing-level orphans: Navigate to Channel Listings → View Categories, select the channel, then use the same action.

Flxpoint identifies orphaned categories across Category 1, 2, and 3 and deletes them in batches. Categories assigned to at least one product or listing are not affected. Deletion is permanent — re-create the category manually if you need it back.

Tutorial

Getting Started with Managing Categories

First Steps

• Go to Products → [select any Product]
• The category (tag) icon opens the Managing Categories panel so you can make edits.

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Reference

This section provides factual details, like an encyclopedia entry.

• Category Levels: Supports up to 3 tiers (e.g. Level 1 → Level 2 → Level 3).
• Views Available:
  • Inventory list via the filter icon.
  • Products list via the filter icon.
• Editing Available: Only on individual Product pages via the tag icon.
• No restrictions: You can assign any category you’ve defined—there’s no longer an “inventory-only” limitation.

Best Practices

• Merge broadest duplicates first (Category 1), then refine deeper levels.
• Keep a short naming convention guide handy to avoid new duplicates later.
• After a major merge, run a quick filter by the old category name to confirm it’s gone.