Subcollections

Divide your main collection into smaller, more focused subcollections.

What are related collections?

Symmetry provides a subcollections feature on collection pages that helps your customers find what they are looking for in a more organized and efficient manner. By dividing a main collection into smaller, more focused subcollections, e-commerce sites can better showcase their products and make it easier for customers to navigate and discover new items.

Each collection can have a list of related collections shown at the top of the collection page.  The collection links can be displayed as images in a gallery or simple buttons. These subcollections can be chosen from a list or, to have a specific list for each collection, they can be managed using a collection list metafield. 

Gallery style

Chantilly-gallery-layout2.png

Buttons style

Chantilly-button-layout-2.png

How to set up related collections

Steps

  1. From the Shopify admin area, go to Online store > Themes > Customize.
  2. Select Collection from the dropdown at the top and select your collection template (e.g. default collection)
  3. Click on the Collection pages text and scroll down to the settings area called Related collections / Subcollection
  4. For versions after 7.0.0, there are two methods for creating a list of collections. Choose to 
    • Connect a collection metafield (dynamic source) that contains your collections list if you wish to show different related collections for each collection. Just-metafield.gif
    • Or, click on Select collections if you wish to show the same list of related collections for every collection using that template Just-a-list.gif
  5. Select the Related collections style to be buttons or a gallery. The gallery style includes additional settings to configure the image layout.
  6. Save your changes.

Note

The current collection is automatically excluded from the related collections list.

How to create a collection list metafield

If you wish to use the collection list metafield method in order to show a different list of related collections for every collection, then there are a few steps required to set it up. This method can be used in versions after 7.0.0.

The metafield for this related collections/subcollections needs to be a Collection metafield of type Reference containing a List of collections.

Steps

  1. To use a metafield to create a list of related collections, open the Shopify admin and go to Settings > Custom data.
  2. Click on Collections and Add definition
  3. Create a new collection metafield for your list of collections. The metafield should be of type reference and contain a list of collections.
    Subcollections metafield.png
  4. In the Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections and edit a collection and find the newly created metafield. Enter the list of related collections and save the changes for that collection.
    subcollections-duke-collection.png
  5. Open the Theme editor, and navigate to the collection you have just edited or select Collections and the desired collection template from the dropdown at the top.
  6. Click on Collections pages > Related collections / Subcollections > Collections and choose the metafield you have just created to be the dynamic source for the list of collections. 

For more information, this Shopify metafields guide may be useful. 

FAQs

How do I set up subcollections in theme versions prior to 7.0.0?

In versions prior to 7.0.0 the subcollections shown worked in a different way and were based on menus. 

Steps

  1. From the Shopify admin area, go to Online store > Themes > Customize.
  2. Select Collection from the dropdown at the top and select Default collection.
  3. Click on the Collection pages text and scroll down to the SUBCOLLECTIONS section.
  4. Select Enable subcollections.
  5. Choose a Subcollections menu. This can be the main menu for the store or a different menu containing links to collections. To create a new menu, go to the Shopify admin area Online Store > Navigation and add a new menu.
  6. Select the Subcollections style to be buttons or a gallery. The gallery style includes additional settings to configure the image layout. 
  7. Save your changes.
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