How to add a Configurable Product in the Magento Admin Panel

1.    Login to your Magento user account

2.    In the top Navigation under Catalog > select Manage Products

3.    Click the orange “Add Product” button located in the top right corner

4.      On the New Product page under the Create Product Settings area:

4.1    Select the Attribute Set to a relevant option for the product being created from the drop down list

4.2    Select the Product Type to “Configurable Product” from the drop down list

4.3    Click Continue

4.4   CollectiveRay application developer interview questions and suggestions says to set the field labeled Select Configurable Attributes to one of the available options.  Select the one relevant to your product your creating by checking the box next to the name of the attribute you want; for example the “Manufacturer” option seen in the image.

4.5    Click Continue

*Descriptive differences between Simple and Configurable products to come in a later tutorial

5.    This section we will be editing the New Product setting from the default settings.  If there is a small red *’s by any of the text field titles that indicates its required for you to set that field appropriately.

5.1    General section:  Edit the required fields for your product as indicated by the red *’s, (additional fields may be populated as necessary).

*Any changes made to any section will make a small blue floppy icon appear next to the related product information field that indicates a save is required to keep the changes you have made.

5.1.1  Name – Your product name as you want it seen on the site

5.1.2  SKU – Set a unique number/letters to identify the items

5.1.3  Weight – Set as measured in lbs, used for shipping functionality

5.1.4  Status – Set to either “Enabled” or “Disabled” for the product to be  displayed on your site or not *this is helpful to turn a product on off from view without deleting the product.

5.1.5  Visibility – set one of four options:

1. “Catalog, Search” *default and most commonly used this option displays the product in the catalog and also through the search capability of the site.
2.  “Catalog” for products only showing up in the catalog.
3. “Search” for products only showing up via search results.
4. “Not Visible Individually” if you wish for the product to be associated to a configurable product (more on this later).* To Save your changes as you go use the Save and Continue Edit Button near the top right corner.

5.2 Prices section: Edit the required fields for your product as indicated by the red *’s, (additional fields may be populated as necessary).

5.2.1  Set the Price you want your product to be offered for

5.2.2  Set Tax Class – to taxable goods if item and state require

5.3 Images Section – Not required but usually necessary for your products success.  You may add multiple images and set the sort order that they will display in.

5.3.1  Click the “Browse Files” button and browse to your image you wish shown and once selected click “open”  * This will display the file and size on the page with an option to remove, you may also browse to multiple files.

5.3.2  Click the “Upload Files” button to put the images into Magento

5.3.3  If you roll over the new image boxes they will display the images uploaded.  You now may set the sort order for the order the images will be viewed and also set a label, select the bubble selectors to set the base, small, and thumbnail images, as well as exclude or removing the images.

5.4 Inventory Section – Setting used to determine if a product is in or out of stock for sale on the site.

5.4.1 – Set the QTY to something other then 0 if in stock Ex:1000

5.4.2 – Set the Stock Availability to either Out of Stock (default) or In Stock if you want users to be able to purchase this product.

5.5 Categories Section – This is to place your new product into a created category of your choosing based on the attributes of the product.  Ex: a chef knife product would go into the cutlery section and then the internal chef’s knives section.

5.5.1 – under Product Categories, check the box’s for the relevant categories for your product.

* If a category has a blue plus sign it will expand the category into its subsection categories

6.  Once all the settings are set for this new simple product click the Save Button at the top left.

*You may also use the Save and Continue Edit button after editing each section.  Once you hit the main save button it will return you to the Manage Product list showing your newly created product at the top of the list.

7.  You can go back into the product you created at any time by simply clicking on it from the Manage Products list under the Catalog section or by clicking the edit button on the far right of the row with your product listed.