This article shows you how to rename a category, move it under another one, change its image, icon, size guide or translation, and delete it. A category can only be deleted once it is empty, so it also shows you how to move its products and subcategories out first.
Editing and deleting categories needs the categories permissions, which the store owner and store managers have. Sales staff can see your categories but not change them. See staff roles and permissions.
Edit a category
- In the sidebar, open Products, then select Categories (open your categories (opens in a new tab)).
- Find the category in the tree. Type part of its name in Search categories… if the tree is long — see the category tree.
- Select the pencil (Edit) on its row.
The Edit category window opens with everything already filled in. It has the same parts as when you added the category: Details & hierarchy, Category image, Category icon and, when your store sells in more than one language, Translations and Size guide in other languages.
- Change what you need:
- Name — the name customers see, in your store’s main language. It is required.
- Parent category — where the category sits. Choose No parent (top level) to make it a department of its own.
- Description — the short line under the name.
- Size guide — the sizes shown on the product pages of this category and of its subcategories that have none of their own.
- Select Save at the bottom of the window.
The window closes and Category saved. appears. If the name is empty, the field says Enter a category name. If the save fails, a message says Could not save changes. and the window stays open with your changes, so you can try again.
Cancel, the close button and the Esc key close the window without saving and without asking.
Renaming changes the link
The link is rebuilt from the name every time you save, using the same rules as when you added the category. Rename Dresses to Day dresses, and its link becomes day-dresses. The console shows the new link under Name as you type.
Warning
The old address stops working. A link to /category/dresses that you shared on Instagram, sent on WhatsApp or that a search engine has saved now opens a Category not found. page. If customers already use a category’s link, rename it only when you must, and share the new link afterwards.
Renaming in your main language does not touch the translations. If you rename Dresses to Day dresses, the Arabic name stays فساتين until you change it — see the next part.
Moving a category
When you choose a different Parent category, the category moves with all its subcategories, and its products stay in it. The list leaves out the category itself and its own subcategories, so a category can never end up inside itself.
At each level, categories are listed A to Z by their name in your main language. You cannot change the order in the console. The storefront’s menu shows the first five top-level categories in that order, with one level of subcategories under each. So a category you move to the top level can push another one out of the menu, and one moved three levels deep no longer appears in it, though its page still works.
Change its image, icon or translation
Scroll down in the same Edit category window.
- Category image — select Upload image to replace the photo, or Remove to take it off. Without an image, your storefront shows the category’s icon instead. The photo can be a JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF of up to 10 MB.
- Category icon — select Browse icons and choose another, or No icon to clear it. On Growth and up, Suggest with AI picks one from the name and description and uses one AI category icon credit. On an existing category, AI only runs when you select the button.
- Translations — select a language card, such as العربية, and change the Name or Description in that language.
- Size guide in other languages — change the box for each language, such as Size guide · العربية. It is never machine translated.
Generate missing and Copy missing from primary only fill fields that are empty. To have AI write a field again — after you rename the category, say — clear that field in the language card first, then select Generate missing. AI translation is on Starter and up — see plans and what each includes.
Then select Save. Nothing in the window is kept until you do.
Delete a category
Only an empty category can be deleted: one with no subcategories and no products. Products you deleted earlier do not count, but drafts and archived products do.
- On the Categories page, select the bin (Delete) on the category’s row.
- Read the prompt. Delete category? says: “The category is removed from your catalogue and storefront. This cannot be undone.”
- Select Delete to go ahead, or Cancel to keep it.
Category deleted. appears and the category leaves your tree. Its page leaves your storefront and its link stops working. If the delete fails for another reason, a message says Could not delete. Try again.
Warning
A deleted category cannot be brought back. Its image, icon, size guide and translations go with it.
A deleted category gives its name and link back. A new category with the same name gets the same link, with no -2 added, so you can rebuild a category you deleted by mistake — its image, icon, size guide and translations, though, you add again.
A category with products: move them first
If the category still has products when you confirm, nothing is deleted. A message says how many, for example: This category still has 3 product(s). Reassign them to another category before deleting it.
To find those products and move them:
- In the sidebar, open Products, then select the Products list (open your products list (opens in a new tab)).
- Keep the All tab selected, so drafts and archived products show too.
- Select Filters, choose the category under Category, then select Apply. See filter the products list.
The list now shows exactly the products in that category. Products in its subcategories are not included.
- Move each product to another category in one of two ways:
- Open the product, choose another category in its Category field, and save it — on every plan. See edit a product.
- Tick the products, open the category list in the bar that appears — it starts on No category — choose the new category, then select Apply category. This bulk action is on Starter and up; on Free the button shows a padlock. See change many products at once.
- Go back to Categories and delete the category again.
If some products should have no category at all, leave that list on No category and select Apply category.
A category with subcategories: move or delete those first
When a category has subcategories, selecting its bin does not open the prompt. A message says This category has subcategories. Move or delete them first. The chip on its row, such as 3 subcategories, tells you how many there are.
For each subcategory, do one of these:
- Keep it, somewhere else. Select its pencil (Edit), choose another parent in Parent category — or No parent (top level) to make it a department of its own — and select Save. Its products go with it.
- Delete it. Select its bin (Delete). It must be empty itself, so move its own products and subcategories out first, as described above.
When the chip is gone from the category’s row, it has no subcategories left. Delete it as usual — provided it has no products of its own.
Next, see find products in your catalogue to check what a category holds, or go back to organise products into categories to build the rest of your tree.