Every product has a status that decides whether customers can see it and buy it. This article explains the three statuses, how to change one from the products list or the product page, how to copy a product, and how to delete one — and why archiving is often the better choice.
Draft, Active and Archived: what customers see
The Status column of your products list shows each product’s status as a badge.
| Status | What it is for | On your storefront |
|---|---|---|
| Draft (grey) | A product you are still preparing. A product you add in the console starts as Draft. | Hidden |
| Active (green) | A product you sell. | Shown and for sale |
| Archived (amber) | A product you no longer sell but want to keep, with its photos, variants, translations and history. | Hidden |
An Active product appears in its category, in the collections you added it to, in your storefront’s search and on its own product page, where customers can add it to their cart.
A Draft or Archived product is hidden in exactly the same way:
- It leaves every category, collection and search result.
- Its link shows Product not found with an All products button.
- If it is already in a customer’s cart, the cart marks it No longer available and asks them to remove it before they can go to checkout.
- If a customer saved it to their wishlist, it shows there as No longer available.
- Its page cannot be opened, so customers cannot review it or ask a question about it.
Orders already placed are not affected: you still see, prepare and ship them as usual.
The difference between Draft and Archived is only what it tells you and your staff — “not ready yet” or “no longer sold”. Use the one that matches, so the Draft and Archived tabs stay useful.
Note
Changing a status needs the Edit products permission, duplicating needs Add products, and deleting needs Delete products. The store owner and the store manager have all three; sales staff can see products but not change them. See roles and permissions.
Change the status from the list
The quickest way: no need to open the product.
- In the sidebar, open Products and select Products under it, or open your products list (opens in a new tab).
- In the product’s row, select its status badge in the Status column. A small menu opens with Draft, Active and Archived; the current status has a tick.
- Select the new status.
The change saves at once — there is no Save to press. Saved. appears at the bottom of the screen, the badge changes colour, and your storefront follows straight away.
If the change does not go through, the badge keeps its old status and a message says so: You do not have permission to do this. when your role cannot edit products, Could not reach the server. Check your connection and try again. when your connection dropped, or Could not save changes. when the change did not go through. Select the badge again to retry. To change many products in one go, see change many products at once.
Change it on the product page
- Open the product: select its name in the list, or the pencil button (Edit) at the end of its row.
- On the Details tab, find Status in the Product settings panel and open the list.
- Choose Draft, Active or Archived. The badge under the title turns to Unsaved changes.
- Select Save at the top right (on a phone, in the bar at the bottom of the screen).
Product updated. confirms the change. Unlike the list, the product page saves the status together with your other changes on that page, so you can review the product and publish it in one save — see edit a product.
A product you have not saved yet shows a Draft badge here instead of a list: “New products are saved as Draft. Publish after reviewing.” Save it first, then set it to Active. See add a product.
Find drafts and archived products
Above the list, four tabs filter it by status: All, Draft, Active and Archived.
- Select Draft to see everything you have not published yet.
- Select Archived to see what you have taken off sale.
The search box, Filters and sorting work inside the tab you chose. The list opens on All again each time you come back to it. For searching and filtering, see find products in your catalogue.
Duplicate a product from the list
A copy saves time when a new product is close to one you already sell — the same dress in a new fabric, say.
- In the product’s row, select the copy button (Duplicate) between the pencil and the bin.
Product duplicated. appears and the list reloads. In its usual order, newest first, the copy is at the top of the All and Draft tabs as Draft. If you are on the Active or Archived tab, switch to one of those to see it.
If the copy cannot be made, nothing is created and a message says so — You do not have permission to do this. when your role cannot add products. Copying a product again after you deleted an earlier copy works as normal: the deleted copy gave its link back, so the new one takes it.
What the copy gets:
| Part | In the copy |
|---|---|
| Name | The original’s name marked as a copy, in every language: Woven straw tote Copy in English, the name followed by (نسخة) in Arabic and by (copie) in French |
| Brand, descriptions, category, specifications, search title and description, and their translations | The same as the original |
| Photos and the product video | The same files, with the same crops and the same main photo |
| Options and variants | The same, with the same price, compare-at price, cost and weight, and the same photos linked to each variant. Stock starts at 0. |
| Status | Always Draft |
| Product link | The original’s link with -copy on the end, for example woven-straw-tote-copy. While that copy exists, a second copy gets -copy-2, a third -copy-3. |
| SKUs | The original’s SKU followed by -COPY- and a short code, so every variant’s SKU stays unique |
| Reviews, questions and collections | Not copied: the copy starts with none |
| History | Starts fresh, with Product duplicated as its first entry. The History tab is on Starter and up. |
The copy’s name says it is a copy in every language your store sells in, so the products list, the product page and your storefront in Arabic or French all tell the two apart. In your store’s main language the name takes that language’s word: a store that sells mainly in Arabic gets the Arabic name followed by (نسخة).
- Open the copy and change what differs: the name, the photos, the prices and the stock. Then set it to Active.
Warning
The copy starts with the original’s name marked as a copy, and no stock: the pieces on your shelf are the original’s. Give it its own name in every language, and set its stock before you publish it.
Duplicate from the product page
- On the product’s Edit product page, select Duplicate at the top right, next to Save.
Product duplicated. appears and the copy’s own Edit product page opens, as Draft, ready to change. It contains everything listed in the table above.
The copy is made from the product as you last saved it, so select Save before Duplicate if the page shows Unsaved changes. If you do not, the copy is still made, without those changes, and then the Unsaved changes dialog asks: “You have unsaved changes. If you leave now, you will lose them.”
- Leave page opens the copy and throws away your changes to the original.
- Cancel keeps you on the original with your changes still on screen. The copy waits in the products list as Draft.
On a phone, Duplicate is not shown on the product page; duplicate from the list instead.
Delete a product, and why archiving is often better
Deleting removes a product from your console and your storefront for good. There is no bin to restore it from.
- In the product’s row, select the bin button (Delete). The row is highlighted and Delete product asks you to confirm: “This deletes the product for good. This cannot be undone.”
- Select Delete to delete it, or Cancel to keep it.
Deleted. appears and the product leaves the list. If it cannot be deleted, Could not delete. appears and the product stays. Products are deleted from the list only — the product page has no delete button. To delete several at once, see change many products at once.
What deleting does:
- Customers see the same as for an archived product: the link shows Product not found, and carts and wishlists mark it No longer available.
- Orders that include it keep the product’s name, SKU, price and photo exactly as they were bought.
- Its photos, variants, translations and History (on Starter and up) go with it, and you cannot bring them back.
- Its name and link are free again. A new product with the same name gets the same link, with no number added, and a copy of another product can take a link the deleted one had.
- Its SKUs stay taken. A new product that uses one of them is refused with a message that names the code, for example A deleted product still uses the SKU LY-HRSS-SND. Choose another SKU. Give it another code.
- In a CSV file, a row with one of its SKUs is refused with SKU “…” belongs to a deleted product. Use another SKU., and the other rows still import — see import and export products.
Warning
If you might sell a product again — a seasonal piece, an item waiting for new stock — archive it instead. Archiving hides it from customers just the same, and keeps everything, so selling it again is one click: set it back to Active.
Delete only what you will never sell again, such as a test product or a duplicate made by mistake.
Next, see change many products at once, or if a product is Active but customers still cannot find it, why your product is not on your storefront.