Maintain product information

You can maintain your product information in Optimizely Product Information Management (PIM) by creating, editing, archiving, deleting, reactivating, or exporting products.

Create products manually

1. Click the Add Product icon.
2. Select a Product Template and click Continue.
3. Enter the Product Number, Product Title and URL Segment to create the record.
4. Fill-in the required properties and any recommended properties. Refer to Edit Products Individually for more information on each tab.
5. Click Save.

Edit products individually

Details tab

Use the Details tab to view and edit individual product records. This page visually shows the product's completion status, which is calculated based on required and recommended properties. The product's properties, which are grouped and arranged based on the assigned product template, also show on this tab. You can use the Filter by property search bar to search the record for specific properties. Type some or all of a property name and press enter to search; click X to clear your entry. Expand and collapse the property groups or use the Show All, Show Required, Show Recommended filters and Show only fields with missing data filters toggle to adjust which properties show.

Edit product data without having to enter edit mode. There are also tabs to assign or unassign data such as images, documents or related products. The Version History captures all changes made to the product record and displays an audit log of what changed, when the change was made and who made the change.

See Configure Property Groups and Properties in Optimizely Product Information Management and Create Product Templates in Optimizely Product Information Management for more details about configuring these items.

Duplicate products

You can create a copy of a product from the Details tab. 

1. Click More.
2. Click Duplicate Product.
3. Enter the Product Number, Product Title and URL Segment for the duplicated product. These values must be unique.
4. Click Duplicate.

The new product has the same template, assets, categories and related products, as well as translations for all copied properties (other than Product Title and URL Segment). You cannot duplicate parent and child assignments and archived products. 

Version History

When viewing an individual product's record, you can click History to view previous changes to the product and restore any historical versions. Each version displays as an expandable box that compares the Old Value with the New Value.

Click Restore to reinstate the version. You can also use the checkboxes to Restore Selected, rather than restoring the entire version.

Images tab

Use the Images tab to assign images to a product record.

1. Click Assign or Add images to this product. You can also drag and drop images directly into the tab. Images are automatically resized, assigned to the product and added to the uncategorized assets folder. Any images already assigned to the product display in a gallery with their folder name and file type. The first image has a Primary label.
2. Click the folder icon.
3. Enter a folder name in the Filter field or open the desired folder to reveal assets.
4. Hover over an asset and select the radio button to assign it.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Download to download a copy of an image.
7. Hover over an image to see a larger Preview of it or click Unassign to remove the image from this product.

See Work with digital assets in Optimizely Product Information Management for more details.

Documents tab

Use the Documents tab to assign documents to a product record.

1. Click Assign or Add documents to this product. Any documents already assigned to the product display in a gallery view with their folder name and file type.
2. Click the Folder icon.
3. Enter a folder name in the Filter field or open the desired folder to reveal assets.
4. Hover over an asset and select the radio button to assign it.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Download to download a copy of a document.
7. Hover over a document to click the Unassign icon and remove the document from this product.

See Work with digital assets in Optimizely Product Information Management for more details.

Categories tab

Use the Categories tab to assign categories to a product record.

1. Click the Assign icon or Assign categories. Categories already assigned to the product display in a list view with their Category Tree, Category name and Parent Category.
2. Select an option from the Category Tree list.
3. Enter a category name in the Filter field to filter the list.
4. Select the radio button next to a category or subcategory to assign it.
5. Click Save.
6. Hover over a category row in the list and click the Unassign icon to remove the category.

See Define Category Trees and Categories in Optimizely Product Information Management for more details about working with categories.

Related Products tab

Use the Related Products tab to assign products as Cross Sells, Accessories or Related items to the current product record. These options are based on relationship types defined in Optimizely Commerce.

1. Select the radio button next to the type of product you are assigning: Cross Sell, Accessory, or Related.
2. Click the Assign icon.
3. Click the Filter icon to filter the list to find related products.
4. Hover over the area to the left of the table to view a product row's radio button.
5. Select the radio button next to a product to assign it.
6. Click Assign.
7. Select the radio buttons for the products you want to unassign and click Unassign.

Remove Product Relationship Types

Because product relationship types are created in the PIM through integration from Commerce, you must work through a combination of steps in both the PIM and Commerce to remove them.

In Commerce:

1. Go to Administration > System Lists and edit ProductRelationship.
2. Click on the Values tab, check the value for the relationship type you are removing, click Delete, and choose archive.
3. Go to Administration > Job Definitions and edit the PIM: Synch Setup Data.
4. Click More to schedule the job.

In the PIM:

1. Verify that the products no longer have the removed relationship type.
2. Republish all products that had relationships adjusted.

These steps archive the relationship type in Commerce and completely remove it from the PIM. To permanently delete the relationship type, all product relationships must be cleared prior to deleting the value from the system list.

See Multi-language and translations in Optimizely Product Information Management for more information on multi-language properties and product completeness.

Archive, reactivate or delete products

Archiving is the only method to remove products from the PIM and Optimizely Commerce. Deleting a product removes the record permanently, and you cannot delete a product if it has been published until you deactivate it in Commerce. Archived products are automatically removed from your Commerce site and can easily be reactivated as needed. They are read-only and must be reactivated to edit them.

If your product has been published before its archival or deletion, its new state is reflected on your Commerce site after the PublishApprovedProducts job runs. Archived products have their Status automatically set to Approved so that the PublishApprovedProducts job picks up the change. Once the archived products are published, their status is reflected in the PIM, enabling permanent deletion. See Publish Optimizely Product Information Management updates to Optimizely Configured Commerce for more information on the publishing jobs.

Archiving Products

1. Go to Products.
2. Select Show active to view active products.
3. Select one or more products.
4. Click Archive.

Delayed Archiving

You can set a date and time to archive a product. You can also bulk archive products by importing products with the Deactivate On field populated.

1. Go to Products.
2. Select Show active.
3. Click a product's title in the list to view and edit its record.
4. Go to Base Property Group > Deactivate On and click the Calendar icon.
5. Select the date and time.
6. Click Done.
7. Click Save.

Reactivate Products

You can choose to reactivate archived products based on their availability. Deleted products cannot be reactivated.

You can bulk reactivate products by importing products with the Deactivate On field empty and the Ignore blank cells checkbox deselected during the import process.

1. Go to Products.
2. Select Show archived.
3. Click a product's title in the list to view and edit its record.
4. Click Reactivate.

Delete Products

You must archive a product before you delete it. If the product has been published to your Commerce site, the archival status must be published before you can delete it. Products that have been deleted cannot be reactivated. All product data and assignments pertaining to the deleted product are removed from the PIM.

1. Go to Products.
2. Select Show archived.
3. Choose one or more products using the selector.
4. Click Delete.

Export products

You can export products, assigned assets or assigned categories for use in other systems or to assist with verifying product data and assignments. You can also use the related product assignments export file to reimport data to the PIM.

1. Go to Products page.
2. Click the Export icon.
3. Select whether you wish to export Products, Assigned assets, Assigned categories, or Related product assignments.
4. Choose the Records to Include: either the current filtered list or any currently selected products.
5. For product exports, select the Properties to Include: either the current view or all properties that belong to these products.
6. For product exports, choose your Export File Type: XLSX or XML. These are the only available file types at this time.
   • If you select XML, select any or all of the Related data to include: assets, categories, and/or related products.
7. Click Continue. The export window displays.
   Closing the window before the file is ready for download will cancel the export.
8. Click the Download exported file link to download the file.