Catalog Manager allows you to set up unique Codes for each combination of Options. Having unique codes allows you to more accurately track your inventory and reflect that information on your site if displaying availability. Unique codes are also required if you are setting up cross-sell items as cross-sell will not work for two items that share the same options code or both have blank code fields.

If you have products with Options data, such as apparel, you must create Options Codes for each possible combination of Options. For example, if you sell a shirt in two colors (Red and Blue) and two sizes (Small and Large), you must specify four Options Codes (Red Small, Red Large, Blue Small, and Blue Large). Once every Option has its own Code, you can manage the inventory level of each Option as a separate item.

To create Options Codes:

1. In Catalog Manager, click the Products tab, and access the "Manage Products" section.
2. Using the "View table" pull-down menu, select the table that the product you wish to add option codes to is in.
3. Click the linked product ID for the product that requires Options Codes.
4. Scroll down to the Options field for that product and click "Enter Individual Item Codes." This takes you to the Add Item - Options Codes page, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: When the Add Item - Options Codes page first appears, the Code fields are empty. This example shows unique Codes for the four possible Option combinations.

1. The Add Item - Options Codes page contains a row for each possible combination of Options. In figure 1 above, the item "Wooden Widget 02" has four possible Option combinations: Red Small, Red Large, Blue Small, and Blue Large. Each row requires the following:
1. Type a unique Code in the Code text field.
2. Select a unique Option combination from the drop-down menu.
2. When you finish creating the new Options Codes, click "Save and Continue". This returns you to the Edit Item page. Scroll down this page to the Options field. You'll see a new link called "Remove Options." (To delete your new Options Codes, click the "Remove Options" link.)
3. Click "Save". This returns you to the Manage Products page. Your product now includes an expand button ("+") beside the product code. Click it to display your new Options Codes.

Each new Options Code now appears as an individual item in the inventory management system. You can edit inventory levels by returning to the Edit Inventory page and adding new levels or by uploading a data file with the new levels from the Upload Inventory page.

When a Catalog Manager table containing items with individual item option codes is downloaded, these option codes will appear in the "Code" column. For example, item wt02, with item code wt02-b, has the following individual options and option codes:

When the table containing this item is downloaded as a CSV file, the Code column will contain the following entry:

wt02-b;Color:Red#Size:S=wt02-rd-sm&Color:Red#Size:L=wt02-rd-lg&Color:Blue#Size:S=wt02-bl-sm&Color:Blue#Size:L=wt02-bl-lg

Note: If you want to modify and/or delete any of the Options combination information placed in the "Enter Individual Item Codes" fields, the better approach is for you to manually delete and/or modify any configured options to avoid losing all the Codes.