Am I doing it wrong? Retroactively attempting Category Indexing

[Christine]

Hi there! Trucking along as a Pro level… striving for Bronze this Q1! Trying everything I can to optimize my shop.

With the addition of and focus on “Collections”, I’ve decided to overhaul my “categories” towards a more “broad strokes” organization and I’m having such a hard time doing so. I’m not sure if I’m taking the wrong approach, but with so many products I’m struggling. Can an item be in more than one category at the same time? If so, is there a way to turn off that option? Since I’m not seeing the changes I’m making as I’m making them I’m struggling with this task. Thanks for any tips or experience you can share!

[Badeesie]

Items can only be in one category, but the changes won't always show up immediately. It can take a few days to re-index.

[Christine]

Thank you so much! Related, once a product is in a subcategory, does it still index under the lead category? Ex: Holiday and sub category “Easter”. Does the Easter stuff show up under Holiday or just within the smaller folder. Thanks again!

[Sara_H · Accepted solution]

@Christine It can take a few days for products to move from old to new categories (nothing is ever immediate) and for sub categories to properly index so you wont see any changes till next week probably.

Your products will still show in your lead category on your store front and then when you drill down into the subs.

[Christine]

@Sara_H  I really appreciate it! I probably need to be a bit more patient 🙂

[Sara_H]

@Christine Oh yes! You'll need loads of patience 🙂

[mylittleeden]

I am also doing a revamp of my main store and it seems to takes several days / week for changes to happen. It is super frustrating but I think it is because it need to get re indexed. You can check the product in the editing mode to see if you moved it. But agree it is a slow and difficult process due to how slow things move for sure. Feeling the pain too! Good luck