Deleting categories

[andyodell]

Been trying to delete empty and hidden categories but the error message "There was an error deleting your category. Please make sure your category is empty and try again." comes up. Is there a way round this?

Also can I remove products from categories altogether?

Thanks

[Artsiren]

Yes. I have been seeing this error too. I was expanding the scope of one of my stores, and needed to change the Category structure.

I wasn't removing products from the old categories - I created NEW categories and then moved the products. Once I'd moved everything, I could delete the old categories, except for the last one (and its subcategory). In the end, I just set them to Hidden.

Edit: I guess you could try moving your products into the default "New Products" category. I think that's always available. But like me, you might still not be able to delete the old category that you emptied. You could set it to hidden, so customers don't see it.

[Mark]

Hi all,

I don't seem to be having this issue with my test store.

If you can send on the name of the category you cannot delete we'll take a look into it!

[Artsiren]

Hi @Mark ,

The category (and subcat) are in my original Zazzle store, Artsiren, although I edited the store name to Artsiren Martial Arts as I wanted to niche it.

I was trying to delete the "Internal Martial Arts" category - it has no products, but 1 subcategory, called "Xingyiquan" (which also has no products). I moved all products to the new section Chinese Arts-->Xingyi instead.

These two cannot be deleted; I just get the error message that they need to be empty (which they are).

I just deleted the "Israeli Arts" category without any problems, so it's not a general problem of not being able to delete categories. It's just the internal martial arts ones. I have set them to Hidden for the time being, but actually, since they are empty and have no cover images, they don't show up to customers anyway. Would just be nice to get rid of them to keep the store backend tidy.

Cheers!

[Mark]

Thanks for the info, @Artsiren.

I have passed this along to the team now. I will let you know if I get an update.

[whimsywhim]

Hi!

How do you delete a category?  I tried, and a message came up and said I couldn't.  I tried to change the category of the products in the specific category to "new products", but that still didn't work.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you.

[whimsywhim]

I just saw that I can hide the category.  That's what I'm going to do since I can't empty them.  Thanks!

[PacifierCity · Accepted solution]

@whimsywhim You should be able to move everything that you have listed in the category to another one.  Once that has been done and you wait for indexing to occur, you should be able to delete the category.  You may need to delete your cover image as well.  I have successfully deleted categories in the past by using the method described.

PC

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[whimsywhim]

Thanks for this great information!  I very much appreciate it!

[Mark]

Hi @whimsywhim,

I merged this thread with the existing one to keep all the information together.

[whimsywhim]

Thank you!

[Mark]

Hi @Artsiren,

Do you know when you deleted the products from the subcategory and category? I believe @PacifierCity is correct above in saying that the indexing time will cause this error.

[Artsiren]

Hi @Mark 

It was quite a while ago. But I have noticed things are taking a little bit longer than normal to show up when I publish new products. So it could just be a delay problem. I'm sure it was over a week ago, though. I tried and failed. Then waited a day or two; tried again. Then Set the category & subcat to Hidden, and moved on to other work.

It was only when I noticed Andy had started this thread, I figured I'd chip in, as I have a similar problem.

BTW, I just tried deleting again just now, but without success.

[PacifierCity]

One has to move or delete any product that is in a category and perhaps delete the cover image for the category as well.  Once enough time has passed for indexing, then you should be able to go back and delete the category.  As indexing can take some time, I'd say move everything one week and the next, try and delete the category.  It should work as I have had success doing so.

PC

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[PAZP]

If they don't disappear, you can always rename them when you need a new category. I had that issue LONG ago when discontinued products had been part of a category. So, I cleared everything out and tried to delete the category but for some reason it wouldn't delete.I have no idea why but that's what I was told. I just renamed it when I needed a new category. 

[DadDesigner]

I just opened a shop added some categories with their respective category images. I then added some products to those categories. However, they're not showing up on the public site. How long does it take for indexing to occur?

[doggenhaus]

One of my shops doesn’t allow me to delete any category. If I create a new one and try to delete it immediately after, it’s not working. Empty one, without more as a name. So, my full order is not like I want to have it…