applying attributes to a category

Sorry if I bring up old stuff, just can't find the answer...

I'm selling tennis shoes. In admin/catalog/option name manager I make an option 'color'. I give it 3 values, red, yellow , green. How do I insert these values for a group of products (ie. category 'prince tennis shoes' which has 15 shoes ) without having to attach these attributes 15 times ? The options seem to be either delete or update , but no insert ?

Thanks in advance,

You don't. Attributes are only installed to products.

You could use the Copy to Categories button in the Attributes Controller ...

This allows you to define the Attributes on 1 Product then copy them to All Products in 1 Category ...

NOTE: be sure to backup your database before using global changes like this ...

thanks for the replies. I understand that you can do this through admin, but you still have to attach at least 1 option to the product before you can copy, which is a pain if you have many products.... ?

Look in the Attributes Controller ...

Find a Product with Attributes ...

There are 2 Copy To buttons ... one to copy to a Product and one to copy to a Category of Products ... you do not need to have any attributes on the product(s) to use these copy methods ...