Adding Same Product number to Multiple Categories

I have to products that need to go into multiple categories.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

To copy multiple products into individual categories you can use

https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?180447-Multiple-Products-%28Copy-Move-Delete%29

If you wish to copy individual products to multiple categories you will need to use a commercial mod. There is no way, as far as I know, to copy multiple products to multiple categories - although comm. mods do allow, I recall, for copying of a category and its products to other categories.

Edit: You might look at the free Apsona plugin, it **might **do what you want -but I don't hold out much hope. It's been a while since I've used it, it wasn't up to dealing with thousands of products - but check out the support thread. Also the Easy Populate plugin, **might **help - again I stopped using it some time ago as the copying of attributes was an issue, this may have been resolved in more recent versions though.

Do you want to COPY the Products to their own Product or LINK the Products to other categories so that the same Product is in 2+ categories?

EasyPopulate v4 will allow duplicating products (linking) to multiple categories. Don't know of any issues with attributes carrying along with that. One thing to consider though is that all product to be updated requires a model#. The model# could be populated with a sql statement as applicable.

mc12345678:

EasyPopulate v4 will allow duplicating products (linking) to multiple categories. Don't know of any issues with attributes carrying along with that. One thing to consider though is that all product to be updated requires a model#. The model# could be populated with a sql statement as applicable.

Ah, yes I see that EP 4.0 does now handle attributes - I last used it when it first came out and attrib support was limited.

Ajeh:

Do you want to COPY the Products to their own Product or LINK the Products to other categories so that the same Product is in 2+ categories?

Yes! Otherwise simply creating a new line in the product table and assigning it to the second category would create inventory problems, I believe.

I believe you are answering that that you want the Products to be Linked Products so that you have 1 Product in multiple Categories, correct?

The C for Copy gives you the option of Duplicate or Linked ...

If so, are you trying to Link multiple products from the "same" Category to another "same" Category?

Ajeh:

I believe you are answering that that you want the Products to be Linked Products so that you have 1 Product in multiple Categories, correct?

The C for Copy gives you the option of Duplicate or Linked ...

If so, are you trying to Link multiple products from the "same" Category to another "same" Category?

Well, they're dresses that can fit multiple categories. I don't see an EP version for ZC 1.5.4, or am I missing something?

WWWD:

Well, they're dresses that can fit multiple categories. I don't see an EP version for ZC 1.5.4, or am I missing something?

Yes, it can be difficult to find as it's not in the plugin area and you'll need to search the forums for Easypopulate (all one word). It's here

https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?190417-EasyPopulate-4-0-Support-Thread&highlight=easypopulate

and is compatible with v1.5.4 and above.

Thank you so much! This has been the best response I have ever gotten out of the forums.

WWWD:

Thank you so much! This has been the best response I have ever gotten out of the forums.

That's good. I would add that if you are copying (duplicating or linking) small numbers of products to other categories then using the copy command in the admin/catalog is the simplest way. If you copy tens of prods to tens of categories then the plugin mentioned earlier (https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread....Move-Delete%29) is the easiest to install and there are techniques to make the process quicker. For more than that then EP v4.0 is probably your best option although it will take more time to set up. The first two methods may not, I can't quite remember, always copy any custom product meta tags you might have set up.

Okay, I'm curious. Do I add inventory through uploading the regular products table or the table that this app supports. Things are so sideways atm, I'm totally frustrated.

There are now over 1000 items in inventory and the options are not populating correctly but I am getting duplicate entries in base the options table, I'm ripping my few remaining hairs out.

another tool not mentioned which may be of use is
Multiple Categories Link Manager-sorted
http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1228

which apart from providing a sorted category page to multiple-link a single product to,
can also copy all linked categories from one product to another.

torvista:

another tool not mentioned which may be of use is
Multiple Categories Link Manager-sorted
http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1228

which apart from providing a sorted category page to multiple-link a single product to,
can also copy all linked categories from one product to another.
I haven't seen that feature (in red) but you can
Copy ALL Products in a Category as LINKED Products to another Category ... :smile:

@WWWD
We are assuming here that you wish the same item to appear in multiple places.

1. inbuilt to Zen Cart but not mentioned yet:

The C for Copy gives you the option of Duplicate or Linked ... BUT after clicking on Copy,
look at the bottom of those options and you will see Multiple Categories Link Manager. THIS is what you need.

2. The Multiple Categories Link Manager I touted is an improvement on the 1) as it sorts the categories properly and add the option to use a product that is linked to many categories and use those same links on another product:
   

3. The Multi-Copy-Delete is a further awesome heavy-lifter for doing multiple things with categories and their products

Personally I think both of these should be built-in to ZC, there is no harm in installing both and trying them out. Between them they cover pretty much all the options. Going down the Easypopulate/Apsona route can be a world of pain for the inexperienced...

torvista:

2. The Multiple Categories Link Manager I touted is an improvement on the 1) as it sorts the categories properly and add the option to use a product that is linked to many categories and use those same links on another product:
   Nice...
   I had never seen this before..

I thought you were referring to the built in tools
(I Need to read closer before opening mouth)

torvista:

another tool not mentioned which may be of use is
Multiple Categories Link Manager-sorted
http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1228

which apart from providing a sorted category page to multiple-link a single product to,
can also copy all linked categories from one product to another.

This does not look compatible with 1.54; no?

This does not look compatible with 1.54; no?
Basically yes it is compatible. It's one file, but I am having a look at it and any changes for 1.6 and making it html-valid with it's mess of tables...I'll post when ready.

Ok, I have a 1.54 version ready to try:
https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?172698-Multiple-Categories-Link-Manager-Sorted&p=1286933#post1286933
pm me for a copy.