Introduction

Organizing your products accurately is extremely important as your visitors will be able to easily navigate through your Online Store and find exactly what they are looking for. Before we step into adding actual products, we will review the process of creating categories, as this will allow you to efficiently organize your products while you are adding them. In this tutorial, we will guide on how to create Product Categories and Sub-Categories in OpenCart 3. The main categories are displayed in the top menu bar on the storefront, while the subcategories are displayed beneath each of the parent categories when you hover over them.

Getting Started

In order to begin, please log in to your OpenCart Admin Dashboard and navigate through the left menu bar to Catalog > Categories.

Under the “Categories” page you will see listed all default OpenCart categories, in case they are not needed, please mark them all by ticking the “Category Name” checkbox at the top and click on the “Delete” button.

Once this is done you are ready to step into adding your new categories.

Adding New Categories

In order to add your first category, please click on the blue “Add New” button positioned at the upper-right corner of the page.

When you access the “Add Category” page you will notice that it is split into four main tabs that contain different settings.

From the first “General” tab you will be able to configure the main category information and the metadata related to it.

• Category Name - In this field, you will need to enter the category name as it will be displayed on the storefront.
• Description - In this dialog, you can write a description of the category. The description will be shown on the category page once it is accessed. You can use the tools available in the top bar which will allow you to easily format the text, add links, images, etc.

• Meta Tag Title - Represents the name of the category as it will be displayed in the browser title bar.
• Meta Tag Description - This is the metadata description of the category. The meta tags do not appear on the page itself, they are used by search engines and are displayed in search results.
• Meta Tag Keywords - In this field, you need to enter all the keywords related to the category. They will help search engines to determine what this page is about.

When you are ready, please switch to the next “Data” tab. From here, you will be able to maintain the appearance of the category.

• Parent - This field determines whether the category will be a parent category or a subcategory. In case you are creating a main category, please leave it as it is. Alternatively, you will need to enter the name of the main category under which this subcategory should be nested.
• Filters - You can use this search bar to select the filters applicable to this category. Please note that the filter function is not enabled by default in OpenCart, therefore you will need to enable the module manually if you want to create product filters. You can find more information on this topic in our guide available here.
• Stores - In case you are managing multiple stores within the same installation you will be able to select the actual store this category will belong to. In our case, it is not a multistore installation, therefore we have only the “Default” option.

• Image - You can select an image for the category by clicking on the default OpenCart image and hitting the blue “Edit” button. Afterward, you will be presented with a new dialog and you will be able to choose one of the images available in your store gallery or directly upload a new image from your local computer.
• Top - This checkbox determines whether the category will be displayed in the top menu bar on the storefront. Please note that this option is applicable to parent categories only. Subcategories cannot be displayed in the top menu bar.
• Columns - The value entered here will determine the number of columns (subcategories) that will be displayed under the main category when hovered over. Please note that this option is also applicable only to parent categories.
• Sort Order - The value entered here determines the position of the category compared to the rest of the categories displayed in the top menu bar at the storefront. The lower the value is, the higher the category will be positioned.
• Status - From this dropdown menu you will be able to control whether the category is “Enabled” or “Disabled”.

When you are ready, please switch to the following “SEO” tab. You will see only one field here which will allow you to assign the SEO URL of the category page. More information about how to set up SEO friendly URLs in OpenCart you can find in our guide available here.

Once you are done, please switch to the last “Design” tab. From the “Layout Override” dropdown menu you will be able to select a different layout for the category and assign modules to it if needed.

When you are ready, please click on the blue “Save” button at the upper-right corner to add your new category.

Now that the category is successfully added, please go ahead and double-check if it is displayed on your store frontend.

If the category appears as expected - you are all set! 

We would like to congratulate you on learning how to create your own categories and subcategories and efficiently manage your products. We hope you have found the information in this tutorial useful and guidance easy to follow. In case you have any additional questions you are welcome to contact our Support Team.