5. Attributes Management

fmAttributeSets, fmEditAttributeSet, fmAttribute, fmEditAttibuteGroup - Attributes Management Section

Sub-pages listing:

In Magento, Product Attributes are quantifiable, or descriptive aspects of a product, such as color, manufacturer, or SKU number. There are two kinds of Product attributes in Magento:

  • Simple Attributes

  • System Attributes.

By default, Magento includes and maintains all necessary System Attributes.

System Attributes cannot be deleted. Every product must contain each of these attributes. All subsequently created Attribute Sets must include these attributes (more on Attribute sets in the next paragraph). System Attributes include Name, Price, and SKU, without which a product would not function.

Simple Attributes, on the other hand, are attributes created by the Store Owner. These will likely relate to new products created by the Store Owner, and therefore will not necessarily be included in every Attribute set. For example, you may create a color attribute, which contains the values blue, green, yellow, etc.. Subsequently, you may choose to apply this attribute to an Attribute Set for Shirts, which you sell in various colors (you probably would not include it in an Attribute Set for DVDs, for which color is not really an applicable attribute).

To create a Simple Attribute, navigate to Catalog - > Attributes - > Manage Attributes - > Add New Attribute.

The screenshot below illustrates how you can efficiently manage attributes, using Store Manager for Magento:

Prtoduct Attributes Section

A Product Attribute Set is a collection of Product Attributes, customized to fit particular types of Products. All Attribute Sets must contain all of Magento’s System Attributes.

You may customize your User created Attribute Sets, to include different combinations of Simple Attributes. For example, if you sell several different kinds of T-shirts on your Site, it would be helpful to create a 'T-shirts' Attribute Set, which includes the Simple Attributes commonly shared by all of your T-shirts. These may include color, size, gender, and brand. Once you have created your Simple Attributes (refer back to the previous section for more details), you may then associate them with an Attribute Set. During product creation, the Attribute Set’s Simple Attributes will appear on the New Product page, where you may set appropriate values for your Product.

Attribute Sets Section

Attribute Sets Basic Operations (Add, Edit, Delete)

In the Product Attributes section you will find options similar to those listed in Basic product operations (add, edit, delete), which can be performed either through clicking the corresponding button in the Product Attributes toolbar:

Attribute Sets Basic Operations

or selecting a choice in the context menu (accessed by right-click the relevant option):

Context Menu

Either way, the following Basic Operations become available for you to perform:

Add New Product Attribute Set
  • [Add New Product Attribute Set] calls the blank "Edit Attribute Set" form, which is used to create a new Attribute Set (see description below).

Edit Product Attribute Set
  • To edit an Attribute Set, double-click it, or use the [Edit Attribute Set] button, which calls the "Edit Attribute Set" form for the highlighted attribute set.

You then specify the Attribute Set "Name" and, optionally, its "Sort Order".

Create Attribute Set
Delete Attribute Set
  • You may delete a selected Attribute Set from your Store but pay careful attention, as you won't be able to undo a delete operation, except through restoration of a previously created (hopefully) database backup. Also, you cannot delete default Attribute Sets, as they are defined and maintained by Magento.

Adjust column widths
  • To adjust column widths, select the relevant button, or enable [Column Auto Width].

How to create attribute and assign it to the products in practice you can check below in the video tutorial: