Managing Filters

The Filters page (/app/filters) is the central hub for everything related to product filtering on your storefront. From here you create filters, reorder them, configure appearance, manage collection overrides, control SEO behavior, and publish changes to your live store.

This guide walks through the entire page, tab by tab, so you know exactly what every control does and how to use it.

First-Run Experience

If you are opening the Filters page for the first time (or after resetting your settings), FilterIQ guides you through initial setup before you reach the main interface.

Setup Wizard

On first visit, a Setup Wizard modal appears with three steps:

1. Select your industry -- Choose the store category that best matches your products (Fashion, Electronics, Home & Garden, etc.). This helps FilterIQ recommend an initial filter configuration.
2. Review suggested filters -- Based on your industry selection and a scan of your product catalog, FilterIQ proposes a set of filters with recommended types and ordering. You can accept, modify, or skip individual suggestions.
3. Confirm and save -- Click Finish Setup to save the suggested filters as your initial draft configuration. You can edit everything later.

The Setup Wizard only appears once. If you skip it, you start with a blank filter configuration and can add filters manually.

Activation Checklist

After completing the Setup Wizard (or dismissing it), you may see an Activation Checklist at the top of the Filters page. This is a multi-step progress indicator that tracks your setup status:

• Create at least one filter -- Add a filter to your configuration
• Configure appearance -- Set your layout and display preferences
• Publish your configuration -- Push your filters live to the storefront
• Verify on storefront -- Visit your store and confirm filters are working

Each step shows a checkmark when complete. The checklist disappears once all steps are done. You can also dismiss it manually if you prefer to work without it.

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Tab 1: Store Filters

The Store Filters tab is the default view when you open the Filters page. It shows all your store-wide filters in a single sortable list.

What You See

Each filter in the list displays:

Column	Description
Drag handle	A grip icon on the left side for reordering via drag and drop
Filter name	The display name shoppers see (e.g., "Color", "Size", "Brand")
Type	The display type -- Checkbox, Radio, Dropdown, Price Range, Color Swatch, or Size
Zone	Where the filter appears -- Sidebar, Header, Drawer, or Above Grid
Enabled	A toggle showing whether the filter is active

Reordering Filters

The order of filters in this list is the exact order shoppers see them on your storefront. To change the order:

1. Hover over the drag handle (grip icon) on the left side of any filter row
2. Click and hold, then drag the row up or down to the desired position
3. Release to drop it in place
4. The new order is saved to your draft automatically

Put your most important and most-used filters at the top. For most stores, this means Price Range and Color near the top, with niche filters further down.

Editing a Filter

Click on any filter row to open its inline editor. From here you can change:

• The filter name
• The display type (Checkbox, Radio, Dropdown, etc.)
• The source field (Vendor, Tags, Options, Metafield, etc.)
• The zone assignment (Sidebar, Header, Drawer)
• Individual filter option ordering, labels, and enabled state

For a detailed walkthrough of all editor fields, see Creating Filters.

Deleting a Filter

To remove a filter:

1. Click on the filter to open its editor
2. Click the Delete button
3. Confirm the deletion

Deleted filters are soft-deleted -- they appear in the version history and can be recovered via rollback. The deletion does not go live until you publish.

Bulk Edit

To apply changes to multiple filters at once:

1. Click the checkbox next to each filter you want to edit (a selection checkbox appears when you hover over the drag handle area)
2. A bulk action bar appears at the top of the list
3. Choose an action:
   • Enable / Disable -- Toggle the enabled state for all selected filters
   • Change Zone -- Move all selected filters to a different display zone
   • Change Type -- Switch the display type for all selected filters
4. Confirm the changes

Bulk edit is useful when reorganizing your filter layout -- for example, moving several filters from the sidebar to the header zone in one action.

Adding a New Filter

Click the + Add Filter button in the top-right corner of the Store Filters tab. This opens the filter creation page. See Creating Filters for a complete guide.

Applying a Preset

Click the Apply Preset button to open the preset modal. Industry templates provide a recommended filter configuration for common store types (Fashion, Electronics, Home & Garden, etc.). Applying a preset replaces your current store-wide filters.

See Filter Sets & Presets for details on available templates and how to save your own presets.

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Tab 2: Collection Filters

The Collection Filters tab shows which collections have custom filter overrides that differ from your store-wide defaults.

What You See

A list of all collection overrides you have created. Each entry shows:

• The collection name
• The number of filters configured for that collection
• The last modified date

Adding a Collection Override

1. Click Add Collection Filter
2. Select a collection from the picker (search by name or browse the paginated list)
3. Configure the filters for that collection -- add, remove, reorder, and set types
4. Click Save

Collection overrides are independent of your store-wide filters. When a shopper visits a collection that has an override, they see only the filters defined in that override -- not the store-wide defaults.

Editing and Deleting Overrides

• Click any collection in the list to edit its filter set
• Click Delete to remove the override and revert that collection to store-wide defaults

For a comprehensive guide to collection-specific filters, see Collection Filters.

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Tab 3: Appearance

The Appearance tab controls the visual presentation of filters, product cards, and the overall layout on your storefront.

Color Swatch Configuration

Map product color values to hex colors or uploaded images. Each value in your catalog is listed with a color picker. Standard color names (Red, Blue, Black) are auto-mapped; custom names need manual mapping.

See Color & Image Swatches for a detailed guide.

Layout Settings

Setting	Options
Grid columns	2, 3, 4, or Auto (responsive)
Card layout	Sidebar + Grid, Toolbar + Grid, or Drawer + Grid

Product Card Settings

Setting	Options
Display mode	Standard, Compact, or Detailed
Image position	Top or Left
Information shown	Toggle: title, price, vendor, rating, variant count, sale badge, out-of-stock badge

Filter Display Settings

Setting	Options
Collapse behavior	All expanded, All collapsed, First expanded, or Custom
Icon type	Chevron, Plus/Minus, or None
Truncation	Show all, Truncate at N with "Show more" link, or Scrollable

For full details on every appearance option, see Appearance Settings.

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Tab 4: SEO & Advanced

The SEO & Advanced tab handles URL patterns, search engine policies, and version history with rollback.

URL Slug Patterns

Configure how filter selections appear in your storefront URLs:

Option	Example	Description
Query parameters	/collections/all?color=red&size=m	Filter values as URL query params (default)
Path-based slugs	/collections/all/color-red/size-m	Filter values as URL path segments
No URL update	/collections/all	URL does not change when filters are applied

SEO Policy Rules

Control whether search engines can crawl and index filtered URLs:

• Allow indexing -- Filtered pages are indexable
• Block indexing (default) -- Filtered pages include a noindex meta tag
• Canonical to unfiltered -- Filtered pages point their canonical URL to the unfiltered collection page

The default (block indexing) is recommended for most stores to avoid duplicate content issues.

Rollback History

The version history section shows all previously published configurations with timestamps. Each entry displays the version number, publish date, and a summary of what changed.

To roll back to a previous version:

1. Browse the version history list
2. Click Restore next to the version you want to revert to
3. Confirm the rollback
4. The restored version becomes your new draft -- you still need to publish it to push it live

This two-step process (restore then publish) gives you a chance to review the restored configuration before it affects your storefront.

For a detailed explanation of versioning and rollback, see Publishing & Versioning.

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The Publish Button

The Publish button sits at the top of the Filters page and is visible from every tab. It is the single action that pushes your draft configuration live to your storefront.

How Publishing Works

1. Make changes on any tab (filters, appearance, SEO settings, collection overrides)
2. Changes are auto-saved as a draft -- they do not affect your storefront yet
3. The Publish button shows a badge with the number of unpublished changes
4. Click Publish to see a summary of all pending changes
5. Review the change summary -- it lists new filters, modified filters, removed filters, and appearance/SEO changes
6. Click Confirm Publish to push everything live

When you confirm:

• The entire configuration (store-wide filters, collection overrides, appearance, SEO settings) is written to your shop's Shopify metafield
• Your storefront begins using the new configuration within seconds
• The previous configuration is saved as a version for rollback
• A new version number is assigned

Important Notes

• Publishing is atomic -- everything updates at once. Shoppers never see a half-updated configuration.
• You do not need to publish from each tab separately. One publish covers all changes across all tabs.
• If you are not ready to publish, your drafts are preserved. You can close the app and come back later.

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Typical Workflow: Setting Up Filters from Scratch

Here is the recommended end-to-end workflow for a new store:

1. Open the Filters page (/app/filters)
2. Complete the Setup Wizard -- Select your industry and review the suggested filters
3. Review Store Filters tab -- Check the suggested filters. Reorder them by dragging the most important ones to the top. Edit any filter that needs adjustment (wrong type, wrong source field).
4. Add missing filters -- If the wizard missed an attribute you want to filter by, click + Add Filter and create it manually
5. Configure appearance -- Go to the Appearance tab. Set your grid columns, card layout, and filter display preferences. Map any unmapped color swatches.
6. Set up collection overrides (optional) -- If certain collections need different filters, go to the Collection Filters tab and create overrides for those collections
7. Review SEO settings -- Go to the SEO & Advanced tab. Choose your URL slug pattern and SEO indexing policy.
8. Publish -- Click the Publish button at the top. Review the change summary and click Confirm Publish.
9. Verify on your storefront -- Open your store in a browser and confirm that filters appear correctly on both desktop and mobile

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Typical Workflow: Making Changes to an Existing Configuration

If your filters are already live and you want to make changes:

1. Go to the Filters page (/app/filters)
2. Make your changes on whichever tab is relevant
3. Check the Publish button -- the badge shows how many changes are pending
4. Click Publish, review the summary, and click Confirm Publish
5. Visit your storefront to verify the changes

If something goes wrong after publishing:

1. Go to the SEO & Advanced tab
2. Open Rollback History
3. Click Restore next to the previous version
4. Publish the restored version

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Quick Reference

Task	Where to Go
Add a new filter	Store Filters tab > + Add Filter
Reorder filters	Store Filters tab > drag and drop
Bulk enable/disable filters	Store Filters tab > select multiple > bulk action bar
Override filters for a collection	Collection Filters tab > Add Collection Filter
Change filter layout or card style	Appearance tab
Map color swatches	Appearance tab > Swatches section
Change URL pattern for filters	SEO & Advanced tab > URL Slug Patterns
Roll back to a previous version	SEO & Advanced tab > Rollback History > Restore
Apply an industry template	Store Filters tab > Apply Preset
Push changes live	Publish button (top of page)

Need Help?

If you need help configuring your filters, contact support@filteriq.app.