This article walks you through every page of the SA Variants dashboard: what each page is for, what you will see there, and what changes on your store when you use it. For a full list of what the app can and cannot do, see [SA Variants] Full Feature Breakdown.
Two things to know first
SA Variants does two jobs. Most of the dashboard is built around them.
Connect separate products. If you sell each color as its own product, you can connect them in a product group. Shoppers then see every color as a swatch and can switch between the products from any of their pages.
Split one product into several. If one product holds many variants, Split products turns each variant into its own product, with its own page. The new products are then connected in a product group, so shoppers can still switch between them.
Swatches not showing on your store? Check these four things first.
1. The app is switched on in your live theme. On the home page, App status should say Published. If it says Unpublished, go to App settings → Theme status → Manage app embeds and turn on SA Variants for your published theme.
2. The group is Active. Only groups with the status Active appear on your store. Draft and Archived groups stay hidden.
3. AI suggestions are published. Groups in the AI suggested tab are only suggestions. They appear on your store after you open one, click Publish as group and save it.
4. You have not changed themes. The switch is set for each theme separately. If you publish a new theme or update to a new version of yours, turn SA Variants on again in that theme.
Opening SA Variants
In your Shopify admin, click SA Variants under Apps. The pages of the app appear underneath it in the menu.
There is no separate Home link. Click SA Variants itself to come back to the home page.
If your store sells in more than one language, a Localization page is added to the menu. Shopify then hides the last few pages behind View more. Click it to see Partner apps and Pricing.
Home
Your starting point. It shows whether the app is live on your store and guides you through setup.
App status shows Published when SA Variants is switched on in your published theme, and Unpublished when it is not. If it says Unpublished, nothing from the app shows on your store yet.
Get started is a setup guide. Choose Group Products or Split Products, and it lists the steps for that path, ticking each one off as you finish it.
Manage group position controls where the swatches sit on your product page. By default they appear below the variant picker. To move them, click Manage app block and drag the Product groups position block in your theme editor.
The Active products, Products split and Products in groups cards count your products. On a new store they show -- until you create your first group or split.
Current plan and Need help setting up your app? sit at the bottom. The second opens a chat with our support team.
If your online store is password protected, you will also see a banner asking for the password. Adding it lets our team view your store when you ask for help.
The Get started steps
Group Products | Split Products |
1. Create first product group | 1. Select products to split |
2. Personalize style | 2. Review & Publish group |
3. Activate app | 3. Personalize style |
| 4. Activate app |
Activate app stays ticked once it is done, even if you later turn the app off in your theme. Check App status to see what is live right now.
→ Full setup steps: [SA Variants] Getting Started
Split products
Use this when one product holds many variants and you want each variant, such as each color, to be its own product with its own page, title and images.
A split takes three steps:
Choose what to split by. Click Split Products, pick an option such as Color, then pick the products.
Set up the new products. Choose how their titles are built, whether to keep the original option, and which images to copy. The new products are created as drafts, without inventory, so nothing goes live yet. The app calls them child products.
Review and publish. Copy the inventory across from the original product, choose your sales channels and markets, and publish the new products as a product group.
When you publish, the app archives your original product. It is not deleted, and its inventory is not changed. If you want to keep selling it, set it back to Active in Shopify. If you copied its inventory to the new products, lower the original's stock first so you do not sell the same item twice.
Splits waiting for you sit in the Ready to publish tab. Once published, they move to Published, and the new product group is set to Active for you.
Leave the original product alone until the split is published. If you edit or delete it after starting a split, publishing and inventory syncing can fail.
You can split up to 20 products a month on Standard, or 500 on Pro. Each original product counts once, however many new products it creates. The card at the top of the page shows how many you have left this month.
→ Step by step: [SA Variants] Split products
Product groups
This is where you connect separate products so shoppers can switch between them with swatches.
The tabs sort your groups by status: All, Active, Draft and Archived. Only Active groups show on your store.
AI suggested holds groups the app has suggested from your catalog. Click Publish as group on one to open it, check it, and save it.
Bulk update groups lets you create or change many groups at once with a CSV file. Bulk update swatches does the same for swatch images.
Add group opens a new, empty group.
You can also ask Shopify Sidekick to create a group for you. You review it and save it.
Inside a group
Group name is for you only. Shoppers never see it.
Option name is what shoppers see above the swatches, such as Color or Style.
Products lists the products in the group. Each one has a value, such as Navy, which shoppers see for that swatch.
Swatch image source decides what each swatch shows: the product's first, second or last image, or a color or image you upload.
Product page style and Collection page style choose how the swatches look in each place.
Status decides whether the group is live. Set it to Active to show it on your store.
Category (Pro) sorts the swatches inside one group under headings, such as Regular colors and Exclusive colors. You can add up to five.
A Setup guide on the right ticks off each step while you build your first group.
Swatches showing as empty circles? If Swatch image source is set to Color/Custom image, each swatch needs a color or image. Save the group first, then click Upload next to it in the group list to add them. [CONFIRM]
→ Everything about groups: [SA Variants] Product groups
Customize styles
This is where you decide how your swatches look: round color circles, image swatches, buttons, dropdowns and more.
The Product page and Collection page tabs keep separate styles for each place.
Your styles lists the styles saved to your store. Several come ready to use when you install.
Further down, Explore more product page styles lets you add more from the library.
Manage default styles sets the style new groups start with.
Click Customize on any style to change its colors, borders, size, labels and more, with a live preview.
On Pro, the Polaroid swatch style has a Swatch powerups section. It can show the price, compare-at price, unit price, rating, low stock alert and badges right on each swatch. Drag the rows to change their order. (Pro)
[GIF] Opening a Polaroid swatch in the style editor, switching the preview between Image and Color, and dragging Swatch powerups rows. Source: style-customiser.jpg.
→ Every setting explained: [SA Variants] Customize styles
App settings
Settings that apply across your whole store.
App language changes the language of this dashboard, for you only. It does not change your store.
Groups with product tags creates groups automatically from tags you add in Shopify, in the format SAPG::your-group-name. (Pro)
Badge settings sets the text and colors of the New, Sale and Sold out badges on swatches.
Low inventory alert shows a low stock message on the Polaroid swatch when a variant runs low.
Page settings chooses where the app runs: product pages, collection and search pages, your home page, the cart and more.
Add online store password appears only if your store is password protected. It lets our team view your store when you ask for help.
Theme status → Manage app embeds shows whether SA Variants is switched on for each of your themes. Manage block opens your theme editor.
→ Every setting explained: [SA Variants] App settings
Localization
This page appears only if your store sells in more than one language. Here you translate the words SA Variants adds to your store, such as the option name, your swatch values and the NEW, SALE and SOLD OUT badges.
Choose a language under Select a language for translation and fill in each field. Click Refresh if a recent change is missing from the list.
Our apps and Partner apps
Our apps lists the other StarApps apps. Partner apps lists apps from other developers that work well alongside SA Variants. Neither page changes anything on your store.
Pricing
Shows your current plan, how many trial days you have left, and when billing starts. Click View all plans to compare Standard and Pro, or to change plans.
At the bottom, Deactivate the app turns SA Variants off and stops its billing, without uninstalling it.
Your price depends on your Shopify plan. When you approve a plan, Shopify shows a spending limit, such as $199.90 for Pro, rather than your price. That limit is a ceiling, not your charge. Your Pricing page shows what you actually pay.
There is no free plan. Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial. Shopify Partner development stores can use SA Variants free once the partner has registered with us.
→ Plans and prices: [SA Variants] Pricing
Need help? Our support team is always here. Hit the chat button and we will get you sorted.