📘Guide

A detailed description of the Auto hide-unhide products app can be found on this page.

Introduction:

Firstly let us understand what is "Auto hide-unhide products" app? How does it work? And what are it's benefits?

👉What is 'Auto Hide-Unhide products' App?

Auto hide-unhide products app enables users to hide or unhide products based on certain rules configured by the users at the time of creating an Automator. The rules are customizable by the users. The rules to create Automator are mentioned below:

How to hide/publish - Define how do you want to hide/publish a product

Do not Hide/Publish.
Hide out of stock products. (or) Publish in stock products.
Hide/Publish by comparing products inventory.
Hide/Publish all the products selected under scopes tab.

When to hide/publish - Define when do you want to hide/publish a product

Instantly - Trigger as soon as the product's inventory changes.
Scheduled - Hide/publish product by running Automator on periodic basis.

Where to hide/publish - Define where do you want to hide/publish a product

Hide by setting product status as to draft/archived.
Hide by disabling channel - online store only.
Publish by setting product status to active and also you can enable channel online store if not already enabled(optional).
Publish by enabling channel online store only.

How does an Automator works?

Whenever the rules which are configured by the users for hiding/publishing the products are satisfied then the Automator will start it's job and it either hides/publishes the products by changing the status of the products. If the product is hidden then the product status is changed to draft/archived. If product is published then product status is changed to active/ enable online store.

Benefits of Auto Hide / Publish Automator:

Just by configuring the rules while creating an Automator, Users can achieve automated functionality of hiding or publishing of the products.

Multiple Automator's can be created.

"Enable" and "Disable" functionality of an Automator is available.

"Delete" and "Edit" functionality of an Automator is available.

"Manually Run", "Reverse" action functionality of an Automator is available.

Users can have a track on number of products which are in Active, Draft or Archived status in the analytics part which is available in the Dashboard page.

Users can see "App activity" - Products hidden/published.

"Instantly hide/publish" (or) "scheduled hide/publish" functionality is available.

Post hide/publish notifications can be sent to email.

Products which has to watched by an Automator can be selected "Manually" (or) "By applying filters".

There are many customizable filters available to select products which has to be watched by an Automator.

Defining 'Rules - How to Hide/Publish' of an Automator :

Do not Hide/Publish - If user selects this option then none of the product are hidden/published.

Hide out of stock products - Whenever the products which are in scope of an Automator are 'Out of stocks' then all such products are hidden. So that customer can have a hassle free experience while shopping.

Publish in stock products - Whenever the products which are in scope of an Automator are 'In stocks' then all such products are published.

Hide / Publish by comparing products inventory - Sum of Products inventory at selected locations is compared with the threshold value set by the user.

For illustrating examples consider 'Product-A' is selected in scopes tab and is eligible for auto hide / publish functionality of an Automator.

Example 1 : 'Product - A' has 3 variants at 4 different locations. If Location-1 is selected and threshold value set as '0' --> When all the 3 variants at Location-1 becomes zero then 'Product - A' will be hidden/published.

Example 2 : 'Product - A' has 3 variants at 4 different locations. If Location-1 & Location-2 is selected and threshold value set as '0' --> When all the 3 variants at Location-1 & Location-2 becomes zero then sum of product variants at Location-1 & Location-2 is equal to threshold value set i.e., 0 then 'Product - A' will be hidden/published.

Hide / Publish all the products selected under scopes tab - All the products which are selected in scopes tab are hidden/published.

Defining 'Rules - When to Hide/Publish' of an Automator :

Instantly - Automator's job will be started instantly so that the products are hidden/published instantly on the real time basis.

Example 1- If Product A has 10 stocks in the store. The user has created an Automator with rules defined such as - Hide 'Out of stock' products, Instantly and Product A is selected in the scopes tab. Now whenever product A becomes 'Out of stocks' then at that instant of time product A is hidden.

Example 2 - If Product B is 'Out of stocks' in the store. The user has created an Automator with rules defined such as - Publish 'In stock' products, Instantly and Product B is selected in the scopes tab. Now whenever product A gets 'In stocks' then at that instant of time product B is published.

Scheduled - Automator's job can be scheduled based on time hence the products are hidden/published for the scheduled time.

Example 1- Product A has 10 stocks in the store. The user has created an Automator with rules defined such as - Hide 'Out of stock' products, Scheduled at 10:00 A.M daily and Product A is selected in the scopes tab. Suppose if Product A becomes 'Out of stocks' at 05:00 P.M then the product will be hidden on next day at 10:00 A.M. only.

Example 2- Product B is 'Out of stocks' in the store. The user has created an Automator with rules defined such as - Publish 'In stock' products, Scheduled at 10:00 A.M daily and Product B is selected in the scopes tab. Suppose if Product B gets 'In stocks' at 05:00 P.M then the product will be published on next day at 10:00 A.M. only.

NOTE : Time Zone is as per Asia/Calcutta.

Defining 'Rules - Where to Hide/Publish' of an Automator :

Hide by setting product status to "Draft" or "Archived" :

If 'Draft' is selected then products which are in scope of an Automator satisfy rules defined by the user then all such products are hidden in drafts.

If 'Archived' is selected then products which are in scope of an Automator satisfy rules defined by the user then all such products are hidden in archived.

When products are drafted or archived then all sales channels in the store are disabled by default.

Hide by disabling channel 'online store' only :

In a store merchants may have configured variety of 'Sales channel' which are available in the Shopify platform such as Point of sale, Buy button etc.. But by default there will be 'Online Store' channel available.

Whenever user selects this option then irrespective of other sales channel the products which are in scope of an Automator are hidden by disabling channel 'online store' only. Hidden product status will be 'Active' but will not be visible to the end customer.

By applying this rule status of other sales channels such as like Point of Sale, Buy button etc.. are not changed. They remain in their original state.

Product status is active but it is not visible in the online store

Publish by setting product status to "Active" :

If the user selects this option and products which are in scope of an Automator satisfying rules defined by the user then all such products are published and product status will be changed to active.

Before products in scope are published if channel 'Online store' is disabled then after products are published only the status of the product will be changed to active but channel 'online store' remains the same in disabled state only.

Publish by setting product status to "Active" and also enable channel online store if not already enabled.

"Publish by setting product status to active" - Only product status was changed to Active but status of channel 'online store' will remain unchanged. To overcome this scenario the user can select "Publish by setting product status by setting product status to 'Active' and also enable channel online store if not already enabled.

Publish by enabling channel online store only.

If user selects this option then irrespective of the other sales channel, The products are published in the channel 'online store' only. Status of other sales channel such as like Point of sale, Buy button etc.. will be not changed.

Filter based on 'Tags'

There are 2 primary conditions applied for an filter - 'Contains any of' and 'Does not contains any of' as shown in the above image.

User can select the tag names from the drop-down list, Multiple tag names can be selected. Usually drop-down list gives all the tag names used in the store.

If conditions applied based on the selected tag names are satisfied then all such products are selected and they are made eligible for hide/unhide functionality of an Automator.

Example 1 : If user selects 'Contains any of' option and selects 'bag' as tag name then all the products which are associated with the tag name 'bag' are selected.

Example 2 : If user selects 'Does not contains any of' option and selects 'bag' as tag name then all the products which are associated with the tag name 'bag' are not selected.

For a video on how to use tag filter click here

NOTE :

All the products which are not tagged are by default selected when 'Does not contains any of' condition is applied.

Multiple tag names can be selected from the tags list.

Even if the conditions applied for a filter is satisfied, The products whose inventory tracking is disabled - All such products are not selected by default.

Filter based on 'Product custom type' ?

This filter will search for products based on 'Products custom type'.

In the Shopify platform product 'custom type' can be configured as shown in the below image.

If user selects 'Equals' option and enter products custom type name then filter will search for products whose products custom type name is equal to the products custom type name entered by the user. All the products which satisfy the filter conditions are selected and they are made eligible to hide/unhide functionality of an app.

For example : If 'Product-A' has a product custom type as 'bag' after applying filter - Equals, Filter will search for all the products whose custom type = 'bag' if the condition is satisfied then all such products are selected. In the similar fashion all the other combinations of the filter will work.

If 'Not Equals' is selected then it will check for the products whose products custom type name is not equals to vendor's name entered by the user.

'In' and 'Equals' functionalities are same but if user selects 'In' then the drop-down list of all products custom type name is displayed. Usually drop-down list gives all the tag names used in the store. It makes user easy way to select products custom type name.

'Not In' and 'Not Equals' functionalities are same but if user selects 'Not In' then the drop-down list of all products custom type name is displayed. It makes user easy way to select products custom type name.

'Is Empty' - Filter will check whether products products custom type name is empty or not.

For a demo video click here

NOTE :

All the products which are not provided with custom type names are by default selected when 'Not Equals' & 'Not In' condition is applied.

Multiple custom type names can be selected from the list.

Even if the conditions applied for a filter is satisfied, The products whose inventory tracking is disabled - All such products are not selected by default.

Filter based on 'Vendor'

This filter will search for products based on vendors name.

If user selects 'Equals' option and enter vendor's name then filter will search for products whose vendor name is equal to the vendor's name entered by the user. All the products which satisfy the filter conditions are selected and they are made eligible to hide/unhide functionality of an app.

For example : If 'Product-A' has vendor name as 'VIP' then after applying filter - Equals, Filter will search for all the products whose Vendor's name = 'bag' if the condition is satisfied then all such products are selected. In the similar fashion all the other combinations of the filter will work.

If 'Not Equals' is selected then it will check for the products whose vendor's name is not equals to vendor's name entered by the user.

'In' and 'Equals' functionalities are same but if user selects 'In' then the drop-down list of all vendor's name is displayed. Usually drop-down list gives all the tag names used in the store It makes user easy way to select vendor's name.

'Not In' and 'Not Equals' functionalities are same but if user selects 'Not In' then the drop-down list of all vendor's name is displayed. It makes user easy way to select vendor's name.

'Is Empty' - Filter will check whether products vendor's name is empty or not.

For a demo video click here

NOTE :

All the products which are not provided with vendor's names are by default selected when 'Not Equals' & 'Not In' condition is applied.

Multiple vendor's names can be selected from the list.

Even if the conditions applied for a filter is satisfied, The products whose inventory tracking is disabled - All such products are not selected by default.

Filter based on 'Product Variant' :

The primary conditions applied for this filter are 'Any of the items match the following' (or) 'All of the items match the following'. as shown in the above image.

"Any of the items" - It implies one or more variants of a product but not all the variants of the product.

"All of the items" - It implies all the variants of a product.

The secondary conditions applied for this filter are Price - The price of the product variant in the default shop currency, Continue selling when out of stock - Whether customers are allowed to place an order for the product variant when it's out of stock as shown in the above image and Track quantity - Whether inventory levels are tracked for the item as shown in the below image.

If user selects 'Any/All of the items match the following' and 'Price' then filter will validate the conditions applied and it will check for 'less than/greater than' price entered by the user.

Example 1 - If 'Any of the item matches with following' is selected and user sets product price as less than or equal to Rs.2000/-

If 'Product-A' has 3 variants then out of all the 3 variants if at least any one of the variants price is less than or equal to Rs.2000/- then 'Product-A' is selected.

Example 2 - If 'All of the item matches with following' is selected and user sets product price as less than or equal to Rs.2000/-

If 'Product-A' has 3 variants then all the 3 variants price should be less than or equal to Rs.2000/- then 'Product-A' is selected. If any 1 of the variants price does not match Rs.2000/- then such product will be completely excluded.

As discussed possible scenarios in the example, All the other filters also works on the same fashion.

If user selects 'Any/All of the items match the following' and 'Continue selling when out of stock' then filter will validate the conditions applied and it will check for 'Equals/Not Equals' condition which is selected by the user.

For example - For a 'Product-A', If 'Continue selling when out of stock' is enabled in Shopify platform then by applying the above filter condition with 'Equals' selected by the user then 'Product A' is selected. If 'Not Equals' is applied then 'Product A' will not be selected.

If user selects 'Any/All of the items match the following' and 'Track quantity' then filter will validate the conditions applied and it will check for 'Equals/Not Equals' condition which is selected by the user.

For example - For a 'Product-B', If 'Track quantity' is enabled in Shopify platform then by applying the above filter condition with 'Equals' selected by the user then 'Product B' is selected. If 'Not Equals' is applied then 'Product B' will not be selected.

For a demo video click here.

Filter based on 'Product must contain an image'

This filter will search for all the products which contains an image or not.

If user selects 'Product must contain an image' --> Equals --> True

Then all the products which contains image will be selected and they are displayed in the 'Selected products list' section.

If user selects 'Product must contain an image' --> Equals --> False

Then all the products which does not contains image will be selected and they are displayed in the 'Selected products list' section.

For a demo video click here

Post hide/publish Action of an Automator

Define actions that will take place to a product after the product is hidden/published.

Add product tag - User can select any tag names from the drop-down list. After the products are hidden/published they are tagged by the name selected by the user.

Remove product tag - User can select any tag names from the drop-down list. After the products are hidden/published they are un-tagged by the name selected by the user.

Send email of the products hidden/published by an Automator - Whenever products are hidden/published then a notification email will be sent to recipients email id.

Users can configure the channel to send the notification via email.

“Emails To” text field:

Enter email id's - so that when products are hidden/published the user will be notified.
Multiple email ids can be given.
Email ids are editable.

“Reply-To” text field:

If email is given to this field then in the alert email we can reply to that email id. It is customizable by the user as per their requirement.
By default no-reply@xeonapp.com is available.

“Email subject” text field: