Filters let shoppers narrow a collection or search results by things like size, color or price. This guide covers what you need before filters will show, how to add one with Shopify's Search & Discovery app, and the limits that catch larger stores.
What you need
Shopify's help center lists two requirements: a compatible theme (or a custom storefront that uses Shopify's filter APIs) and the Shopify Search & Discovery app. You can still create filters on an unsupported theme, but they will not be displayed to customers.
- Theme: Must support filtering
- App: Shopify Search & Discovery
- Check support: In your Shopify admin go to Content > Menus. A message in the Collection and search filters section says whether your theme supports filtering
Add a filter
The steps in the app are short. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Search & Discovery. Click Filters, then click Add filter. Click the Source field and select a source, then click Save.
- Reorder: Drag filters in the Filters section to change their order
- One use per source: Each filter source can be used one time for a store's filters
Choose a source
A filter depends on the data behind it, so check that products carry consistent values for a source before you use it. Shopify offers standard filters for every store, plus custom filters built from options and metafields.
| Source | Based on |
|---|---|
| Availability, Price | Stock and price |
| Category, Product type, Vendor, Tags | Standard product fields |
| Product options | Options you added, such as size or color |
| Product and variant metafields | Metafields assigned to all products or variants |
| Category metafields | Metafields tied to specific product categories |
Shopify's filter documentation says standard product attributes are created automatically from the Standard Product Taxonomy when you assign a category.
Group values and show swatches
Product data is rarely tidy enough to show as it is. Grouping combines several values into one value the shopper sees. Shopify's example is grouping "Onyx", "Ebony" and "Midnight" as "Black".
- Grouping: Open the filter, select values in the Values section, click Create group, name it, click Done, then Save
- Swatches: Filters based on metaobject reference metafields can display as visual swatches, if your theme supports it
- Not groupable: The Category filter does not support grouping
Limits to know
Filters stop appearing in some situations, which can look like a bug if you do not expect it. These limits come from Shopify's filter documentation.
- Filters per store: Up to 25
- Large collections: Collections with more than 5,000 products do not display filters
- Large searches: A search with more than 100,000 results does not display filters
- Values shown: A filter can display a maximum of 100 values on your store
For help choosing between tags and metafields as a source, see Shopify metafields vs tags.
Doing this at scale
TaxonomyForge scans your catalog for missing categories, blank or generic product types and empty attributes. It proposes a category with a confidence score, a clean product type, and attribute metafields (material, color, style, occasion) from your own copy, and you approve each change one by one or in bulk. See TaxonomyForge.