# Sibling products **Sibling products** allow you to set up variants as individual products with their own images and product details. On product pages, sibling products appear as variant swatches. In collections and product listings, sibling products are displayed as individual products. {% embed url="" %} ## Set up sibling products *** To set up sibling products you will need to add individual products to a new collection, then add and update two metafields for each sibling product. * **Create products** with unique images and details * **Add products to a collection** to group together as 'siblings' * **Create two metafields** to show siblings as swatches and add option names to products ## 1. Add individual products to siblings collection *** To create a group of sibling products, you need to create **individual products** and add them to a new **collection**. The collection is used to group your sibling products together as variant options.

STEPS

In your **Shopify admin**: 1. Click **Products** in the side panel. Click **Add product** to create the individual products for your siblings collection. > We recommend using the same product title that includes the different option names (eg. color). For example: "Green Running Shoes", "Blue Running Shoes", etc. > **Tip**: Create the first product then duplicate it to keep them consistent and save time from having to re-write and set up the details for each product. ![](https://3688473072-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FHUe2h5JnXOGnUNdkJwav%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-423279712f90b34fdadd52014247940386c82980%2Fsibling-product-inventory.jpeg?alt=media) 2. Go to **Products > Collections** to **Create collection**. Add your products to the collection. > You can name your collection anything you like. ![](https://3688473072-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FHUe2h5JnXOGnUNdkJwav%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-803a313d4c57d6efe940a2fa378deb728ae0a304%2Fsibling-collection.jpeg?alt=media) > **Note**: By default, your sibling collection will appear on the Collections List page. To hide the sibling collection from the collection list page, you can choose **selected collections** to display in the theme editor. 3. Click **Save**.

## 2. Set up metafields for sibling products *** Once your sibling products are added to a collection, you need to add two metafields to your products. Sibling products use metafields to **(a)** **display sibling products as swatches** and **(b)** **give each product a variant option name**. {% hint style="info" %} Metafields are custom fields added to your products in the Shopify admin. The steps below will cover all you need to know, but if you'd like to learn more, see [Shopify's guide to metafields](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/metafields). {% endhint %} ### 2a. Create metafield for siblings collection *** Go to **Settings > Custom data** to create the first metafield for your **Products**. This metafield will be used to display sibling products as swatches. The metafield requires the following fields:


Name	Siblings collection
Namespace and key	`eclipse.siblings_collection` Must be exact to work. Note that 'siblings' is plural with an 's'. Do not add or modify words.
Type	Collection (Reference)

{% hint style="danger" %} If you are creating multiple sibling collections, you only need to create **one** metafield. {% endhint %}

STEPS

In your **Shopify admin**: 1. Go to **Settings > Custom data**. 2. Click **Products**. 3. Click **Add definition** button in the top-right. 4. Enter "Siblings collection" in the **Name** field. Note that "Siblings" is plural. The **Namespace and key** field will automatically update to `custom.siblings_collections` 5. In the **Namespace and key** field, replace the word "custom" with "eclipse". > The **Namespace** should now be `eclipse.siblings_collection`. This namespace must match exactly or it will not work. > Do not add additional words or multiple metafields for different sibling collections. 6. Click **+ Select content type** and select **Collection** under **Reference**. 7. Click **Save**.

### 2b. Define metafield for sibling option name *** Go to **Settings > Custom data** to create the second metafield for your **Products**. This metafield will be used to give individual products a variant option name (e.g. "Red" or "Wood"). The metafield requires the following fields:


Name	Sibling option name
Namespace and key	`eclipse.sibling_option_name` Must be exact to work. Note that 'sibling' is singular with no 's'. Do not add or modify words.
Type	Single line text

STEPS

In your **Shopify admin**: 1. Go to **Settings > Custom data**. 2. Click **Products**. 3. Click the **Add definition** button in the top-right. 4. Enter "Sibling option name" in the **Name** field. Note that "Sibling" in the name is singular and not plural. > The **Namespace and key** field will automatically update to `custom.sibling_option_name` 5. In the **Namespace and key** field, replace the word "custom" with "eclipse". > The **Namespace** should now read as `eclipse.sibling_option_name`. Note that "sibling" is singular, not plural. This namespace must match exactly or the siblings swatches will not work. 6. Click **+ Select content type** and select **Single line text**. 7. Click **Save**.

## 3. Update metafields for each sibling product *** After creating the 2 metafields, go to **Products** in your Shopify admin to add information to the metafields. That's it! the sibling product swatches will now automatically display on the product pages.

STEPS

In your **Shopify admin**: 1. Click **Products** in the side panel and open each individual product that's in the sibling collection.. 2. Click the **Siblings collection** metafield and select the collection with your sibling products. ![](https://3688473072-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FHUe2h5JnXOGnUNdkJwav%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a9d772edcdbdac30f5448c485c55ed84dea0da11%2Fsibling-select-collection.jpeg?alt=media) 3. Click the **Sibling option name** metafield and enter text for the swatch label. > The option name will appear as a label above the swatch. It is also used to display custom swatch colors when product images are not enabled ![](https://3688473072-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FHUe2h5JnXOGnUNdkJwav%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e1b41c593e7bc948e9e9eea5558e321a8a5f1acd%2Fsibling-add-name.jpeg?alt=media) 4. Update these metafields for each product. Click **Save**.

## Change option label *** By default, the label above the sibling swatches is "Color". Go to **Theme settings > Products** to change the **Siblings label**. ## Use product image or color for swatches *** Sibling products swatches can display product images or custom colors. ### Use product images *** By default, siblings use product images for the swatches. {% hint style="info" %} In your Shopify admin, go to **Products** to upload and select images for your individual sibling products. Click and drag the product image you want to the first position in the product media gallery. {% endhint %} ### Use custom colors *** Sibling can use custom colors for swatches. To use colors for swatches, go to **Theme settings > Products** and uncheck **Use product images as swatches**. To set up **custom swatch colors,** you can assign a hex code to your product option in **Theme settings > Swatches.** {% hint style="info" %} You can use a [HTML color picker like this one](https://htmlcolorcodes.com/) to find the hexcode for your color. Select and copy the six-character hex code, including the hashtag symbol. {% endhint %}

STEPS

In your theme editor (**Customize**): 1. Go to **Theme settings > Swatches.** 2. Under **Swatches**, find the **Custom swatch colors** field. 3. Add the exact **Option name** used for your sibling product ("Green") followed by a colon and your hex code color (`#00b300`). For example: `Green: #00b300` > To add custom colors for multiple options, press return to enter them on separate lines. > >

4. Click **Save**.

## Hide sibling collections *** By default, all published collections appear on the **Collections list page** and in **Search results**. Follow the steps below to hide sibling collections on your store. ### Hide from collections list page *** To hide a sibling collection from the Collections list page, you can choose to show only **selected collections,** instead of all collections.

STEPS

In your theme editor (**Customize**): 1. Use the template selector to open the **Collections list** template. 2. Click to open the **Collections list** section in the side panel. 3. Under **Select collections to show,** choose **Custom list**. 4. Click **Select collections** and choose only those collections that you want to show. 5. Click **Save**.

### Hide from search results *** While Shopify doesn't provide an option to hide collections, you can use **metafields** as a workaround to remove specific collections from search results.

STEPS

From your Shopify admin: 1. Go to **Settings** > **Custom Data** > **Collections** > **Add definition**. 2. Enter `Hide collection` in the **Name** field. 3. Enter `seo.hidden` in the **Namespace and key** field. 4. Click **(+) Select type** and select **Integer**. 5. Make sure that **One value** is selected. 6. Click **Save**. Return to your Shopify admin: 1. Go to **Products** > **Collections** and select the collection you want to hide. 2. Scroll down to the **Metafields** area. 3. Enter the number `1` in the **Hide collection** metafield. 4. Click **Save**.