🎯 How Product Visibility Works

Inside SmartProductSorter, product visibility follows this order:

1️⃣ Filter (Optional)

You may apply one filter condition per collection configuration using:

• Product Title

• Description

• Brand

• Product Type

• Product Status

• Price

• Cost of item

• Tags

• SKU

• Collection

A product must match the filter to be considered for sorting.

2️⃣ Automatic Sorting

Filtered products are automatically sorted based on your selected sorting rule.

3️⃣ Other Options (Post-Sorting Controls)

After filtering and sorting, the following Other Options settings are applied:

🔹 Hide all products that are missing images

Products without a featured image will be automatically hidden from the collection.

This helps:

• Maintain a professional storefront

• Avoid blank or broken-looking listings

• Improve customer experience

🔹 Max number of products

Limits the total number of products displayed in the collection.

Example:

• Max number set to 50 → Only the top 50 sorted products will appear.

This is useful for:

• Featured collections

• Homepage collections

• Curated landing pages

🔹 Hide out-of-stock items if their inventory level is less than

Removes products if their inventory falls below your defined threshold.

Important:

• This runs after filtering and sorting

• Inventory tracking must be enabled in Shopify

Example:

• Threshold = 1

• Inventory = 0
  → Product will be hidden

🔹 Push down low-in-stock items if their inventory level is less than

Instead of hiding products, this option pushes low-stock products to the bottom of the collection.

Example:

• Threshold = 5

• Inventory = 3
  → Product stays visible but is moved lower in the list

This helps:

• Keep products visible

• Prioritize high-stock items

• Reduce overselling risk

🔎 Understanding the Full Visibility Flow

Here is the complete process:

2423. Filter determines eligible products

2424. Products are automatically sorted

2425. Other Options rules are applied:

      • Hide missing images

      • Apply max product limit

      • Hide out-of-stock (if enabled)

      • Push down low-stock (if enabled)

Each step builds on the previous one.

👁 Why a Product May Not Appear

A product may be hidden if:

• It does not match the filter

• It has no image (if image hiding is enabled)

• It exceeds the max product limit

• It is below the inventory threshold

• It is Draft or not available to the Online Store

Always review both the filter and Other Options settings.

🧠 Best Practices for Managing Visibility

✔ Use tags for flexible control
✔ Keep filters specific and simple
✔ Set realistic inventory thresholds
✔ Use max product limits for curated collections
✔ Enable image hiding to maintain storefront quality

Proper visibility management keeps your collections organized, optimized, and conversion-focused — all while running automatically.

If you need help configuring visibility settings, our support team is happy to assist!