How To Add Collections On Shopify in 2026

To add collections on Shopify, go to your Shopify admin, click Products > Collections, then click Create Collection. Give it a title, choose whether it’s manual or automated, add products, and save. You can then add the collection to your store’s navigation menu so customers can find it.

Collections group your products into categories that make sense for your store and your customers. A clothing store might have collections for Men, Women, and Accessories. A home goods store might organize by room: Kitchen, Bedroom, Living Room. You decide how to group things - Shopify gives you the tools to set it up.

There are two types of collections in Shopify: manual and automated. Each works differently, and most stores use a mix of both.

Manual Collections vs. Automated Collections

Before you create a collection, you need to decide which type fits your needs.

Manual Collections

With a manual collection, you hand-pick every product that belongs in it. Products stay in the collection until you remove them, and new products won’t appear unless you add them yourself.

Manual collections work well when you want full control - for example, a “Staff Picks” or “Holiday Gift Guide” collection where the selection is curated and doesn’t follow a predictable pattern.

Automated Collections

Automated collections use conditions (rules) to include products automatically. You set the conditions once, and Shopify adds matching products on its own - including any new products you add to your store later that meet the criteria.

Conditions can be based on:

• Product tag - e.g., all products tagged “summer”
• Product type - e.g., all products with type “T-Shirt”
• Vendor - e.g., all products from a specific supplier
• Price - e.g., all products under $50
• Weight - useful for shipping-based grouping
• Inventory stock - e.g., only in-stock items

You can require products to match all conditions or any condition. For example, “Product tag equals summer AND price is less than $50” will only include summer products under $50. Switching to “any” would include all summer products plus all products under $50, regardless of tag.

Important: Once you save a collection as manual or automated, you cannot switch its type. You would need to create a new collection if you change your mind. Pick the right type from the start.

How To Create a Manual Collection

1. Go to Products > Collections in your Shopify admin.
2. Click “Create collection.”
3. Enter a title - this appears on your storefront and in search results. Use a clear, descriptive name that includes relevant keywords (e.g., “Women’s Running Shoes” rather than just “Running”).
4. Add a description - write 2-3 sentences explaining what the collection contains. This text shows on the collection page and helps with SEO.
5. Under Collection type, select “Manual.”
6. Click Save.
7. Scroll down to the Products section and search for products to add. You can search by name, SKU, or tag. Click a product to add it to the collection.
8. Drag products to reorder them if you want a specific display order.

How To Create an Automated Collection

1. Go to Products > Collections in your Shopify admin.
2. Click “Create collection.”
3. Enter a title and description - same as with manual collections.
4. Under Collection type, select “Automated.”
5. Set your conditions. Use the dropdown menus to define rules. For example: Product tag → is equal to → “organic”.
6. Add more conditions by clicking “Add another condition.” Choose whether products must match all conditions or any condition.
7. Click Save. Shopify will immediately populate the collection with products that match your rules.

Any time you add a new product to your store that matches the conditions, Shopify automatically includes it in the collection. This saves time, especially for stores with large or frequently changing inventories.

Setting Up Collection SEO

Each collection has its own page on your Shopify store, and that page can rank in Google. To give it the best chance, fill out the SEO settings properly.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the collection editor and find the “Search engine listing” section. Click “Edit website SEO.”
2. Page title - write a title under 60 characters that includes your main keyword. Example: “Women’s Running Shoes | Your Store Name.”
3. Meta description - write 120-155 characters describing the collection. This is the text snippet that appears in Google search results.
4. URL handle - Shopify auto-generates this from the title, but you can edit it. Keep it short and keyword-rich. Use hyphens between words (e.g., “womens-running-shoes”). Avoid changing the URL handle after the page is live - it breaks existing links.

Adding a Collection Image

A collection image appears at the top of the collection page and in some theme layouts where collections are displayed as a grid (like on the homepage).

To add one:

1. Open the collection in your Shopify admin.
2. Find the “Collection image” section on the right side of the editor.
3. Click “Add image” and upload a photo. Use an image that represents the collection - for a “Summer Dresses” collection, show a dress rather than a generic beach photo.
4. Add alt text - click the image after uploading and enter descriptive alt text for accessibility and SEO (e.g., “Summer dresses collection featuring floral and linen styles”).

Recommended image size depends on your theme, but 1200 x 600 pixels works well for most Shopify themes.

Sorting Products Within a Collection

The order products appear in a collection matters. Shopify gives you several sorting options:

• Best selling - puts your top sellers first (good default for most stores)
• Alphabetically, A-Z / Z-A - useful for catalogs or directories
• Price, high to low / low to high - helpful when price is a major buying factor
• Date, new to old / old to new - works well for stores that release new products regularly
• Manually - drag and drop products into whatever order you want (only available for manual collections)

To change the sort order, open the collection, scroll to the Products section, and use the “Sort” dropdown. For manual collections, you can also drag products into a custom order after selecting “Manually” as the sort method.

Creating Sub-Collections on Shopify

Shopify doesn’t have a built-in sub-collection feature, but you can create the same effect using your navigation menu structure.

For example, if you have a “Clothing” collection and want sub-collections for “T-Shirts,” “Jeans,” and “Jackets”:

1. Create each sub-collection as its own collection - “T-Shirts,” “Jeans,” “Jackets.”
2. Go to Online Store > Navigation in your Shopify admin.
3. Edit your main menu.
4. Add “Clothing” as a menu item linking to the Clothing collection.
5. Nest the sub-collections underneath by dragging “T-Shirts,” “Jeans,” and “Jackets” slightly to the right under “Clothing.” This creates a dropdown menu.

Customers see “Clothing” in the main menu with a dropdown showing the three sub-categories. Each links to its own collection page with its own products, SEO settings, and image.

Adding Collections to Your Navigation Menu

A collection that isn’t in your navigation menu is a collection most customers will never find. After creating your collections, add them to your store’s menu:

1. Go to Online Store > Navigation.
2. Click on your main menu (usually called “Main menu”).
3. Click “Add menu item.”
4. Enter a name for the menu link (e.g., “Shop All,” “New Arrivals,” “Sale”).
5. In the Link field, search for and select your collection.
6. Click Add, then Save menu.

You can also add collections to your footer menu or create a dedicated “Collections” page that displays all collections as a grid. Most Shopify themes have a “Collection list” page template built in for this purpose.

Best Practices by Store Type

How you set up collections depends on what you sell. Here are practical approaches for common store types:

Clothing and Apparel

Create collections by category (tops, bottoms, outerwear), by gender, by season, and by occasion (workwear, casual, formal). Use automated rules based on product tags to keep collections current as you add inventory. A “New Arrivals” collection sorted by date (newest first) is expected by customers in this category.

Home and Furniture

Organize by room (living room, bedroom, kitchen) and by product type (lighting, storage, decor). Consider adding price-based collections like “Under $100” using automated conditions on price.

Food and Beverages

Group by dietary category (vegan, gluten-free, organic) using tags and automated conditions. A “Best Sellers” collection sorted by sales volume helps new visitors find popular items quickly.

Electronics and Gadgets

Organize by product type (headphones, chargers, cables) and by brand using the vendor condition. Include a “Sale” or “Clearance” automated collection filtered by compare-at price to highlight discounted items.

General Tips for Any Store

• Don’t create too many collections - 5 to 15 main collections is typical for most stores. Too many overwhelms customers.
• Make sure every product belongs to at least one collection. Orphan products with no collection are harder for customers to find.
• Review your collections quarterly. Remove empty or outdated ones and add new ones that reflect current inventory or trends.
• Use consistent naming conventions. If one collection is “Men’s Shoes,” don’t name another “Shoes for Women” - keep the format parallel.