Managing Odoo E-Commerce Categories: Importing, Creating, and Exporting Hierarchies

Managing Odoo E-Commerce Categories: Importing, Creating, and Exporting Hierarchies

When you start configuring the connector, you can import existing master data from your e-commerce platform, including product categories. Imported categories are automatically created as records in Odoo and can then be used during synchronization between Odoo and the connected e-commerce system.

Alternatively, you can use Odoo as the primary source of category data. In this scenario, categories are created and managed in Odoo and then exported to the e-commerce platform. If a category does not have any mappings with the external records, it will be created automatically during export.

Creating a Category

To create a new category in Odoo, use the E-Commerce Integration Categories menu and click New.

At a minimum, you must provide a Name for the category.

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Creating Category Hierarchies

Most e-commerce platforms support hierarchical category structures. To create a hierarchy, assign a Parent Category when creating or editing a category.

For example:

  • Create a category named Home.

  • Create another category named Furniture and set Home as its parent.

The resulting category structure will be Home / Furniture

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Odoo represents category levels using the / (slash) separator.

To create a third-level category:

  • Create a category named Sofa.

  • Set Home / Furniture as its parent category.

The resulting hierarchy will be Home / Furniture / Sofa

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Exporting Categories

When a product with a new category is exported, the connector automatically creates any missing category levels in the external e-commerce platform.

For example, if the hierarchy Home / Furniture / Sofa exists in Odoo and the Sofa category is assigned to a product, the connector ensures that the corresponding category structure is available in the external system.

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Assigning Categories to Products

Products can be assigned to one or more categories. For example, when the category Home / Furniture / Sofa is assigned to a product, the export process can assign all category levels:

  • Home

  • Furniture

  • Sofa

This allows the product to be visible within each level of the category hierarchy in the external e-commerce platform.

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Default Category

You can define a Default Category for a product by selecting one of the categories already assigned to that product. The default category is typically used as the primary category in the connected e-commerce platform.

What’s next?

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