Product types allow you to define schemas or fields for different types of products. Every space starts with a "Default" product type. You can rename and customize the default and/or create additional product types to suit your needs.
Note that changing the type of a product is not currentlly supported. It's recommended to review your product catalog and consider which product types you may need before creating products.
Let's use our outdoor brand Aero as an example. They might use the following product types to manage their catalog:
Apparel — Material, Fit, and Weight fields
Footwear — Terrain and Drop fields
Nutrition — Calories, Dietary, and Ingredients fields
A trail runner needs a "Drop" measurement that makes no sense for an energy bar, and an energy bar needs a "Calories" field that makes no sense for a jacket. Separate product types let each category carry exactly the fields it needs.
Default fields
Every product type includes five default fields. These are always present and cannot be removed:
Field | Description |
Name | The product's display name |
SKU | Stock keeping unit / identifier |
Description | Product description |
Images | Product images linked from your Assets |
Price | Currency value |
Note: You can rename the default fields but they cannot be removed. For example, MSRP might fit your use case better than Price.
Configurable field types
Beyond the defaults, you can add any number of custom fields to a product type. When you add a field, choose from the General field types:
Field type | Description |
Text field | Single-line text, or multiple lines if you select Allow multiple lines |
Number | A numeric value, with configurable number type, decimals, thousands separator, and currency |
Date | A date, with configurable date format and an optional time |
Boolean | True/false toggle |
Asset | A single file linked from your Assets |
Single-select | Choose one value from a list of options you define |
Multi-select | Choose several values from a list of options you define |
Use the search box at the top of the field picker to find a type quickly.
Industry field types
Lingo also has industry-specific field types. These help Lingo better understand your product data regardless of how you name the field, so we recommend using them when they fit your products. For example, the Cannabis category includes Subcategory, Phenotype, Taste, Mood, Ingredients, and Terpenes.
Don't see your industry? We would love to hear about your needs and how we can better help you get setup.
Fields that drive options
Text, Number, Boolean, and Single-select fields, plus the Phenotype, Taste, Mood, Ingredients, and Terpenes industry fields, can be used to create options for a product. When a field is being used as an option:
A warning shows how many variants use it. Changes to the field affect all of them. Select View All to see which products are affected.
The field can't be deleted until it's removed from those products.
Field settings
Select a field to change its settings:
Title — the name of the field
Hide from public — only logged-in users can see this field when viewing products
Type-specific settings, like the number of decimals for a Number field or the list of values for a Select field
The field's type is locked once the field is saved. If you need a different type, add a new field and delete the old one.
Drag fields to reorder them. The order you set here is the order they appear on every product of that type.
Creating and managing product types
Product types are managed from the Product Types section of the Product Catalog, which you can reach from the gear button next to Product Types in the navigation.
To create a product type:
Go to Products → Product Types
Select Add, then New product type
Give it a name
Select Add field to add fields beyond the five defaults
Select Save
To start from a preset:
Go to Products → Product Types
Select Add, then Add from preset
Choose your industry and the preset you'd like to start from
To edit a product type:
Open the product type's menu and select Edit Type
Adding or removing fields affects all products of that type going forward
To duplicate a product type:
Open the product type's menu and select Duplicate Type. Give the copy a name and choose which fields to bring along.
To delete a product type:
Open the product type's menu and select Delete Type
A product type can only be deleted once it has no products. If it still has products, move or delete them first.
If you leave the editor with unsaved changes, Lingo keeps your draft for 24 hours.