Customize Product Categories
July 20, 2026
Summary
The Category Manager lets you rename, restructure, merge, create, and delete product categories at the catalog level or per channel, with customizations persisting across rebuilds.
Overview
The Category Manager lets you rename, restructure, merge, create, and delete product categories, at the catalog level or per channel. Categories built from the Product Builder are auto-mapped to the original source categories, so your customizations persist across rebuilds.
Manage categories from Product Catalog → View Categories (catalog level) or Channel Listings → View Categories (per channel, after selecting the channel).
- Rename & restructure: rename categories and drag-and-drop them into up to three tiers.
- Merge: combine categories and their subcategories into one.
- Auto-mapping: renamed source categories keep your name on future builds and rebuilds.
- Orphaned cleanup: bulk-delete categories no longer assigned to any product or listing (Standard and Pro).
Category tiers
| Tier | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Category 1 / 2 / 3 | Up to three levels, arranged by drag-and-drop. |
| Multi-level delete | Deleting a higher tier also deletes every sub-tier beneath it. |
| Orphaned category | No longer linked to any product or listing; can be bulk-deleted. |
Important notes
Note: You cannot merge categories while editing them. Finish edits, save, then merge individually.
Note: Deleting a higher-tier category also deletes every subcategory beneath it.
Note: After deleting categories, rebuild products or use a bulk customization to repopulate categories.
Note: Deleting catalog categories will not change your website unless an overwrite-listings job runs. Category mapping changes apply to listings, not the catalog.
Common issues
Source categories are not carried into some products.
Category 1/2/3 map from the source only when present. Rebuild the affected products and verify the source actually provides all three levels for those items.
Category 3 is not reaching the channel (for example as a Shopify tag).
Category-to-channel mapping is set per channel in the publish mapping template. Map Category 3 to the channel field or tag there.
Vendor category strings arrive combined (comma-separated).
Use a mapping-template rule to split the string into Category 1/2/3 at each comma so the hierarchy stays clean.
Category exclusions are lost when filtering or scrolling?
If you select categories in the Manage Exclusions modal and then use the search filter or scroll through the list, your previous selections may appear to reset. To ensure exclusions are saved correctly, verify your selections remain checked before clicking save. Flxpoint uses a persistent state map to maintain these selections across UI changes, but note that changing the selected source will reset these selections to prevent data leakage between sources.
FAQs
Will deleting a category remove it from my live store?
No, not unless you run an overwrite-listings job. Newly created products still show the source categories.
Do my renamed categories survive a rebuild?
Yes. Flxpoint remembers the original source category and keeps your custom name on future builds.
Can I merge and edit at the same time?
No. Save your edits first, then merge.
How do I clean up unused categories?
Use Delete Orphaned Categories in the Category Manager: at the catalog level, and per channel for listing categories.