Filters
Filters come from the Search & Discovery app, not the theme. The theme renders whatever that app provides. If a filter is missing, it is almost always because the app has not been told about it.
Install it from the Shopify App Store if it is not already there. It is free and made by Shopify.
Filters that need no setup
Add these under Apps → Search & Discovery → Filters → Add filter and they work immediately, because they read fields your products already have.
| Filter | Reads |
|---|---|
| Availability | Stock status |
| Price | Product price |
| Product type | The Product type field |
| Vendor | The Vendor field — label it "Brand" if that reads better |
| Any variant option | Size, Colour, Volume, whatever your options are called |
Product type and Vendor only produce useful filters if those fields are filled in consistently. Twenty product types with one product each is not a filter, it is a second navigation menu.
Filters from metafields
Anything else — Benefits, Scent, Material, Skin type — is a product metafield. Three things have to be true before it appears.
The definition exists. Settings → Custom data → Products → Add definition.
Storefront access is on. In the definition, set access to Storefront. This is the step most guides leave out, and the failure is silent: the metafield works everywhere else, and simply never appears in the filter list.
The type can be filtered. Use single line text, list of values. A list lets one product hold several values, which is what makes a filter useful — a body oil can be both Relaxation and Moisturising.
Fill the metafield in on some products, then add the filter in Search & Discovery. Choose it by the Product metafield type in the source list, not by name — a store often has a same-named variant option or category metafield, and picking the wrong one gives a filter with no values.
How many filters
Six to eight is usually right. Past that the sidebar runs longer than the products beside it, and on mobile the drawer becomes its own scrolling problem.
Drag them into order in Search & Discovery; the sidebar follows that order. Availability and Price first is the convention, and shoppers look for them there.
Theme settings
The theme controls how filters look, not what they contain.
| Setting | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Filter groups open by default | Main collection | How many groups start expanded. Set it to the number of groups you have to open all of them. |
| Filter sidebar width | Main collection | 240–320px |
| Keep filters visible while scrolling | Main collection | The sidebar follows the grid down the page |
| Price filter | Main collection | A slider, or number fields |
"Filter groups open by default" cannot open groups that do not exist. If you set it to 10 and nothing changes, you have fewer than ten filters configured — the setting is working and there is nothing left to open.
When a filter does not appear
In this order:
- It has not been added in Search & Discovery.
- Storefront access is off on the metafield definition.
- No product has a value for it. A filter with nothing behind it is hidden.
- The wrong source was picked — a category metafield or variant option with the same name, rather than the product metafield.
- Changes take a few minutes to reach the storefront after saving.
Filters and search engines
Filtered collection URLs are variations of the same page, and the theme sets a canonical link back to the unfiltered collection. That is what stops hundreds of filter combinations competing with each other in search results.
The practical consequence: filters are a browsing tool, not a landing page strategy. If a filtered view matters enough to rank — "Lavender Body Oils", say — make it a real collection with its own title and description, and link to it from Shop by category.