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Why are my Product Categories Being Overwritten?

If you're noticing that your manual product category changes are getting overwritten, this guide will help you pinpoint the issue.

TIP: Use clusters for categorizing
Tradebyte recommends categorizing your products using clusters for efficient data management. Manual category adjustments made directly on a product can often be overwritten if your current cluster assignment settings conflict with your manual changes. This setting controls when and how the cluster categories are applied to a product.

How to Troubleshoot Product Category Change Overwrite

To identify why your manual changes on a product category is overwritten, follow these steps:

This issue is typically caused by the category assignment setting found in your system's import configuration, which controls the assignment of clusters via import or a repeated assignment run.

1.Go to "Admin > Import > Settings".

2.Go to the "Categories" section.

3.In the Category assignment drop-down menu, you will see four options:

a.Never: Categories will not be automatically assigned via Cluster.

b.If no assignment exists: Only products without a category are assigned one via the cluster.

c.Only at creation: Products take on categories from the clusters only during their initial creation.

d.Always: Products are categorized by the cluster regardless of any previous category assignment, which is the most common reason for manual changes being overwritten.

If your current setting is set to Always, the system is designed to overwrite any category changes you make manually, especially when a cluster assignment run is repeated.

Solutions: Regaining Control Over Product Categories

There are two solutions to stop your manual category changes from being overwritten:

Option 1: Manage Category Changes within the Cluster

Instead of updating the category directly on the product, change the category within the cluster itself.

•Go to "Basic data > Classification > Cluster".

•Select the relevant cluster and adjust the category mapping.

•Initiate a repeat assignment run from the cluster menu's left navigation bar. All products belonging to this cluster will now be moved to the new category. This collaborative approach ensures consistency across all grouped products.

Option 2: Adjust the Overwriting Behavior

Change the system-wide setting to protect your manual changes from being overwritten by cluster assignments.

1.Go to to "Admin > Import > Settings".

2.In the category assignment drop-down menu, select a setting other than "Always". We suggest:

a.If no assignment exists: This is a great pragmatic choice that assigns a category only if none is present.

b.Only at creation: This ensures a baseline category is set when the product is first created.

By changing this setting, the cluster will no longer overwrite manual category changes made directly on the product, making your data management more hands-on and flexible.

ATTENTION:
Any category assignment setting other than "Always" will prevent the product's category from changing, even if you move the product to another cluster (which would normally assign different categories). The category that is already present on the product will be preserved.

For further information, see also:

•Internal Categories vs. Clusters

•Configuring the Application of internal categories