How to add a new category

You are willing to make your online store organized, all products categorized and easy to find? This tutorial will show you how to do it by adding a new category to your online store.

First of all you need to open your OpenCart admin panel and navigate to Catalog -> Categories.
Click the Add New button in the top right corner.

Adding new category page is divided into tabs, similar to the ones you see when adding a new product. They are General, Data, SEO, Design.

So, let’s go over the tabs and their content.

A) The General tab includes following fields:

Category Name – defines would be the name of your new category on the website.
Description – provides basic information about your category.
Meta Tag Title – a category title, used by search engines.
Meta Tag Description – short category description, used for SEO purposes.
Meta Tag Keywords – single keywords that describe the category, used by search engines.

Please note, that if you are using a multilanguage website, it’s very important to fill in the required fields, that are marked with the * symbol for every single language.

B) Data tab consists of these items:

Parent – a place of the category in a hierarchical structure. If you don’t change this option to a custom one, the new category will be created as a parent category by default.
Filters – allows to select filters, that will be applied to the category in case Filter module is enabled on the website.
Stores – defines what store the category belongs to.
Image – allows selecting an image that will be used on the category page and as category thumbnail.
Top – defines if the category is displayed in the top menu bar. Please, note, that it works only for top (parent) categories.
Columns – select a number of subcategories displayed when hovering over the parent category.
Sort Order – defines the position of a category in the menu. The higher sort order number, the lower the category will be displayed.
Status – allows selecting if the category is available on the website (by choosing Enabled option), or if it is available just for editing purposes in admin panel only (when the Disabled option is selected).

C) SEO tab consists of a table with two columns:

Stores – contains the list of stores, available for adding SEO elements. When using only one store, Default Store will be available as the only option.
Keyword – a keyword that is included in category URL for SEO optimization purposes.

D) Last, but not least is the Design tab, which allows creating overrides for specific designs if you wish to display this exact category in any custom layouts. It’s is also a table, divided into two columns:

Stores – contains the list of stores, available for adding SEO elements. When using only one store, Default Store will be available as the only option.
Layout Override – allows selecting what page layout will be customized in order for the category to be displayed on it.

3. When you are satisfied with the added category information, please click the Save button in the top right corner of the page to complete product creating process.
Congratulations, now you know how to add a new category to your website!