Families are used to gather attributes that are common to several products.

The completeness of your products is also defined at the family level.

See all your families

To see your families, edit them, or create a new family, go to Settings, then Families.

How to create a family?

There are two different ways to create families: from scratch and from a template.

The first one will enable you to add all attributes one by one, while the second will bring you already-built families, so you save time. 

Please note that those families' templates are not exhaustive: you can modify them afterward and change what you want.

From scratch

1. Go to Settings, then Families
2. Click New family
3. Enter a unique code
4. Click Save
5. Your new family is now created. The family's Properties tab is displayed.

From a template

1. Go to Settings, then Families
2. Click New family
3. Click Select template
   
4. Select your preferred family and click Use template in the bottom-right corner
   
5. Enter a unique code and a label or keep pre-filled suggestion to save time
   
6. Click Create
7. Your new family is now created with all its attributes. The family's Properties tab is displayed.

More about family templates

A family created from a template will come with:

• Relevant attributes and attribute options
• Relevant attribute properties (e.g., value per locale)
• An attribute used as a label
• An attribute used as main picture

Family templates do not include the following attributes:

• Asset collection
• Reference entity (neither single nor multiple links)
• Table

Please note that some limitations have been set:

• Labels are only provided for US English locale
• Attributes are added to a default attribute group Other, except for the DPP families where attributes will be added to the attribute group DPP
• No completeness requirement (no attributes in the family will be ticked for completeness)
• No family variants

Learn more about family templates in this interactive course

What to do after creating a family?

You can give additional properties to your family:

• Set an attribute used as label (required): a text or identifier attribute that will be used as the default name for products belonging to this family. The attribute selected as the label will appear in the product grid (as the "Label" column) and in the product form's header.
• Set an attribute used as main picture: an image or asset collection attribute that will be used as the main picture for products belonging to this family. The attribute used as the main picture will be displayed in the product grid (as the "image" column) and in the product form's header. Value per locale and/or value per channel attributes cannot be used as main product pictures.
• Translate the family's label with labels' translations: this allows you to translate your family name into the locales enabled in the PIM.

This information can be edited afterward.

Once a family is created, you can configure your family:

• Add/remove attributes from the family
• Edit these attributes’ completeness

Manage attributes in a family

Attributes can be used in one or several families, but an attribute can only be added once to a family.

You can easily add attributes to or remove them from a family using the user interface or through imports.

Add an attribute to a family

Once you are on your family edit form, go under the Attributes tab:

1. Click Add Attributes on the right side of the screen 
   
   
2. Select the attributes to add by clicking on their labels
3. Click Add
   
   
4. Click Save
5. You can also add a group of attributes. To do so, click on Add by groups on the right side of the screen:
   
   

Select the attribute groups to add by clicking on their labels, and click Add, then Save.

The attributes will be added to the current family.

Remove an attribute from a family

You can also remove attributes from a family:

1. Go under the Attributes tab
2. Click on the trashcan icon to remove the relevant attribute(s)
   
   
3. Click Save

The attribute(s) will be back under the Add attributes list. If you need it later, you can add it again.

Manage your family’s completenesses

When an attribute is added to a family, it is not set as required for any channel by default. Only your product identifier attribute is automatically added and set as required for all families.

Under the attribute’s family tab, you will see:

• Circles meaning that the attribute is not required in the channel’s completeness
• Checks meaning that the attribute is already set as required for this channel

Set an attribute as required for a channel

1. Go under the Attributes tab
2. Select the attributes to be required for your family
3. Click on the circles to make them required for the channel’s completeness
4. Circles are automatically converted into a “check”
5. Click Save
   
   

Remove an attribute as required from a channel

1. Go under the Attributes tab
2. Select the attributes required for your family
3. Click on the checks to remove them from being required for the channel’s completeness
4. Checks are automatically converted into circles
5. Click Save

Mass edit families

As for products, you can mass edit families and add several attributes at once for several families and, through the same action, define whether they are required for the selected channels.

To add attributes (or a group of attributes) to several families:

1. Go to Settings/Families
2. Check the families to which you want to add the same attributes
3. A toolbar will be displayed at the bottom of the page: 
   • All will select all existing families
   • All visible will only select the families displayed on the current page
   • None will unselect all the families
4. Click Bulk actions button from the toolbar
   
   
5. The mass edit window will be displayed
6. Select the operation Set attributes requirements
7. Click Next
   
   
8. Add the relevant attributes by attributes or by attribute groups
9. Set the attributes required for the product completeness of the channels
10. Click Next
11. Click Confirm to add attributes to the selected families
12. The attributes have been added to the families.

Check the family history

Changes made on a family are recorded and visible under the History tab.

For each change, a version of the family is created. The following information is tracked down for each version:

• The person or system that made the changes
• The date and time (down to seconds) at which the changes took place
• The old value and the new value of each modified field

To view the family versions:

1. Open and edit the family tab.
2. Click on the History tab. The list of versions is displayed

Delete a family

You have two ways of removing a family:

Through the family form

1. Go to Settings, then Families to list the families
2. Click on the family to delete
3. Click ... for other actions and then Delete on the top right corner
   
   
4. Confirm the action via the validation message

Through the trashcan icon in the grid:

1. Select the family you want to remove from the family data grid
2. Place your mouse over the line of family in the grid and click the trashcan icon
3. Confirm the action in the validation message

A family variant allows you to define the global structure of your products with variants and will enable you to create product models.

To manage family variants, click Settings, then Families, and select the Variants tab.

See your family variants

To see the existing family variants or create a new one:

1. Go to Settings, then Families
2. Select the family to edit in the grid and click on it
3. Open the Variants tab for the family
   
   

Display a family variant

1. In Settings then Families, choose a family and open the Variants tab
2. Click on a family variant to display it
3. The family variant details are displayed
   
   

You can see how the attributes are distributed between the different levels:

• The common attributes in the first column for all the products in a product model
• The variant attributes for level 1 in the second column are the attributes that will vary according to the variant axes of level 1
• If the family variant has two variant levels, the variant attributes for level 2 in the third column are the attributes that vary according to the variant axes of level 2 (and level 1)

In our clothing example, which varies on two levels by color and by size, the common attributes are the name, the collection, the description, the brand, etc. The attributes that vary by color (variant level 1) are the composition and the pictures. Finally, the attributes that differ by color and size (variant level 2) are the EAN, the SKU, and the weight.

Create a new family variant

You can create one or more family variants in each family.

First, create the family variant

1. In Settings/Families, choose a family and select the Variants tab
2. Click on Add variant to create a new variant for the family
3. The creation of a family variant pop-in is prompted
   
   
4. The following properties are required to create a family variant:
   • A code to identify the family variant
   • A label
   • A number of variant levels: 1 or 2
   • The variant axes for each level: the variant axes are attributes of the family which identify the variant product in the product model. Their values must differ from a variant product to another in the product model (unicity). For example, the color and size for a clothing model (there is only one product with the color blue and the size S and one product with the color blue and the size M for a t-shirt model), the color for a chair model, the dimensions for a mattress model.
5. Click Create, and the family variant is created.

Then, distribute the attributes between the different levels

In the steps below, you will learn how to distribute the attributes between the different levels of your family variant (common attributes, variant attributes' level 1, and variant attributes' level 2).

1. Drag and drop attributes or attribute groups from the common attributes to the selected variant level to have these attributes managed at each variant level
   
2. Click on Save, the family variant will be updated

Edit a family variant

1. In Settings/Families, choose a family and open the Variants tab
2. Click on a family variant
3. The family variant edit page is displayed
   
   
    
4. You can move attributes or attribute groups by drag and drop from the common attributes to the selected variant level or from the variant attributes level 1 to the variant attributes level 2
5. You can remove an attribute from a variant level by clicking on the cross
6. A confirmation opens
   
   
7. Click on OK to confirm the remove
8. When you have made all your updates on the family variant attributes, click on Save
   
   

Translate a family variant label

1. In Settings/Families, choose a family and open the Variants tab
2. Click on a family variant
3. The family variant edit page is displayed
4. Select the Label translations tab
5. Translate the family variant label in the different enabled locales
   
6. Click Save

Delete a family variant

1. In Settings/Families, choose a family and open the Variants tab
2. Place your mouse over the line of the family variant you want to remove in the grid; the button delete is prompted (trash can icon)
   
3. Click on the trashcan icon, and a confirmation page opens
4. Click Delete to confirm the action in the confirmation message