What is Hide from catalog?
Sometimes a product has to be sellable, but not visible to shoppers who browse your store. For example, a lug nut kit or a mounting service that you offer only together with other products, or a product for a private offer that you share by a link.
The Hide from catalog option does exactly that. A hidden product does not appear in categories, search results or automatic recommendations, but customers who have its direct link can open its page and buy it. You can also show a hidden product yourself, wherever you add it manually.
This option is not the same as other features with similar names:
Catalog Mode disables checkout for the whole store. See Catalog Mode (Disabled Checkout).
Hidden attributes are product attributes that are visible only in the Admin area. See Hidden Global Attributes.
Membership-specific access shows a product only to customers of certain membership levels. See Limited Access to Products and Categories.
Hiding a product
Go to Catalog > Products and open the product.
On the Info tab, in the General Info section, turn on the Hide from catalog switch. It is below Available for sale.
Click Update product.
To show the product in the catalog again, turn the switch off and save the product.
In the Admin area, a hidden product has the hidden label next to its name in product lists, and in the lists you use to select products (for example, when you choose products for a coupon). This helps you not to select it by mistake.
What changes for a hidden product
A hidden product is not listed in these places:
The product lists on category pages. The categories themselves are not affected, only the hidden product is missing from their lists.
Storefront search results.
Blocks that X-Cart fills in automatically, such as best sellers and "customers also bought/viewed".
The XML sitemap and llms.txt.
Product feeds, for example Google and Facebook feeds.
Marketplace integrations: the product is not exported to eBay and is not assigned to Amazon categories.
A hidden product still works in these places:
Its own product page. It opens by the direct link, and the customer can add the product to the cart and buy it.
The cart, checkout and orders. The product behaves there like any other product.
Recently viewed, if the customer has already seen the product.
The blocks that you fill in yourself, such as Featured products, related products and upselling.
The Admin area, where the product is marked with the hidden label.
Hide from catalog and other options
The Hide from catalog option is available in X-Cart 5.6.x, starting with 5.6.0.22. The other two options below are not new, they also exist in X-Cart 5.5.x. They are listed here to show the difference, and the table describes how all three work in X-Cart 5.6.x:
Option | Where you set it | What it does |
Hide from catalog | On the product | The product is not shown in the catalog, search and recommendations. It stays available by the direct link and can be bought. |
Available for sale | On the product | If it is turned off, the product page returns the 404 not found page with a list of related products as alternatives, so the product can't be bought. |
How to show out of stock products | Store > Cart & Checkout > Miscellaneous tab > Product Display. This is a store-wide setting. | Defines where products that are out of stock are shown. With the default value, Hide and make them available only via a direct link, such products are hidden from lists, but only while they are out of stock. |
For the store-wide setting, see Cart & Checkout setup (X-Cart 5.5.x-5.6.x).
FAQ
Q: Is a hidden product private?
A: No. Anyone who has the link to the product page can open it and buy the product. If you don't want customers to buy the product at all, turn off Available for sale instead.
Q: Why can't I find a hidden product on my storefront?
A: A hidden product does not appear in categories and search. Open it from the Admin area (Catalog > Products) by the product name, or use the direct link.
Q: Can I sell a hidden product together with other products?
A: Yes. For example, the extras in the Wheel & Tire Packages add-on are hidden products that customers can add to a package. See Wheel & Tire Packages add-on.
Can't find answers you're looking for?
Email us at support@x-cart.com. We will be happy to help!