Usually, each X-Cart-based store comes with the 30-day free trial of the CloudSearch add-on that starts right after the software installation. The CloudFilters extension of the CloudSearch add-on comes enabled as well.
Enabling CloudFilters
Suppose that the CloudSearch add-on is available on trial and CloudFilters is not. In this case, you can enable the 30-day free trial of the CloudFilters extension in the "Filters" tab of the "CloudSearch & CloudFilters" add-on settings page in your store Admin area (Catalog -> CloudSearch & CloudFilters).
To enable CloudFilters, use the button "Enable CloudFilters:"
You will see the "Settings" popup with the filters enabled — close this popup.
Once the CloudFilters service has been activated for your store, you will see a screen with two tab sections, "All Pages" and "Search Pages," the latter being opened by default.
To start using CloudFilters, you need to configure filters for all store pages and search pages (optional).
All Pages Filters Setup
Use the tab "All pages" for the general filters setup that will apply storewide. This section provides a list of filters generated automatically based on global product attributes, tags, and vendors defined in your store. You can create new, enable, disable and delete preset filters, and change the filter properties.
Managing Filters List
All preset filters on the filters listing page have special flags that indicate a product class the filter originates from. The built-in filters apply to all products in your store, while the rest only apply to products of a specific product class.
To enable/disable a filter, use the "ON/OFF" button in front of it. Disabled filters are not displayed on the storefront.
To delete a filter completely, use the "Trash" icon opposite it.
To re-arrange filters, use the "Cross" icons to drag-n-drop them in the required order. The filters display order in the storefront will reflect the sorting in the Admin area.
Editing Filter Properties
Click on the "Pencil" icon opposite a filter to edit filter properties and adjust the settings. The number of properties is constant, while the fields' content may vary depending on the filter.
For each filter, a store administrator can define the following properties:
Display name: This field allows to specify a filter name that will display in the storefront.
Products must match: This dropdown allows to select whether products to be displayed under the filter must match all or some of the set values.
FILTER VALUES: This section allows enabling and disabling the filter's values and arranging them alphabetically or manually.
Adding New Filters
Usually, there is no need to create new filters as preset filters cover all possible variations in your store. However, there may be a need to narrow down some preset filters because of the excessive default filter value list.
To add new filters to the list:
On the "All pages" tab of the "Filters" page, click the "Add new filter" button.
Name the new filter and select the default filter you will pick the values from.
Click "Create."
In our case, we decided to narrow down the default "Size" filter to "UK Size."
After creating the new filter, open the "UK Size" filter properties in the filters list and disable all the values that don't match the UK size chart.
Search Page Filters Setup
In this tab, you can do the advanced configuration of your store's filtering system powered by Smart Filter Selection For Product Search. This feature is helpful in large stores with a wide range of products (and, accordingly, many product attributes). It allows to narrow this list down to one of the predefined filter categories based on the customer's search query. In other words, the essence of the "Smart Filter Selection" feature is that it enables you to configure different sets of filters for various user search queries, linking them to specific keywords. As a result, when a customer uses this feature, the search page displays only the filters applicable to the search query used. It does not show all filters available in the store (as configured via the "All pages" tab).
Filter sets that are linked to specific keywords are called filter categories.
To add a filter category:
Click the "Add Filter Category" button.
A popup titled "Add new filter category" will display.
Use the popup to configure a filter category.
In the "Keywords" field, specify the keyword(s) to which the filter set of this filter category should be linked.
In the Filters, select the filters for this category.
Click the "Add category" button to save the configured category.
As a result, the filter category will be created and added to the listing.
The filter categories you use and the keywords you specify in the "Search page" tab must match the user search query structure.
For example, you will need to create two filter categories if you sell footballs and sportswear in your store and want different filters to appear depending on the type of products found on a search query. At the same time, the specified keywords must not overlap in meaning. When your customer searches your store site, they need to select only one filter category under the search query.
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