---
title: "Creating Options"
description: "Who doesn’t prefer choices when they wish to buy their favorite chocolates? Obviously, your users would love it when the products have additional options."
url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/catalog/creating-options"
markdown_url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/catalog/creating-options.md"
last_updated: "2026-10-23T02:33:38+00:00"
version: "J2Commerce 6"
breadcrumbs:
  - title: "Home"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/"
  - title: "J2Commerce 6"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6"
  - title: "Catalog"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/catalog"
  - title: "Creating Options"
    url: "https://docs.j2commerce.com/v6/catalog/creating-options"
---

# Creating Options

Who doesn’t prefer choices when they wish to buy their favorite chocolates? Obviously, your users would love it when the products have additional options. J2Commerce allows you to create [options of various types](https://docs.j2commerce.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=38).

## Requirements

- with PHP 8.3.0 +
- Joomla! 6.x
- J2Commerce 6.x

## For Instance

Let's suppose you are trying to sell a customizable box of chocolates. In the examples below, we will show what it looks like to add **Options** to different types of products. The end of this document will show what it looks like on the frontend for both a simple product with Options and a Flex Variant with Options.

## Locating Options

There are **two** ways you can access Options.

**Option A:** Go to the **J2Commerce** icon at the top right corner **-> Catalog -> Options**

**Option B:** Go to **Components** on the left sidebar **-> J2Commerce -> Dashboard -> Catalog -> Options**

Select **New** to create a new option

![Adding new options](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options.webp)

Select **New** to create a new option. (for example, Name: `Size`, Type: `select`).

Add the option values (Small, Medium, Large) to the option

Repeat for each option you plan to use (e.g., create a separate "Color" option with values Red, Blue, Green).

You only need to do this once. The same options can be reused across many products.

**Option Name:** The label customers see on the product page, for example, "Size" or "Color".

**Option Unique Name:** An internal identifier (no spaces) used to distinguish options with the same display name.

**Type:** Controls the input style shown to customers. See the table below for all types.

### Option Types

**Select:** A dropdown menu

**Radio:** Clickable button group

**Checkbox:** Multiple-choice checkboxes

**Color:** Color swatch buttons

**Text:** A single-line text input

**Textarea:** A multi-line text input

**Date / Datetime / Time:** A date or time picker

**Number:** A numeric input field

**File / Image:** A file upload input

**Email / URL:** A formatted text input

> **Tip:** **IMPORTANT:** For Select, Radio, Checkbox, and Color option types, add your option values in the **Option Values** section that appears below the type field. Each value needs a name, and optionally an image.

![Option edit screen, Option Values section highlighted listing Value Names Black, White, Red, Pink and Dark Grey with an Image field for each](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/option-value.webp)

## Setting up the Options

![Option edit screen: Details tab, Basic Information and Option Type Color highlighted, Color Values highlighted listing Black, Red, Blue, Pink, White with hex codes](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-setup1.webp)

**Option Name:** Enter the unique name. This is the name that will be seen on the frontend. In our case, let us create the **color** option for the example.

**Unique Name:** A unique identifier for this option (no spaces)

**Option Type:** Choose the Option type. Each variation type will create the corresponding Value at the bottom. In this example, we are choosing the **color** as they type. The value section at the bottom will now allow us to customize the colors for the customers to see.

**Status:** Set this to **Published** in order for you to add it to a product.

**Color Values:** Because we chose Color as the type, we can now customize the colors.

Another example, if you chose **Radio** as the type, you would be able to add an image to each option. Or the **checkbox** type is popular for sizing options like Small, Medium, Large.

Create a text area type option for collecting the text to be displayed on the shirt.

## **Frontend View**

The example below shows what it will look like on the frontend when adding the color as an option to a product.

![Heart Box product page with the Color option highlighted: Pink selected among Pink, Red and Black swatches above the Add to Cart button](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-frontend1.webp)

## Add Options to your Product

Now, it's time to add them to your product.

Navigate to **Content -> Categories -> Articles ->**

![Articles: Categories list with the Content and Categories sidebar entries highlighted and the Gifts category published count of 2 highlighted](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-product.webp)

Click on your product **-> J2Commerce** tab **-> Options** tab

![Product edit screen, Options tab highlighted with no options yet: Flavor in the dropdown and the Add Option button highlighted](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-tab.webp)

Add as many options as you wish and **save** the article once. If your product requires that the customer choose an option before placing the order, then make it required.

![Product edit screen, Options tab: the Flavor option row highlighted with Required Yes and Ordering 0, above the Add Option controls](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-tab1.webp)

Click on the **Set Option Values**

![Product edit screen, Options tab: Flavor Radio option with the Set Option Values button highlighted and Required set to Yes highlighted](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-tab2.webp)

The pop-up window will allow you to select each attribute that is offered for each option. You can rearrange the order of the options and choose which option will be the default option for the customer to see by clicking on the star to the right.

![Adding option values to products](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-tab3.webp)

You can also set special pricing for each attribute if they differ from the main product. The Prefix section determines if it's going to be more or less (+/-) than the main product price.

In the example below, we made the white chocolates .50 less and the Dark Chocolates .75 more than the main default option

![Set Options for Flavor dialog: White with minus prefix and 0.50 price, and Dark with plus prefix and 0.75 price highlighted, Milk as the default star](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-tab5.webp)

## Frontend View

The example below shows adding **flavor** options with different pricing on a **simple** product

![Options frontend](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-frontend.webp)

The example below shows adding individual photos to the **color** option. This is for a **Flex Variant** Product and the customer chose the pink box. The image changes based on the customer's choice, so they can see what it would look like before purchasing.

![Heart Box product page with the large product image highlighted and the selected Pink color swatch highlighted](https://docs.j2commerce.com/images/docs/shared/options-frontend2.webp)