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Create and edit item options and variations

Who is this article for?
  • Account owners or team members with general items permissions. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
  • About custom item variations and option sets

    Item variations represent different versions of the same item, like different colours or sizes. Each variation can have its own cost, price and SKU.

    Use variations when you need to offer specific alternative forms of an item, like small, medium or large drink sizes. Variations are chosen before the item reaches the customer and cannot be customized further.

    Options sets are the attributes of a variation, like sizes and colours. Use option sets to generate many variations for an item quickly. Option sets can be applied to any item to create variations in bulk, so if you have multiple items that share the same colours, sizes or materials, you can save time by using your option sets to generate variations for those different items.

    For example, let’s say you create two option sets: Sizes and Colours.

    • Sizes: Small, medium and large

    • Colours: Red, blue and green

    If you create a new item, such as “shirts,” you can apply each option set to the item to create all nine variations of the shirt in just a few clicks (small red, small blue and small green; medium red, medium blue and medium green; and large red, large blue and large green) rather than creating each variation manually.

    Before you begin

    You have two options for creating item variations and options:

    • From the Square Dashboard on a laptop or desktop computer

    • From your point of sale app

    Make sure you’ve created at least one item in your item library before assigning an item option set to an item. Learn how to create and edit items.

    Modifiers and variations have different use cases:

    • Use modifiers to provide customization options during the sale of an item, like adding cheese to a burger. Learn how to create and edit item modifiers.

    • Use variations to offer different forms of the item that are fixed, like small or large size.

    Step 1. Create and manage option sets

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Options.
    2. Click Create an option set or select an existing item option set to edit.
    3. Enter the Option set name and the Display name, and choose the Option set type within the Details section.
    4. Enter an option within the Add option field.
    5. Press Enter on your keyboard to add more options.
    6. Click Save.

    Click the X icon next to an option to delete it. Move the option’s order list using the ≡ three horizontal lines icon.

    Point of sale app and devices

    1. Open your point of sale app and tap ≡ More > Items > Options.
    2. Tap Create option or select an existing item option set to edit.
    3. Enter the Option set name and the Display name.
    4. Enter an option within the Options field.
    5. Tap Add option to add more options.
    6. Tap Create or Done.

    Tap the X icon next to an option to delete it. Move the option’s order list using the ≡ three horizontal lines icon

    Step 2. Add option sets to an item

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Options.
    2. Click Add.
    3. Select an Option set name from the list. Click Add options set if you want to add more options.
    4. Click Next once you’ve chosen the appropriate option set.
    5. Review the new variations created and click Create variations to confirm the changes.
    6. Click Save.

    Point of sale app and devices

    1. Open the Square app and tap ≡ More > Items > All items.
    2. Tap on the selected item from the list.
    3. Tap Create option or toggle on a previously created list of option sets.
    4. Review the new variations created and tap Done to confirm the changes.
    5. Tap Next > Done.
    6. Tap Save.

    Remove option sets from an item

    Once you’ve assigned an item option set to an item, you can remove the item option set assigned to this item at any time.

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items.
    2. Click on the selected item from the list.
    3. Click the three dots icon next to the name of the option set within the Options section.
    4. Click Remove option set > Delete variations.
    5. Click Save.

    Point of sale app and devices

    1. Open your point of sale app and tap ≡ More > Items > All items.
    2. Tap on the selected item from the list.
    3. Tap Edit options within the Options section.
    4. Tap the item option set name you’d like to remove.
    5. Tap Remove option set > Confirm remove > Delete.
    6. Tap Save.

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