What happens to product values when I change or archive an attribute, and where do attribute values appear?

Editing an attribute changes its definition and leaves the values on your products as they are. Archiving an attribute hides its values, and restoring it shows them again.

To change an attribute’s type, create a new attribute with the type you want, copy the values into it, for example with the product export and import, and archive the old one. The Edit Attribute dialog shows the type for reference. Contact Endless support for help changing an attribute’s type.

You can change an attribute’s name, handle, group, help text, and display options. The dialog notes that “Updating the definition will not affect any assigned product values.” Products keep their values under the renamed attribute. A new name or handle must not already be used by another attribute, including an archived one. If an archived attribute uses it, Endless asks you to restore that attribute instead. Changing the handle changes the column name in the product export and import, so update any files or templates that use the old custom. column.

When you archive an attribute, Endless keeps its product values and hides them. The attribute disappears from products, filters, the product sheet, and the product export. When you restore the attribute from the archived list, its values reappear on the same products. While archived, the attribute’s name and handle stay reserved.

Endless does not limit how many attributes a product can have.

Custom attribute values are included in the product export. Each active attribute has its own column, named custom. followed by the attribute’s handle, such as custom.material. Products without a value have a blank cell. Archived attributes are not exported. You can import the same columns to update values.