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How to Add a Product in Magento 1 from the Admin Panel

Where to add a new product in the Magento 1 admin, the main tabs to fill in, and why a new product might not appear on your shop.

Written

From my Linux study notes, 2016. Some commands and versions here are old, so please reuse them carefully. Anything marked "added later", and the notes at the end, explain what has changed since.

(Added later.) This post is for Magento 1. Magento 1 reached end of life on 30 June 2020 and no longer receives security updates. The menus below do not match Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce.

You can add products from the Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products > Add Product (the button is at the top right of the page).

Step by step

(Added later.)

  1. Log in to the Magento admin panel.
  2. Go to Catalog > Manage Products and click Add Product at the top right.
  3. Choose the Attribute Set (use Default if you have not created your own) and the Product Type, then click Continue. For a single item with no options, choose Simple Product. The other types are:
    • Configurable Product: one product with choices such as size or colour, built from simple products.
    • Grouped Product: a set of simple products shown together on one page.
    • Bundle Product: a product the customer builds from several options.
    • Virtual Product: something with no shipping, such as a service.
    • Downloadable Product: a file the customer downloads after buying.
  4. Fill in the tabs on the left. The fields marked with a red asterisk are required. The main ones are:
    • General: Name, Description, Short Description, SKU (a unique product code), Weight, Status (set to Enabled) and Visibility.
    • Prices: Price and Tax Class.
    • Images: upload product photos and choose the base, small and thumbnail image.
    • Inventory: Qty and Stock Availability (In Stock).
    • Websites: if this tab is shown, tick the website the product should be sold on.
    • Categories: tick the categories the product should appear in.
  5. Click Save (or Save and Continue Edit to stay on the page).

If the product does not appear on the shop

(Added later.) Check these in order:

  • Status is Enabled.
  • Visibility is Catalog, Search (or at least Catalog).
  • Qty is more than 0 and Stock Availability is In Stock.
  • The product is assigned to the right website and to at least one category.
  • The cache is cleared (System > Cache Management) and indexes are up to date (System > Index Management).

Notes for today

  • Magento 1 is no longer supported. Running it on a live shop is a security risk, particularly for anything that handles payments. In Magento 2 the equivalent screen is under Catalog > Products > Add Product, but the form is laid out differently; follow the documentation for your version.