Using the Visibility Checker to Troubleshoot Product Visibility

When a product isn't showing up on a store, tracking down which of several independent settings is responsible can take a while. The Visibility Checker on the product edit page runs that check for you: pick a store, and it tells you straight away whether the product is visible there, and if not, exactly why – so you know which setting to fix instead of checking each one by hand.

In This Article

• Prerequisites
• Why use this feature?
• Step 1: Open the Visibility Checker
• Step 2: Select a store to check
• Step 3: Read the result
• Best Practices
• Troubleshooting
• FAQs
• Additional Resources

Prerequisites

Why use this feature?

Whether a product appears on a given store depends on several settings that live in different places: the product's own Active status, its Availability settings, its assigned Product Group's status and Availability settings, and store or store-group level allow/deny rules. Any one of these can hide a product by itself, and it's common for more than one to apply at once.

Instead of opening each of those screens in turn, the Visibility Checker tests all of them against a specific store and lists every reason that currently applies, in plain language, so you can go straight to the setting that needs changing.

Step 1: Open the Visibility Checker

1. Go to Admin → Products.
2. Open the product you want to check, by clicking its product code, its name, or the Manage button and then Edit Product.
3. In the menu on the left, select Visibility Checker.

Step 2: Select a store to check

1. Click the Select Store button next to the Store field.
2. Search for and select the store you want to test the product's visibility against in the Select Store popup.

The check runs automatically as soon as a store is selected. Your selected store is remembered if you move to another tab on the product and come back to Visibility Checker, so you don't need to reselect it.

Step 3: Read the result

The result appears immediately below the Store field:

• This product is visible on the selected store. – no further action needed.
• This product is not visible on the selected store due to the following reasons: – followed by one or more specific messages, each describing a single cause. If more than one setting is blocking visibility, every applicable reason is listed at once.

Best Practices

• Run the Visibility Checker before making any manual changes to a product's settings – it usually points straight to the cause and saves you checking each setting individually.
• If a reason mentions the product's Product Group rather than the product itself, fix the setting on the group. That resolves visibility for every other product assigned to the same group at the same time.
• If more than one reason is listed, address all of them – fixing only one may not be enough to make the product visible if another setting is still blocking it.
• After making a change, return to the Visibility Checker and re-check the same store to confirm the product is now visible.

Troubleshooting

Problem: The Visibility Checker says the product is visible, but it still isn't showing on the actual storefront.

Cause: The Visibility Checker tests product-level and store-level configuration settings. It doesn't account for every possible storefront condition, such as category-page filters, search indexing delays, or browser/site caching.

Solution: Clear your browser cache and reload the storefront page. If the product still isn't visible, check the store's category and navigation settings, or contact Client Services.

Problem: The Store field doesn't return the store you're looking for.

Cause: The store name or domain entered doesn't match closely enough, or the store has been deleted.

Solution: Try searching by a different part of the store's name or domain. Deleted stores cannot be checked.

FAQs

Does using the Visibility Checker change any settings?

No. It's a read-only diagnostic tool – it reports on your existing configuration but doesn't change anything.

Can I check visibility across multiple stores at once?

No, the Visibility Checker tests one store at a time. Select a different store to check another.

Why does it list more than one reason?

Visibility is controlled by several independent settings. If more than one of them is currently blocking the product, all applicable reasons are listed together so you can address them all.

Does this work for decorated products too?

The Visibility Checker appears on the blank (supplier catalog) product's own edit page. Check on a live site whether it's also available when editing a decorated product before relying on this for decorated-product troubleshooting.

Additional Resources

• Why are my products not showing?
• Product Availability
• Product Groups
• Configure product availability at the product group level