Why is category pages greyed out?

[BlackRockSeafoo]

When i go to add a category section to my site, or to a page so I can make links to categories, its greyed out. Do I have to upgrade to a paid plan for this? 

[HC_Charlie]

Hello @BlackRockSeafoo thanks for your post. Do you have any Categories currently created? Maybe you don't so I would try to first create a Category, then go back into your site and see if you can add that Category page.

From your Dashboard, go to:

Online > Items > Site Categories....and Create a New Category.

[fkhaykin]

I have the same issue, and I do have categories created. Please advise. 

[_Violet]

Hi @fkhaykin  - I'm sorry to hear that this issue with your Online Store Categories has brought you to the Seller Community! 😥

This does sound off, but it's difficult to pinpoint what may be happening without looking at your account with you, which we aren't able to do via the Seller Community. If you've already followed the instructions for your categories here, I suggest that you get in touch with our Support Team. You can connect with our Support Team directly by logging into your Square account and heading here.

Keep in mind: If you've created the categories from your Square Dashboard vs the Online Store Dashboard, these will not sync over via Square Sync - so this could potentially be the issue.

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.

[fkhaykin]

I appreciate it but it does not help nor explain why the screenshot in the support reps post above shows the Categories link grayed out. The threads say to contact support but support told me there is no way, and that they cannot explain why the button is gray. 

The categories exist in ONLINE, and they have products assigned, and subcategories, but there is no way to create a category page. 

Not to mention, why would square NOT sync the categories? It makes no sense to do the work twice from my perspective. Is there a business case for this separation of like functions? 

[fkhaykin]

The phone support was abysmal. The Square Online rep on the phone did not know what a category page is. He suggested I create a standard page, and add a featured categories carousel to it. This would result in a page with a list of categories, not a single category page, but he could not grasp the difference and after 15 minutes of explaining I gave up. 

"There is no way to make the button NOT gray, there is no way to show the 'add category page' where it should be, and there is no way to escalate this matter to a higher tier of support" -Support rep

Where does one go from there? 

[_Violet]

Hi again, @fkhaykin - Thanks for following up on this thread. 

Please note: As I mentioned in my last post, we are unable to access your Square account and view your settings here in the Seller Community. Thus, we can only offer general information since we do not have access to your account and unique settings to pinpoint the exact cause of the issue. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I am happy to provide some additional information on item categories for your Online Store.

Every item and category you add to your store has its own page that’s automatically generated. You can customize these pages in the website editor to rearrange the order of items and change other details. In the website editor, click the Page list on the upper left and scroll down to the Category pages. Any categories you’ve added are listed here along with the Shop All page, which displays all visible items from your store. Click on Shop All or any other category to edit the page.

The Item List section is where all items in a category are displayed. You can’t add other sections or content here, but you can rearrange items and change the look of virtually every part of the Item List. Click the Item List section to view and edit these options. (Note: Category pages use the same header and footer sections as the other pages on your site, so any changes you make here will apply to your entire website.)

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.

[fkhaykin]

Thanks, but there's no "shop all" page, and there are none of the categories I've created present in the editor. The "Categories Pages" heading is there but it is empty underneath, unlike the other page type headings, which do have a list pages below them and a button to create a new page. 

Strangely enough, while the "nav button" doesn't work (since I can't direct it to a category page, and no shop all page exists), I can search and land on a search results page. 

Something is definitely broken RE the auto-generated shop all and category pages. 

[Kendall360]

did this ever get resolved 

[Summer2024]

Hi there, @Kendall360! 

Welcome to the Seller Community 😀👋

Are you having an issue with category pages in your Square Online editor? Once I get a few more details, I can take a look at this issue a bit more in depth. 

[Kevinique]

Hey, so i was going through this issue to and i figured it out thank God!! 

so what the support guy was saying above about if you create the categories through the square dashboard VS the ONLINE dashboard it wont sync.. i didnt make sense but i found the issue. 

this is how i fixed it.. basically the categories are hidden from the online site and only on the square dashboard u have to turn it on..

so, go the the online store edit to edit the site (make sure youre on browser it wont work in the app)

then go to add a blank page. Add a featured categories section. Once you add youll see its no categories to choose, click create category 

it will take you to the categories channel onlinr where you will see all of the categories that hidden because it will say hidden from channels 

click the category you want to display on your website then scroll til you see the button switch with your website link and switch it over to on. Which means your categories will now show.. 

hope that helps.