Title: Variable Products – Attributes & Variations
Last modified: August 31, 2016

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# Variable Products – Attributes & Variations

 *  [cbjroms](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cbjroms/)
 * (@cbjroms)
 * [10 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-products-attributes-variations/)
 * I have been through the tutorials and understand how to make a product variable,
   add attributes and create variations.
 * But some of my products have so many attribute levels and options for each attribute,
   that when I create a variation for each possible combination of attributes I 
   am going to have 10,000 variations.
 * I seem to have been able to create products which have 2 attributes (one is colour
   and has 4 options, the other is character and has 25 options) and only 4 variations.
   The variations are for each of the 4 colours BUT NOT each of the 25 characters.
   Don’t know how I did this but it works!
 * My questions is: how do I avoid WooCommerce insisting that I create a product
   variation for every possible combination of attributes?
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Peter Lawrenson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lorro/)
 * (@lorro)
 * [10 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-products-attributes-variations/#post-7167540)
 * If an attribute doesn’t need different skus or prices, you can use ANY which 
   means you don’t need to generate all combinations for that attribute.
 * For example, I sell T-shirts.
 * Product Data section, Attribute tab:
    Attribute name: Size Attribute values: 
   Small | Medium | Large Visible on the product page: checked Used for variations:
   checked
 * Product Data section, Variations tab:
    Add variation – click Go Leave topmost
   drop-down to show: “Any Size” Set a price (this will apply to all variations)
   Optionally set a SKU (same SKU will apply to all variations) Save Changes
 * Only 1 variation is created.
 * Front-end: shows 3 variations.
 * Cart page and Checkout page will show the size selected by the customer.
 * Another way is to expose some of your attributes as “add-ons”. These can be priced
   or not. My understanding is that product add-ons are unable to manage stock levels.
 * Using the T-shirt analogy, you sell 5 sizes and they come with one of 10 printed
   designs, that’s 50 variations, but if you expose the design as an add-on, you
   have only 5 variations.
 * Some plugins for you to check out:
    [http://codecanyon.net/item/woocommerce-extra-product-options/7908619](http://codecanyon.net/item/woocommerce-extra-product-options/7908619)
   [http://codecanyon.net/item/product-options-for-woocommerce-wp-plugin/7973927](http://codecanyon.net/item/product-options-for-woocommerce-wp-plugin/7973927)
   [http://www.woothemes.com/products/product-add-ons/](http://www.woothemes.com/products/product-add-ons/)
 *  Plugin Contributor [Mike Jolley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikejolley/)
 * (@mikejolley)
 * [10 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-products-attributes-variations/#post-7167541)
 * You don’t need to create 1 for each, however, that will limit your ability to
   make each combination stock managed, differently prices, or with different SKUs.
   So it depends on your needs.
 * In some cases, product addons are more suitable, but again, depends on the use
   case.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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## Tags

 * [attributes](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/attributes/)
 * [product variations](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/product-variations/)
 * [variable products](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/variable-products/)

 * 2 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Mike Jolley](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mikejolley/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-products-attributes-variations/#post-7167541)
 * Status: not resolved