Working with lists¶
Almost every listing in the admin is the same screen: orders, products, customers, CMS pages, cache types. Learn it once and it works everywhere.
A list has a toolbar across the top, a row of filter boxes under the column headings, the rows themselves, and a pager at the bottom.
The toolbar¶
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search box | Searches the columns the list is set up to search. Results appear about half a second after you stop typing |
| Clear search | Appears only while a search is active. Removes it |
| Clear filters | Appears only while a filter is active. Removes all of them |
| Views | Saved combinations of filters, sort, rows per page and hidden columns. See below |
| Columns | Shows and hides columns. Appears when the list has at least two columns that may be hidden |
| Export | Downloads the current list as a CSV file |
| Items per page | Changes how many rows a page holds |
| Add button | Creates a new record. Some lists offer a choice of type, such as the product list |
Everything in the toolbar acts on the list you are looking at. Nothing in it changes data.
Searching, filtering and sorting¶
The search box looks across several columns at once. Use it when you know a word but not which column it is in.
The row of boxes under the column headings filters one column each. A text column takes free text and applies when you press Enter. A list column is a dropdown and applies as soon as you choose. A date or number range opens a small popover with a From box and a To box.
The range popover has two buttons. Apply commits the pair and closes the popover. Clear empties both boxes, closes the popover and reloads the list without that filter. Pressing Enter in either box does the same as Apply, and clicking elsewhere on the page commits what you have typed.
Esc does not apply a range
Esc only closes the popover. What you typed stays in the boxes and is still there when you open it again, but the list is not filtered until you press Apply, press Enter, or click away.
Some columns filter through a search box rather than a dropdown, because the list of choices is too long to show at once. The Categories column on the product list works this way: type part of a category name and pick from the matches.
Click a column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse the direction. An arrow marks the column currently in use.
Searching, filtering, sorting and paging each reload the page, so your work is in the address bar and a bookmark or a browser back button behaves as you would expect.
Columns¶
Open Columns to tick and untick what you want to see. Hide all empties the table down to the row actions, and the selection box where the list has one, which is quicker than unticking twelve columns one at a time; Show all puts everything back.
Your choice is remembered per list, per browser, and survives every reload that filtering and paging cause. It is yours alone.
Saved views¶
A view remembers four things: the filters you have applied, the sort column and its direction, how many rows a page holds, and the columns you have hidden.
- Set up the list the way you want it.
- Open Views.
- Type a name in the Save current as box and press Save.
The view then appears in the menu. Click its name to apply all four.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Set default | Marks the view with a star. Its filters, its sort and its rows per page are applied when you open this list fresh from the menu |
| Rename | Asks for a new name. The stored filters, sort, rows per page and hidden columns are left as they were |
| Delete | Asks first, then removes the view |
Hidden columns are the one part a default view does not reapply on a fresh open, because your column choice is remembered separately per browser and comes back from the last choice you made on this list.
A view is a snapshot taken the moment you press Save. Changing a filter, the sort or the page size afterwards does not update it, and there is no update action. To change what a view holds, set the list up again, save it under a new name, and delete the old one. Saving under a name you already used leaves you with two views of that name rather than replacing the first.
Views are per administrator, so yours do not appear for anyone else.
Acting on many rows at once¶
Mass actions are the exception, not the rule. A list that has them shows a checkbox at the start of each row and a checkbox in the heading that selects everything on the page. A list without them draws no checkbox column at all.
Select some rows and the action buttons appear in the toolbar along with a count of what you have selected. Choosing one opens a confirmation box that names the action and the number of rows. Some actions ask for one more detail before they run, such as which status to set. Nothing happens until you press Confirm.
These are the shipped lists with mass actions, and what each offers:
| List | Mass actions |
|---|---|
| Landing Pages | Enable, Disable, Duplicate, Delete |
| Reviews and Pending Reviews | Delete, Update Status |
| Cart Price Rule coupons | Delete, Export CSV, Export XML |
| Search Synonyms | Delete |
| Cache Management | Refresh, plus Enable and Disable on a store running in developer mode |
| Index Management | Update on Save, Update by Schedule, Invalidate |
| Notifications | Mark as Read, Remove |
| Backups | Delete |
| Inventory Sources | Enable, Disable, Delete |
| Inventory Stocks | Delete |
| Refresh Statistics | Refresh Lifetime Statistics, Refresh Statistics for the Last Day |
| Locked Administrators | Unlock |
Products, Orders, Customers and CMS Pages have none
The four biggest lists ship with mass actions switched off, so they have no checkbox column to select with. Habits carried over from the stock admin have no equivalent on the list screen: no select-all followed by Update Attributes, no Change Status, no bulk Delete, and no bulk hold, cancel, ship or print on the order list. Open each record instead. CMS Pages, Search Terms and Cart Price Rules offer the quick-edit drawer for the common fields, and the order list's only row action is View, from where an order is held, cancelled or invoiced. For bulk product and customer changes, use System, Import. This is a shipped default and not a limit of the engine: a developer can add mass actions to any of these lists with a grid overlay.
Opening a record¶
Click anywhere on a row to open it. What that does depends on the list:
- most lists open the full edit page;
- lists with a quick-edit drawer open the drawer instead.
Clicking a link, a button, a checkbox or a dropdown inside a row does only that. The row click is not triggered, so the Edit action and the selection box keep working normally.
The quick-edit drawer¶
Some lists let you change the common fields without leaving the list. Clicking a row slides a panel in from the right holding just those fields. Edit them, press Save, and the list reloads with your change in it.
The drawer uses the real field editors, so a date field gets a date picker and a rich text field gets the full editor.
Press Cancel, Esc, or click outside the drawer to close it. If you have changed something, you are asked whether to discard it first.
These lists have a quick-edit drawer:
| List | Where it is |
|---|---|
| CMS Blocks | Content, Blocks |
| CMS Pages | Content, Pages |
| Search Terms | Marketing, Search Terms |
| Email Templates | Marketing, Email Templates |
| Cart Price Rules | Marketing, Cart Price Rules |
The product list is not one of them. A row click there opens the full product page, because a product has far more to it than the drawer can hold, and nothing else on that list opens a drawer.
Exporting¶
Export downloads the list as a CSV file. It honours the search, the filters you have applied and the sorting you have chosen, so the rows you get are the rows you are looking at and not the whole table.
The columns are a different matter. The file always carries every column the list defines, apart from the row actions column. Columns you have hidden through the Columns menu, and columns a saved view hides for you, are still written. Hide ten columns to tidy up an order export and you will open the file to find all ten back.
On a narrow screen¶
Below a certain width the table becomes a list of cards, one per row. Each card leads with the most important value, carries a status badge where the list has one, and can be expanded to show the rest. Row actions are on the card, and so are the selection boxes on the lists that have mass actions, so nothing is lost at that width.