Manual vs Smart Collections in Sparkforge Stores

Sparkforge Stores group products two ways: Manual Collections you curate by hand and Smart Collections that auto-populate from rules you define.

When to pick which

Manual Collections

• Best for fixed sets — holiday lineups, special promos, custom curations.
• Add or remove products any time.
• Drag-and-drop ordering.

Smart Collections

• Best for dynamic categories like “under $50” or “in stock.”
• Conditions: Title, Variant Title, Price, or Inventory.
• A product qualifies if any variant or price row matches.
• Updates run automatically in the background within a few minutes.
• Manual add/remove is disabled to keep the rules authoritative.
• Conflicting conditions (e.g., Price > 100 AND Price < 50) are blocked at save.

Supported operators for Smart Collections

• Equals / Not Equals
• Greater Than / Less Than
• Contains / Does Not Contain

Combine rules with AND or OR logic for tighter control.

Collection type is permanent

Once a collection is saved as Manual or Smart, the type can’t be switched. To change, create a new collection and replace it in your store pages and workflows.

How to create a collection

1. Go to Payments > Products > Collections.
2. Click Create Collection.
3. Enter a name, optional image, and SEO title and description.
4. Pick the type: Manual (search and select products) or Smart (define rules like Price less than $50).
5. For Smart, choose whether All or Any conditions must match.
6. Click Save.

Smart Collections process and update automatically. Display collections on store pages, in email templates, and inside workflows.