Title: Variable external product
Last modified: November 13, 2021

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# Variable external product

 *  Resolved [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * (@florismk)
 * [4 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/)
 * I sell my own books on my website. Autographed paperback versions come from my
   own stock, and I ship those myself. All other versions are external (non-autographed
   copies, epub, Kindle, audio). But I’d like to bundle those all under a single
   product.
 * So… is there a way to create a variable product, with some variations external?
 * And a related question: some of my books will be published electronically only,
   and I’d like to have those listed as external products. But… same issue: they
   sell in multiple formats, so there would be multiple external products for each
   book. And still I’d like to present it as a single product, with file format 
   variations, all of which would be external.
 * Is there a way to present my books in my store the way I want, either with Core
   or with an extension?
 * (My publisher can’t allow me to sell e-versions of my books, because that messes
   with their royalty calculation; otherwise, I’d just add those as variations, 
   and not bother with external products. I’ve bought the paperback stock at an 
   author discount.)
    -  This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/).
    -  This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/).
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fvariable-external-product%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [Margaret S. woo-hc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/margaretwporg/)
 * (@margaretwporg)
 * [4 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15064466)
 * Hi [@florismk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * Thanks for the detailed description of the requirement. Setting up **Grouped 
   Product**s can be a great solution in this case.
 * Here is an example of a grouped product:
 * ⌊IMAGE⌉⌊IMAGE⌉
    Link to image: [https://snipboard.io/7UfSWb.jpg](https://snipboard.io/7UfSWb.jpg)
 * For Product Data you’ll need to select `Grouped product`.
 * I hope this helps!
 *  Thread Starter [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * (@florismk)
 * [4 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15064524)
 * Thanks, [@margaretwporg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/margaretwporg/)!
   This looks like a great solution. Would it be possible to show only the Grouped
   products in my defau;t catalogue? All my products would be Grouped products in
   this approach, and singular products should only be reached from the Grouped 
   product they’re part of.
 * Though thinking this through, there are two prpducts in my store that are singular
   only (old paperback publications). Those should be accessible directly from the
   default Store page. Thus:
 * Store: Singular paperback 1
    Store: Singular paperback 2 Store: Grouped product
   for book 1 – Autographed paperback – Epub (external) – Kindle mobi (external)–
   Audio (external) Store: Grouped product for book 2 – Epub (external) – Kindle
   mobi (external) Store: Grouped product for book 3 – Epub (external) – Kindle 
   mobi (external)
 * So the general question becomes: how do I control which products appear in the
   default Store?
    -  This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/).
 *  [Mirko P.](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainfallnixfig/)
 * (@rainfallnixfig)
 * [4 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15065073)
 * Hello [@florismk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/),
 * > how do I control which products appear in the default Store?
 * Thanks for your question! You can select which products appear on your shop page
   using the `[products]` shortcode that allows you to display products by post 
   ID, SKU, categories, attributes. Read more about WooCommerce shortcodes on our
   support guide:
 * [https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-shortcodes/#section-9](https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-shortcodes/#section-9)
 * Let us know if you have more questions.
 *  Thread Starter [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * (@florismk)
 * [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15068057)
 * Hi [@rainfallnixfig](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainfallnixfig/), thanks
   for your response. Unfortunately, that’s not what I’m looking for. As I stated
   in my original question, I need to control which products are included on my 
   default Shop page. When I add the Products shortcode to that page, with some 
   kind of filter, the page first shows the filtered products, and then all products
   unfiltered. So again, my question is: how do I control which products are shown
   on the _default_ Shop page?
 *  [MayKato](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maykato/)
 * (@maykato)
 * [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15070277)
 * Hi [@florismk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * I’d use the Shortcode [products] as [@rainfallnixfig](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainfallnixfig/)
   suggested, and then try [this method](https://www.businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-remove-loop-shop-page/)
   to hide the default product listing.
 * I would recommend using a plugin like [Code Snippets](https://wordpress.org/plugins/code-snippets/)
   to add that code to your site.
 *  Thread Starter [Floris](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * (@florismk)
 * [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15070679)
 * Yes, that’s perfect! Thanks. [@margaretwporg](https://wordpress.org/support/users/margaretwporg/),
   [@rainfallnixfig](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainfallnixfig/), and [@maykato](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maykato/)!
 *  [Margaret S. woo-hc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/margaretwporg/)
 * (@margaretwporg)
 * [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15072463)
 * Hi [@florismk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/florismk/)
 * Great! Thanks for letting us know that the suggested method worked.
 * I’m marking this thread as resolved. Should you require further help, feel free
   to create a new thread.
 * Cheers

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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## Tags

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

 * 7 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [Margaret S. woo-hc](https://wordpress.org/support/users/margaretwporg/)
 * Last activity: [4 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/variable-external-product/#post-15072463)
 * Status: resolved