8 quick tips for new Magento Users

by lsd / Filed under: For Magento Store Owner

8 most common problems new users have with Magento store

Magento really is a great system, but sometimes it takes a bit of guessing to find a simple feature, and these are the 8 most common problems I see many new Magento user have experienced.

I setup Categories but they are not showing in the frontend.

Categories must be placed inside the Default Category.

Click on Default Category or Root Catalog (name varies depends on how you name your store in the Manage Store, then click on “Add Subcategory”. And set YES for Is Active and Is Anchor. Follow similar steps for sub-subcategories by clicking on the category you have just created.

Theorically, if you create a new category outside the Default Category you can simply drag the new category you have just created to the Root Catalog, mysteriously this does not always work and I haven’t a clue why.

Sort by Name error

This error occurs if sort by “Name” is selected in the category listing: SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'name' in 'order clause'

Solution: Change the Scope from Store View to Global in the Name Attribute, under the Attribute Properties.

I setup Categories but they are not showing in the frontend.
Solution: Refresh Caches in the System/ Cache Management
I have the site setup properly, but the Rating table in the Review page does not show up.
You need to select your website or store in the Rating Visibility at Catalog/ Reviews / Ratings/ Manage Ratings
I enable the “Terms and Conditions” in the Configuration > Checkout, but it’s not showing up in the OPC page.
You need to create a “Add New Condition” page and enable it at Sales/ Terms and Conditions.
Breadcrumb is not showing up in the CMS pages.
Set YES in the Configuration > General > Web > Show breadcrumbs for CMS pages
Admin kept throwing me out and ask me to re-log in
This is because Magento sets the Cookie Lifetime at 3600 seconds. You can change the setting at Configuration >web > Session Cookie Management > Cookie Lifetime
I don’t want my customer re-direct to Checkout page when a product has added to cart. Can I change it?
Yes. Simply change “Yes” to “No” for After adding a product redirect to shopping cart at Configuration > Checkout.

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