How do I give a product group a different VAT rate, for example 7% on food and 19% on kitchen appliances? Do you have to open every product? No. When a group of products needs the same tax rate, the same price, the same delivery time or the same discount, put those values on one product template and copy them to all of those products in one go.

A product template is a dummy product that carries the values you want to hand out. It is never sold: it sits on the Product Templates page and exists only to be copied from. Change the template, copy the values, and every product you selected is updated.

1. Create a product template

Look for the Product Templates page in the tree window. Copy a product into it, or add a new one, and set the values you want to pass on. Editing a template changes nothing anywhere else until you copy it across.

2. Select the products to update

Open the List of Contents in the tree window, or switch a page to List view. Select the products you want to change: drag across them with the left mouse button, or click them while holding SHIFT or CTRL. To update every product on one page, right-click the page in the tree instead.

3. Copy the values

Right-click the selection and choose "Copy values from a product template". The wizard opens: pick your template on the left, tick the fields to copy on the right, and click OK. Save and publish the shop afterwards.

Which fields can you copy?

The wizard lists every field it can copy and you tick the ones you want. In ShopFactory 15 the list is:

- Name
- Price Introduction
- Price
- Weight
- Picture
- Catalog number
- Introduction
- Description
- Visible
- Don't show 'Add to Basket' button
- Delivery Time
- Longer description
- Base Price
- Highlights
- Related products
- Classification
- Quantity unit
- Allow decimal quantities such as 1.5
- Manufacturer code
- Distributor code
- Price code
- Product Code
- Discount code (customers)
- Special discount message
- Discount
- Manufacturer
- EAN / UPC / UCC-13
- Taxes
- META Description
- META Keywords
- Specifications
- Detailed View Style
- Shipping Charges
- Google Taxonomy information
- Request a quote
- Request a sample
- Options

The values you tick overwrite whatever is in the target products. Fields you do not tick are left alone, so copying a tax rate does not touch prices or descriptions. If you copy options, "Delete all options in target products" removes any option the template does not have. The wizard shows how many products you selected: check that number before you click OK, because there is no undo.

Example: give a group of products the same tax rate

A shop sells food at one VAT rate and kitchen appliances at another. Tax is a setting on each product in ShopFactory, so it does not belong to a page or a department: ShopFactory has no product groups that a rate could be linked to. Even so, you do not have to open the products one by one.

- Create both tax rates first: Central dropdown, then Taxes.
- Put a product on the Product Templates page, or add one there, and set its tax to the rate you want to hand out.
- In the List of Contents, select the products that take that rate.
- Right-click the selection and choose "Copy values from a product template".
- Pick the template, tick Taxes and nothing else, and click OK.
- Repeat with a second template for the other rate.
- Save and publish the shop.

Two shortcuts worth knowing

Prices only: select the products in the List of Contents, right-click and choose "Change prices of all selected products". No template needed.

New products: the Use Template button in the toolbar adds each new product with the template's values already filled in.