Overview

Your folder structure is the foundation of how content is organized, discovered, and managed in Pattern PXM. A well-designed structure makes it easy for every user — internal teams, vendors, and partners — to find what they need and ensures your content stays consistent as your catalog grows.

This guide covers the two folder types in PXM, best practices for building your structure, and a step-by-step process for designing it from scratch.

Folder Types

PXM has two distinct folder types. Understanding the difference is essential before you start building.

📁 Category Folder

Navigational & structural

Primarily serves navigational and structural purposes
Can have only one parent Category folder (due to inheritance)
Can contain multiple Category or Product folders as children
Supports images, videos, documents, links, and miscellaneous items (excluding attributes)
Can be set to Published or Not Published
Can enforce inheritance of content and permissions on child Product folders

📄 Product Folder

Individual product / SKU

Represents an individual product or SKU
Cannot contain child folders
Can reside in multiple parent Category folders
Supports images, videos, documents, links, miscellaneous items, and attributes (e.g. product details, weights & dimensions, pricing, marketing)
Can be set to Published or Not Published
May inherit permissions and content from a parent Category folder

Best Practices

🎯 Define Clear Objectives

Know what you need from your folder structure before you start building. Common goals include improved collaboration, faster access to content, streamlined workflows, and reduced risk of errors.

🔍 Audit Your Existing Setup

Before building, identify what's working and what's causing confusion. Consider how your folder structure can complement your ERP system to ensure data consistency.

👥 Identify Your Users

Think about everyone who will navigate your PXM:

Internal: Marketing, sales, product, and operations teams
External: Clients, vendors, distributors, and marketplace partners — simplify their experience

🧱 Prioritize Clarity & Findability

Logical hierarchy: Use broad categories that naturally break down into more specific subfolders
Descriptive naming: Choose folder names that clearly indicate the contents — avoid abbreviations and jargon
Consistent structure: Maintain the same organizational logic throughout

📐 Keep It Simple & Scalable

Avoid excessive depth: Aim for no more than 3–4 levels deep to prevent users from getting lost
Plan for growth: Choose a structure that can accommodate future products and business changes

🏷 Leverage Technology

Search functionality: PXM has robust search capabilities — use them to compensate for any structural limitations
Metadata & tagging: Add search tags to Product folders to create additional layers of organization and improve discoverability

⚠️ Important Rule: No two folders — Category or Product — can share the same name. Every folder must have a unique, descriptive name across the entire system.

Designing Your Structure

Follow these six steps to build your folder hierarchy from scratch:

Step 1 — Define Top-Level Categories

Start with broad categories that represent major sections of your business or product catalog. These become your root-level Category folders.

Step 2 — Create Subcategories

Break down top-level categories into more specific subcategories. Each subcategory becomes a child Category folder under its parent.

Step 3 — Assign Product Folders

Place Product folders within the appropriate Category folders. Product folders can reside in multiple parent Category folders, so a single product can appear in more than one location without duplication.

Step 4 — Leverage Inheritance

Use the inheritance capabilities of Category folders to streamline content management. Parent Category folders can push content and permissions down to child Product folders automatically — keeping your catalog consistent at scale.

Step 5 — Plan for Org Units

If you plan to use Org Unit permissions, factor this into your structure design. Org Units control what specific groups (International, Sales, Distributors, Marketplace) can see — so your folder hierarchy should support those access boundaries.

Step 6 — Set Visibility

Decide which folders should be Published or Not Published based on user permissions and visibility requirements. Published folders are visible to users with General User permissions; unpublished folders are hidden from them.

Example: Product Hierarchy

📁 iPhone
  📁 iPhone 15
    📄 52349 / iPhone-15-128GB-White
    📄 52348 / iPhone-15-256GB-White
  📁 iPhone 15 Pro
    📄 51349 / iPhone-15-Pro-128GB-White
    📄 51348 / iPhone-15-Pro-128GB-Black

Common Structure Types

Choose the model that best fits how your catalog is organized:

By Brand

📁 Apple
  📄 Apple Watch
📁 Samsung
  📄 Samsung Galaxy
📁 Asus
  📄 Asus Laptop

By Product Category

📁 Smartphones
  📄 iPhone 13 Pro
📁 Laptops
  📄 MacBook Pro
📁 Tablets
  📄 iPad Pro

By Product Family

📁 iPhone
  📄 iPhone 15
  📄 iPhone 14
📁 iPad
  📄 iPad Air
  📄 iPad Pro

Brand + Category + Family (Most Comprehensive)

📁 Apple [Brand]
  📁 Smartphone [Category]
    📁 iPhone [Family]
      📄 iPhone 15 [Product]

Rules to Remember

No two folders — Category or Product — can share the same name
A Category folder can only have one parent Category folder
Product folders cannot contain child folders of any kind
A Product folder can live in multiple Category folders at once
Category folders support images, videos, documents, and links — but not product attributes
Product folders support everything, including attributes (product details, dimensions, pricing, marketing, etc.)
Visibility (Published / Not Published) is controlled independently per folder