Purpose of AI automations in the catalog

AI Automations is the settings page for catalog and email subscription AI workflows. Its tabs are Product Description , Product Attributes , Machine Translation , Category Description , Email Subscriptions , and Image Alt Text .

Automation can write catalog fields visible to customers or create draft orders and quotes. Precisely limit usage, set monthly limits, and review outputs before large-scale deployment.

What AI automations control

The AI Automations page is where you specify which categories or languages the workflow can target, which provider to use, and how much monthly usage is allowed. The page also shows the most recent run information for workflows that report execution history.

An empty list of allowed categories means that no categories will be processed by category-based automation. However, this limit is not a common setting for all tabs: Product Description, Product Attributes, and Category Description maintain their own selections, Automatic Translation uses language switches, and Email Subscriptions has its own enable switch.

To use AI tools, you need a qualifying product package. Locked fields or PIM lock mean that the change cannot be saved with the current subscription.

Manage product description automation

On the Product Description tab of the AI Automations page, you select the categories whose products are included in the automatic description. The selection is immediately written as a category-specific setting.

You can also:

• select a category and save product description instructions for it
• maintain allowed domains in general
• configure manufacturer-specific domains
• set a monthly limit for product descriptions
• Queues the Improve with AI (mass run) function for the selected category tree.

Mass processing queues the category and its subcategories for processing. Queuing does not mean that the texts are completed immediately. Check the number of queued products, monitor usage, and evaluate the resulting descriptions from the catalog.

Define AI category descriptions

On the Category Description tab of the AI Automations page, you select Allowed Categories and maintain a separate recipe for each category. The recipe fields include Tone , main keyword, local city or service area, prohibited phrases, and Include FAQ section .

The category-specific recipe is saved automatically. The workflow writes a landing page description for the allowed category based on the catalog information. Track the Last Run information and review the text for content before considering it ready.

The monthly limit limits the use of tokens. A value of 0 means unlimited use, not disabling automation. Once the set limit is reached, new use should not be expected until the next monthly period or the limit is changed.

Select languages for automatic translation

On the AI Automations page, Automatic Translation shows the service provider, default store language, and other data languages. Turn on only the languages that the scheduled translation workflow is allowed to update.

The store's default language is not displayed as a target language to select. If no translation provider is specified, the language switches are locked and the page displays a setup guide. The monthly translation limit is measured in characters.

Automatic translation is not a substitute for language-specific quality assurance. At a minimum, check product names, units of measurement, HTML structure, brand terms, and text that influences the purchase decision in each language used.

Enable image alt texts

The Image Alt Texts tab shows the provider status, monthly image count, and the Enable Image Alt Text Workflow switch.

If no provider is configured, the switch is locked. In the Encrypted API Key field on the tab, enter the provider key and save it. Once the status updates to Configured, enable the workflow from the switch.

The goal of the workflow is to complete missing alt texts. Check that the texts describe the image and do not unnecessarily repeat the product name or marketing phrases. Alt text supports accessibility; improved search engine visibility cannot be promised based on a single field.

Fill in product attributes with AI

On the Product Attributes tab of the AI Automations page, the Auto Attribute Population Categories defines the scope of the scheduled workflow. It processes existing products that have a description and empty attribute slots. The goal is to only populate empty values, not overwrite already stored values.

One-time attribute population queues the eligible products in the selected category and its category tree for the next run. The number of products displayed when queuing the UI is limited to a maximum of 200 eligible product previews. The monthly limit is measured in attributes written.

Check the results for the product attributes. The value suggested by the AI may be formally valid but business-wise incorrect, so fields that affect filters, variants, or technical data in particular need owner review.

Configure Email Subscriptions Securely

Email subscriptions are no longer a read-only preview. Their settings are automatically saved with a delay of about half a second, and a deployed workflow can create a draft order or quote from incoming email material.

Before deployment, specify at least:

• whether to create an order or a quote
• review mode for the correct draft type
• payment method for the order
• whether to extract data from the message body, PDF file, or CSV/XLSX attachment
• selectable fields; SKU and quantity are required
• unknown customer handling and possible default customer
• conflict management
• duplicate identifier
• whether to reduce inventory and update ERP
• Monthly email limit.

The workflow's inbound address is the tenant ID. Do not enable the feature until you have verified the review states, payment method, customer rules, duplicate handling, and inventory impact. Exceeding the monthly limit will prevent new messages from being processed.

How AI content appears in an online store

AI automations can write to the same catalog fields that the online store uses on product and category pages. Product descriptions, category descriptions, language versions, image alt texts, and product attributes can therefore be displayed to the customer according to the active theme and field connections.

Don't assume that all fields will be visible everywhere. Check the product page, category page, product list, search, and mobile view with the active theme. Email subscriptions affect the order or quote process in the admin, not the content fields in the online store.

Good to know

AI automations require both technical regulation and substantive oversight.

• Category-based selections are workflow-specific; one empty list does not turn off all automations.
• Product description and attribute mass runs are queued and results are not generated immediately.
• The Category Description Recipe and Email Subscription Settings use autosave.
• Automatic translation and alt texts require a specified provider.
• Monthly limits and current month's usage are displayed on each supported tab in its own unit.
• The promise of writing to blanks only applies to that attribute or content workflow; verify the behavior before running it in production.
• Check the AI's output, usage rights, cost limit, and potential customer impact before implementation.