Choosing a type
Optivo has 20 option types. The type decides what the customer sees, what the answer looks like on the order, and which pricing rules are available to it.
The picker in the option builder groups them the same way this page does, so what you read here is what you will see when you click Add option.
One answer, typed, dragged, picked or uploaded by the customer.
| Type | Use it for | Plan | Pricing rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text field | A single line of customer text, such as an engraving. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, per character, formula, quantity tiers |
| Text area | Multiple lines of customer text, such as gift notes. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, per character, formula, quantity tiers |
| Number | A quantity the customer types, such as a length in cm. Its value can be used in a formula. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Custom field | A text field checked against a pattern you supply, such as a postcode or an order reference. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, per character, formula, quantity tiers |
| Slider | A value the customer drags between two bounds. Always has a position, so it cannot be left blank. | Free | Percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Date | A calendar date, such as a delivery or event date. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, quantity tiers |
| Date and time | A date and a time, such as a booking slot. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, quantity tiers |
| File upload | A file the customer uploads, such as artwork to print. | Coming soon | Flat fee, percentage, quantity tiers |
| Yes/no checkbox | One tickbox the customer either ticks or does not, such as gift wrapping. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
Guides: Text options · Number and slider · Date and time · File upload
Single selection
Section titled “Single selection”One choice from a list you define.
| Type | Use it for | Plan | Pricing rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color swatch | Visual colour choices rendered as tappable swatches. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Image swatch | Visual choices rendered as images, such as fabrics or finishes. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Radio buttons | One choice from a short, visible list. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Dropdown | A select menu. Best for five or more choices. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
Guide: Choice options
Multiple selection
Section titled “Multiple selection”Several choices at once from one list. Every selected choice’s price is added.
| Type | Use it for | Plan | Pricing rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color swatch | Several colours at once, rendered as tappable swatches. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Image swatch | Several image choices at once, such as fabrics or finishes. | Advance | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
| Checkbox | Several tickboxes, each with its own value and price — extras a customer can tick in any combination. | Free | Flat fee, percentage, formula, quantity tiers |
Guide: Choice options
Static
Section titled “Static”Display only. These have no answer, add nothing to the cart line, and cannot be priced.
| Type | Use it for | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | A section title between fields. | Free |
| Paragraph | Explanatory text between fields, such as sizing guidance. | Free |
| Divider | A horizontal rule, for grouping fields visually. | Free |
| HTML | Custom markup between fields. Sanitised before it renders. | Professional |
Guide: Layout and content
Picking between similar types
Section titled “Picking between similar types”Dropdown, radio buttons or swatches? All four single-selection types are one-from-a-list. Use radio buttons for two to four choices where seeing them all at once matters, a dropdown for five or more, and a swatch when the choice is visual — a colour or a material is easier to pick by eye than by name.
Colour swatch or image swatch? A colour swatch is a flat colour chip. An image swatch is a picture. Use an image where the difference is a texture, a grain or a print that a single colour cannot convey.
Yes/no checkbox or Checkbox? See the note above. The short version: one independent yes/no, or one list of related extras.
Text field or text area? Text field for a single line — a name, an engraving. Text area for anything that may run to sentences.
Custom field or text field? A custom field is a text field that must match a pattern you supply. Use it when a malformed answer costs you an order: a postcode you will ship to, a serial number, a reference code.
Number or slider? Both produce a number. A slider always has a starting position, so a customer can add to cart without touching it and still submit a value. A number field can be genuinely empty. If “no answer” is meaningfully different from “the default”, use a number.
Why a slider cannot take a flat fee
Section titled “Why a slider cannot take a flat fee”It is the one gap in the table above that is deliberate rather than incidental.
A slider is answered from the moment it renders — there is no way for a customer to decline it. A flat fee on a field nobody can leave blank is not an add-on, it is an unconditional surcharge the customer never opted into. What remains — percentage, formula, quantity tiers — prices the value the customer chose, which is the only thing a slider actually expresses.
The same reasoning is why Number has no per-character rule: billing by the digit count of a number is not something a merchant means to do, and offering it invites a mis-click that overcharges every order.
And why Date and Date and time have no formula rule: a date is not a number. A formula referencing one would fail closed and charge nothing, which would look exactly like it had worked.
Every type works the same way underneath
Section titled “Every type works the same way underneath”Whatever the type, the answer is recorded as a line item property on the cart line, and any price change is applied at checkout by the Shopify Function. No type creates a product variant.
A note on plan gates
Section titled “A note on plan gates”The plan column applies when an option is added. It never applies when the storefront renders one, and never when checkout prices one.
So if you downgrade, options you have already built keep working and keep earning — you simply cannot add another of a type your new plan does not include. Plans and limits has the complete table.