This process is very similar to creating a simple product. The highlights are listed below.
**NOTE: If your products are coming into Magento via an integration, some of these fields will be completed with info from your POS system. You will have to do some editing, however, before the product should be made live on the site
General Tab
Most of the fields will be populated with some info from the integration, but you will need to modify the Name, Description and Short Description fields. Set the Status to Enabled. The status MUST be set to enabled in order for your product to appear on the site. Make sure that the weight field is correct.
Prices Tab
Leave the price as $0 (since pricing is managed at the simple product level) and make sure the tax class is correct.
Meta Information Tab
This will be populated from the general tab when you save the product. If you hit Save and Continue Edit after you finished the General Tab, it should already be populated. If not, once you do save, that info will be copied over to the Meta tab. You may have some info here that came over from the integration because that is the same info that was on the General tab. Once you edit / update the General tab, it will change here as well.
Images Tab
Upload images for your product here. You do not have to do it for the associated simple products. You can set the order of the images here as well as which ones you would like to be displayed in which areas on the site.
Design and Gift Options Tabs
Leave as is.
Inventory Tab
Inventory is managed from the simple product level so nothing needs to be done here. Just make sure the Stock Availability status matches the associated products' status. For example, if all the associated products are In Stock, the configurable product should also be In Stock. This field should update as inventory changes, but if a product doesn't appear on the site, this field is one of the first places to check. An Out of Stock configurable product will not appear on your site!
Categories Tab
You need to add this product to the category (department) you want it to appear in on the front end. If adding a product to a subcategory, make sure you check all the categories above it!
Associated Products Tab
New for a configurable product!! This is where you will find the associated simple products that make up this configurable product. Scroll to the bottom and you will see all the simple products. The integration automatically adds them. If you want to add more products, you can always utilize the search functionality to bring up more products. From the list, select the products you want to associate with this configurable product.
For additional info, see these related Help Pages: