# Copy and retire products

> Duplicate a product to reuse its structure, and take a product offline without deleting it.

Source: CBX documentation, version 3.x (released). Canonical page: https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/products/copy-and-retire-products. Last updated 2026-08-01.

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> **Audience:** store admins · **Scope:** duplicating and taking down products · **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-23

**What this does** — Two housekeeping jobs. **Copy** duplicates a whole product — its pages,
questions and answers — so you can build a variant without starting over. **Retire** takes a
product off the storefront without deleting it, so its past orders stay intact.

## Before you start

- Both actions live on the flat **Products** list — open **Products** in the CBX menu.
  (This is the list view; the product **tree** is the other way in.)

  ![The Products list with Add, Remove and Copy](img/products-list-copy.jpeg)

  The list shows each product's ID, **Title**, **Product SKU**, **Base Price**, **Base Price
  Recurring**, **Should the product be displayed?** and its product list.

## Copy a product

1. Tick the checkbox next to the product you want to duplicate.
2. Click **Copy**. CBX creates a new product carrying the whole structure — every page,
   question and answer, with their prices and rules.
3. Open the copy and rename it (and its SEF segment), adjust what differs, and place it in the
   right [product lists](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/products/manage-product-lists). The copy is fully independent of the original.

## Retire a product (take it offline)

1. Open the product's edit form (**Product: …**).
2. In **General**, set **Should the product be displayed?** to **No**.
3. **Save**.

The product vanishes from the storefront and its list pages immediately, but the record — and
every order ever placed for it — stays exactly as it was. Set it back to **Yes** to bring it
back.

## What happens next

A copied product is live the moment you place it in a displayed list and set it to display. A
retired product disappears from browsing and direct links, while its order history stays
readable in **Orders**.

## Good to know

- **Retire, don't Remove, for products that have sold.** **Remove** (the button beside Copy)
  deletes the product permanently; a product referenced by past orders should be retired instead,
  so the order records stay complete.
- Copy is the fast way to make a "same but different" product — a second size range, a
  seasonal variant — then prune what you don't need on the copy.
- Retiring the product doesn't touch its [detail panes](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/products/product-detail-panes) or
  calculations; they come back with it when you display it again.