Goal: Convert an existing smart collection to a manual collection, preserving the current products while giving you the ability to manually add or remove products instead of relying on automated rules.

Prerequisites:

In your Shopify admin, navigate to Products > Collections and select the smart collection you want to convert. From the top 'More Actions' menu click on 'Export with Altera' (or open Altera and filter for your specific collection).

In the export settings, make sure to include Products in the export. You do not need to include the collection rules. Click Start Export to download your collection data.

Open the downloaded spreadsheet. You will see the collection handle, title, and a list of all products currently in the smart collection.

Delete the ID and Handle columns. This prevents Altera from updating the existing smart collection and allows it to create a new collection instead.

Change the Title to a new name for your manual collection (for example, change "Peak Performance" to "New Peak Performance"). There will be multiple rows for your collection, one for each product. You only need to set the title in the first row and leave the rest blank.

Rename the spreadsheet tab from "Smart Collections" to "Manual Collections". This helps Altera automatically identify that you want to create a manual collection. Save the file after making this change.

Return to Altera and click Upload file on the home page. Select your modified spreadsheet.

Altera will detect that you are importing a manual collection and display all the columns from your file. Review the preview to confirm everything looks correct, then click Start Import.

After the import completes, click on the collection link in the results to view it in your Shopify admin. You will see your new manual collection with all the products from the original smart collection. The collection no longer has any automated rules-you can now manually add or remove products as needed.

You now have a new manual collection containing all the products that were in your original smart collection. The original smart collection remains unchanged. You can delete the smart collection from your Shopify admin if you no longer need it.