Magento 2 Layered Navigation: How to Set Up & Customize

What is Layered Navigation in Magento 2? It’s a feature that adds filters to category and search pages, helping customers quickly narrow down large catalogs. This improves usability, reduces bounce rates, and makes it easier for shoppers to find what they need. 

However, configuring Magento’s default layered navigation isn’t always straightforward. Setting up attributes correctly, managing display options, and optimizing performance can sometimes feel complex. Furthermore, the standard functionality might lack the advanced features needed for a truly seamless shopping experience, such as AJAX loading (filtering without page reloads).

In this post, we’ll cover how to effectively set up and manage Magento 2’s default layered navigation and enhance it with advanced features using the Layered Navigation & Product Filter extension.

Managing Default Magento 2 Layered Navigation

Magento 2 provides built-in tools to manage the basic layered navigation functionality. Here’s how to handle the common tasks:

How to Enable Layered Navigation in Magento 2

By default, layered navigation is usually active if you have filterable attributes configured. 

To manage its core settings:

To make attributes available for layered navigation, you must configure them individually:

Using these steps effectively serves to enable layered navigation in Magento 2 by making sure the system is configured and attributes are designated as filterable.

How to Disable Layered Navigation in Magento 2

There is no single toggle or setting in the Magento 2 admin panel to fully disable layered navigation. However, in this section, we’ll walk through the various methods you can use to effectively turn it off or remove its impact from your storefront.

Method 1: Disable Layered Navigation via Attribute Settings

If you need to completely disable layered navigation across your Magento store (which is generally not recommended for usability), the most straightforward way is to prevent each attribute from being used in layered navigation.

To disable Layered Navigation in Magento 2, follow these steps:

This effectively disables layered navigation in Magento 2 by removing the filter options. Alternatively, theme customizations or developer intervention might be required for a more complete removal from the layout.

Method 2: Disable Layered Navigation for Specific Categories

Magento doesn’t offer a direct toggle to enable layered navigation for just one category while disabling it elsewhere (without customizing the theme). However, you can control its behavior on a per-category basis using the “Is Anchor” setting.

An “Anchor” category tells Magento to include products from its direct subcategories when displaying the product list and generating layered navigation filters.

If a category is set to Is Anchor = Yes, its layered navigation will display filter options based on all filterable products within that category and all its anchor subcategories.

If a category is set to Is Anchor = No, it will typically only display products directly assigned to it, and the layered navigation will only reflect those products (or might not display effectively if there are few products directly assigned).

How to Set a Category as an Anchor:

Method 3: Hiding via Theme Customization

This is another method to remove the Magento layered navigation from category pages. It directly modifies your theme’s layout files to prevent the layered navigation block from being rendered on pages like category views. It’s a more permanent solution for globally hiding the navigation across your site (or specific page types).

Magento uses layout XML files to define the structure of every page on your storefront. These files dictate which blocks (like the header, footer, product list, layered navigation, etc.) are displayed and where they are positioned within containers. To hide a block globally, you essentially tell Magento not to include its definition in the relevant layout file(s).

Step 1: Create or Use a Child Theme

Never edit core Magento files or parent theme files directly. Doing so will cause your changes to be lost during Magento or theme updates. You should always make customizations within a child theme that inherits from your parent theme. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to create it.

Step 2: Locate the Target Layout File

The primary layout file controlling the standard category page view is catalog_category_view.xml.

Step 3: Override the Layout File

• In your child theme’s directory structure, create the necessary folders if they don’t exist: app/design/frontend/YourVendor/YourTheme/Magento_Catalog/layout/.
• Copy the original catalog_category_view.xml from the parent theme (or the base Magento Catalog module if the parent doesn’t override it) into this new directory in your child theme.
• Alternatively, and often preferred for simple overrides: Create a new catalog_category_view.xml file in your child theme’s Magento_Catalog/layout/ directory. This file only needs to contain the instructions to modify the parent layout.

Step 4: Add the Removal Instruction

Open the catalog_category_view.xml file you just created or copied in your child theme. You need to add an instruction to remove the layered navigation block. The standard block names are:

• catalog.leftnav (for traditional sidebar layered navigation)
• catalog.topnav (sometimes used by themes for horizontal layered navigation)

(Check your specific theme’s code if unsure of the exact block name)

Inside the <body> tags of your XML file, add the following line, replacing BLOCK_NAME with the correct name:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <body>
        <referenceBlock name="catalog.leftnav" remove="true"/>
        <!-- Or potentially: <referenceBlock name="catalog.topnav" remove="true"/> -->
    </body>
</page>

(If you copied the entire file, find the existing <block name="catalog.leftnav" ...> definition and either delete it or add remove="true" as an attribute within its opening tag. However, using <referenceBlock... remove="true"/> in a smaller override file is generally cleaner.)

Step 5: Save and Deploy

Save the modified XML file. Upload it to your server if necessary.

Following these methods is the practical approach to remove layered navigation in Magento 2 from the storefront.

Method 4: Hiding Layered Navigation on Specific Categories (Magento 2.4.x or later)

In older Magento versions, you could paste XML directly into a “Layout Update XML” field in the admin. This field no longer exists in recent Magento 2 versions (e.g., 2.4.x) for security and usability reasons. Instead, you use predefined layout updates created within your theme’s code:

First, you need to create a specific layout XML file within your active theme (e.g., app/design/frontend/Vendor/Theme/Magento_Catalog/layout/catalog_category_view_hide_nav.xml). This file would contain the instruction to remove the block, typically:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <body>
        <referenceBlock name="catalog.leftnav" remove="true"/>
         <!-- Use catalog.topnav if you use horizontal navigation and want to remove it -->
         <!-- <referenceBlock name="catalog.topnav" remove="true"/> -->
    </body>
</page>

Once this file has been created and deployed, you can apply it:

How to Make Layered Navigation Open By Default in Magento 2

To make the Magento 2 layered navigation open by default, you can use one of these methods:

• Third-Party Extensions: Plumrocket’s Magento 2 layered navigation extension not only enriches layered navigation with plenty of user-friendly features, but also displays filters opened by default, without needing code changes.
• Theme Customization (CSS/JS): This approach involves modifying the theme’s CSS or JavaScript files to change the default state of the filter blocks from collapsed to expanded. This usually requires front-end development knowledge.

By applying either solution, you can improve user experience by reducing the number of clicks needed to view filter options.

How to Configure the Layered Navigation Price Filter in Magento 2

The Magento 2 layered navigation price filter is one of the most commonly used filters, allowing customers to shop within their budget. Here’s how to configure it and what to check if it’s not behaving as expected.

Follow these steps to configure the Magento layered navigation price filter:

Step 1: Ensure Price Attribute is Filterable

Step 2: Configure Price Navigation Steps

Step 3: Clear Cache

After making attribute or configuration changes, always clear the Magento cache (System > Tools > Cache Management).

How to Customize Magento 2 Layered Navigation

You’ve learned how to manage Magento’s built-in layered navigation – how to enable Magento 2 layered navigation attributes, and potentially how to disable Magento 2 layered navigation or hide it. But what if the standard options feel… limiting? This is where a Magento 2 Layered Navigation extension becomes invaluable for online stores.

With the use of this extension, you can easily filter by customizable options, enable multi-select within filters, and even add custom filter in Magento layered navigation. This tool offers a straightforward configuration process to enhance your store without technical concerns.

Add Custom Filter in Layered Navigation

The layered navigation extension for Magento 2 allows you to filter products by any custom attribute. For details on how to enable filtering by custom attributes, check out this step-by-step guide.

Change to Horizontal/Vertical Layered Navigation

The extension allows you to easily customize the navigation’s appearance (Horizontal/Vertical layouts) and filter order (drag-and-drop), alongside options for category-specific and other useful filters (like stock status).

Improve Price Filtering With User-Friendly Slider

To enhance price filtering and move beyond the basic price steps provided by default in Magento, consider implementing a more user-friendly approach.

The extension introduces a dynamic price slider that allows customers to intuitively select their desired price range. For users who prefer precision, include ‘from-to’ input fields where they can enter their exact budget. Additionally, offer the option to manually configure price steps, providing greater flexibility compared to the platform’s standard automatic settings.

Filter Multi-Select Option

Magento 2 Layered Navigation extension allows customers to select multiple options across different filter attributes. Once shoppers made all their selections, they click a single “Apply Filters” button, and the product list updates just once with all criteria applied. It significantly speeds up the process for decisive buyers.

Custom Fitler Groups

Magento 2 layered navigation module creates a cleaner, more intuitive layout with group filters. Combine similar attributes into nested groups to simplify complex filter sets and make the interface more structured. This approach not only improves usability but also helps customers quickly locate what they’re looking for—even when browsing through extensive product catalogs.

Custom Filter List for Each Category

The extension tailors the Magento 2 layered navigation for each filter category by showing only filters that make sense in context. For example, display size and color filters for clothing categories, and hide them in electronics.

Additional Filters

Leverage the module to enhance the default navigation with additional filters like Stock Status, Product Rating, New Arrivals, and Sale. These allow your customers to focus on what matters most to them—whether it’s only showing in-stock items, browsing the newest products, or finding the best deals. With these extra filtering options in place, you’ll reduce friction in the shopping journey and help drive more conversions.

This Magento 2 layered navigation extension equips merchants with an easy-to-manage solution for a superior Magento custom layered navigation experience, overcoming standard limitations and boosting store performance without demanding extensive development resources.