> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.flowretail.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.flowretail.com/docs/day-to-day-operations/products/linked-products.md).

# Linked products

Link accessories, insurance, services, spare parts, alternatives or auto-added products to a product.

**Flow Retail lets you link other products to a product** — an accessory, an insurance, a service, a spare part — so the right extras are offered at the right moment instead of being remembered.

With the auto-add type you can go further and have a product added to the order *automatically*. That is how a bottle deposit, an environmental fee or any other per-product charge gets onto the order without anyone thinking about it.

## How to add linked products

Open the product in Backoffice and go to the **Linked products** tab. Add as many linked products as you need, choosing a type for each.

## The seven link types

| Type                | What it does                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Accessory**       | Offered when the product is added to an order. Any number can be added. The accessory **stays** on the order even if the original product is removed.          |
| **Insurance**       | Offered when the product is added to an order. Only **one** insurance can be selected, and it is **removed automatically** if the original product is removed. |
| **Service**         | Anything performed alongside the product — assembly, installation, setup.                                                                                      |
| **Freight service** | A shipping or delivery product linked to what is being shipped.                                                                                                |
| **Spare part**      | A part that can be used to repair the product. Mainly used by the Service system.                                                                              |
| **Alternative**     | What to offer instead when the main product is not available.                                                                                                  |
| **Auto-add**        | Added to the order automatically when the original product is, and **cannot be removed** without removing the main product.                                    |

## What happens when the original product is removed

The types differ in whether the linked line survives, and this is where intuition usually fails:

| Type      | Original product removed        |
| --------- | ------------------------------- |
| Accessory | The accessory **stays**         |
| Insurance | The insurance **goes**          |
| Auto-add  | The auto-added product **goes** |

Accessories staying behind is deliberate — a customer who changes their mind about a jacket may well still want the bag. But it does mean an order can keep an accessory whose parent is gone, so it is worth a glance before settling.

An auto-added product cannot simply be deleted from the order on its own. Removing the product that triggered it is the way to remove it.

## On the order

Each of these relationships becomes a **pair of linked order lines**, one type on each side — an insurance line points at what it insures, and that line points back. See [Order lines](/docs/day-to-day-operations/selling/order-lines.md).

## Limitations

* Only one insurance product can apply to a product on an order.
* Spare parts are for the Service system; they are not offered during a normal sale.
* Alternatives are a suggestion for staff, not an automatic substitution.

***

*Last updated 19.09.2026*


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