# Installation - Swatchline 1.x documentation

> Install Swatchline from WordPress.org and turn your first attribute's dropdown into swatches.

Swatchline is free and listed on WordPress.org, so you can install it straight from your dashboard.

## Install the plugin

1. Make sure WooCommerce is installed and active. Swatchline won't activate without it.
2. Go to **Plugins → Add New Plugin** and search for **Swatchline**.
3. Click **Install Now** on "Swatchline – Variation Swatches for WooCommerce", then **Activate**.

If you have the zip file instead, use **Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin**, choose the file, then **Install Now** and **Activate**.

Nothing changes in your shop yet: every attribute starts as a WooCommerce dropdown until you give it a swatch type.

## Your first swatches

1. Go to **Products → Attributes** and click **Edit** under an attribute, say Colour. (No global attributes yet? Add one in the form on the left of the same screen.)
2. Set **Swatch type** to **Colour** and click **Update**.

   ![The swatch type on the attribute's edit form](https://storage.extendiment.com/media/148/screenshot-4.png)

3. Back on the list, click **Configure terms** under Colour, click a value (say Sage), pick its **Swatch colour** and click **Update**. Do the same for the other values.
4. Open a variable product that uses Colour for its variations. The Colour dropdown is now a row of colour swatches.

![Colour and label swatches on the product page](https://storage.extendiment.com/media/149/screenshot-1.png)

> [!TIP]
> Sizes and other values without a colour look best as **Label** swatches: buttons with the value's name. They need nothing but the swatch type.

## What's next

- **Swatch types** explains Colour, Image, Label and Dropdown.
- **Colours and images** covers the term screens.
- **The product page** shows what customers see and how it works with WooCommerce.
- **Settings** goes through the look: shape, size, tooltips and more.

Source: https://www.extendiment.com/plugins/swatchline/docs/1.x/installation