If you’re managing an online store using VirtueMart, you may have encountered the frustrating limitation of product name lengths. By default, VirtueMart sets a character limit for product names, which can be restrictive for those who need more descriptive titles. In this article, we’ll explore this issue and look at how to overcome it.

Understanding the Character Limit Issue

VirtueMart, a popular e-commerce solution for Joomla, sets a default character limit of 64 characters for product names. While this might be sufficient for many products, some businesses require longer titles to accurately describe their items (this happened to me recently). This restriction can pose a challenge, especially for those looking to improve SEO and user experience by using more detailed product names.

Steps to Increase the Product Name Character Limit

This limit is caused by the database field type used in the VirtueMart database. To resolve this issue and allow for longer product names, you can simply modify the field length in the database. Follow these steps to make the necessary changes:

1. Access your database: Use a tool like phpMyAdmin to access your VirtueMart database.
2. Locate the product table: Find the table that stores product information, typically ending _virtuemart_products or _vm_product.
3. Modify the product_name field: Locate the product_name field and change its data type from VARCHAR(64) to VARCHAR(255). This change will allow for much longer product names.

Alternatively, if there’s any chance you might need more than 255 characters (I doubt it for product_name!), consider changing the data type to the TEXT data type for more flexibility. TEXT can store up to 65,535 characters.

Verifying the changes

After modifying the database, it’s essential to verify that the changes have been applied correctly. Create or edit a product in VirtueMart and enter a longer product name. Ensure that the new name is saved and displayed correctly on your website.

Conclusion

While VirtueMart’s default character limit for product names can be restrictive, modifying the database settings allows you to use longer, more descriptive titles. This can improve your store’s SEO and provide a better user experience for your customers.

I hope this is helpful to others trying to use more descriptive product names on their stores!