I have an e-commerce site that provides made-to-order clothing. I've created a configurable product and just one associated product.
Is it possible to display all of the possible attribute combinations within just one associated product rather than manually add every combination?
I've tried allowing out of stock products to be displayed, but this didn't show all of the possible combinations.
I'm not hugely experienced with Magento, but I've used many CMS systems and inventory management products. I've never once seen a matrix / configurable / multi-variation / whatever you want to call it setup where you didn't have to create each combination as a distinct SKU. I'm not saying it's 100% impossible, but I'd view it as extremely unlikely and probably a waste of time to pursue.
Why not just create your configurable products and their sub SKUs via CSV import? It will be far easier and faster than creating them one at a time. Creating every combination will also be extremely easy. If you're not comfortable with Excel, you need to correct that yesterday if you want to be good at product management.
See this article:
https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/magento/import-products.htm
