On many of my menus in joomla5, I display subcategories above the list when using product list views. It seems to work fine when listing store items that are "simple", but I can't seem to get it to work on a category where all the items are Flexible Variations of an item like a T-shirt with various sizes and colors.

I compare all the menu options and they appear to be the same in the ones that work and the one that doesn't. If this should work, can you tell me what requirements are needed to have the subcategory links displayed at the top of the category listings? It could be that I'm just confused. It used to work on Joomla3 but that didn't have the flexible variation option.

I figured out how to get it to display the category filter in the right-side column (similar to joomla3 technique). Didn't want to take up a complete column just for the filter, but I can deal with that. I'll just change the other simple products to use that filter instead of listing them at the top.

Before closing this ticket, can you explain what makes the subcategories appear above the items when using the Products List View menu?
I've attached a screenshot of one of my menus using that with all "simple" books being listed. I've decided to list the sub categories on the side menu but can't seem to figure out what is making them appear at the top also. Most like an operator error that deselecting something will fix.

Just a hint. I created a new menu and duplicated all the settings. That copy did not have the categories across the top like the original one does. I'm beginning to think that perhaps something got turned on when I imported the data using the simple.csv app. that is not in a menu selection? The menu was the only thing I changed... all the categories and products are the same in both.

You nailed the cause. I had a module that I decided not to use but never disabled it. Operator error as expected. And that was also the cause of the flexible variant items not having the issues because I made those menus after I changed the design since they couldn't be imported. You can close this non-technical ticket. :(