Prestashop 8.0+ reference field on product list issue

[DenaliShop]

Not sure if this is a bug or a future feature release

 

Under the products section on the backoffice where you have a list of your created products the 4th column "reference" contains naturally the SKU for each individual product.

 

Soon as we create a product of combinations we leave this blank as we want the combination reference to be unique for example AB0006BK | AB0006SI for colours

 

Why can we not search against these references in the product list? We have tried adding a universal reference such as AB0006 however the order reference when purchased becomes AB0006-BK which naturally is incorrect.