Bulk Editing Products #
Much like WordPress’ other post types that let you assign categories, tags or post statuses en mass, WooCommerce products also have a bulk editing feature.
To access its power, navigate to Products > All Products, tick two or more products from the list, and select Edit from the Bulk Actions menu at the top or bottom of the list, and click Apply to enter the world of bulk editing.
An edit screen with the following fields is revealed, a change to which will affect all the selected products once you hit the Update button, visible to the bottom-right of the edit window.
Bulk Editing Fields #
Below are the default WooCommerce fields one might encounter, although when certain extensions are active, additional fields might also be present.
Bulk Edit – shows the currently selected products that will be affected. Click the x to remove a particular product from the active bulk edit session.
Product Categories – a list of your product categories that can be ticked or unticked to assign or remove them from the selected products.
Comments – can be set to either Allow and Do not allow
Status – reflecting the product’s published status, options include Published, Private, Pending Review, or Draft
Product Tags – once you start typing, existing product tags are offered as options to click. Otherwise, add one or more new tags, separated by commas.
Price – options include Change to, Increase existing price by (fixed amount or %), or Decrease existing price by (fixed amount or %). After an option is selected, an additional Enter Price ($) field is added to which you can add the number reflecting your choice.
Sale – options are Change to, Increase existing sale price by (fixed amount or %), Decrease existing sale price by (fixed amount or %), or Set to regular price decreased by (fixed amount or %). Selecting any of the options reveals an additional Enter sale price ($) field.
Tax status – can be Taxable, Shipping only, or None.
Tax class – options will show the default Standard rates, plus whatever else you have configured under WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > Tax Options > Additional tax classes, which normally include Reduced rate rates, and Zero rate rates.
Weight – only has one option; Change to. When selected, an additional field is added with which to adjust the weight.
L/W/H – Should the Change to option be selected, 3 additional fields for Lenght, Width, and Height respectively, are added.
Shipping class – options will include No Shipping, plus whichever classes have been configured under WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Shipping Classes.
Visibility – in reference to the product visibility in-store, the options are Catalog & search, Catalog, Search, and Hidden.
Featured – simply Yes or No.
In-stock – options are In stock, Out of Stock, or On backorder.
Manage Stock – Yes or No.
Stock Qty – options are Change to, Increase existing stock by, or Decrease existing stock by.
Backorders? – can be set to Do not allow, Allow but notify the customer, or Allow.
Sold individually? – options are either Yes or No.
Bulk Editing Limitations #
Bulk editing works best with Simple products, and cannot edit the complexities of variable, grouped, or other complicated products.
Bulk editing can only be applied to products that are visible and can be ticked for inclusion in a bulk editing session.
Options for filtering products #
Increase the number of products visible on any one page by going to Screen Options > Number of items per page. Be aware the excessively high numbers of products on one page might strain your browser, and take a long time to update, so use wisely.
Filter by a category, product type, or stock status by selecting the relevant attributes from the dropdowns above the product lists, and clicking the Filter button.
Sort products by column ascending or descending by clicking on hyperlinked column headings. By default Name, SKU, Price and Data (published) columns can be used for this type of sorting.
Quick Editing #
Quick editing is similar to Bulk editing but applies to one product only. To access Quick editing, hover over a particular product to reveal its links, and then select Quick editing.
It’s exactly the same as Bulk editing, except that because only one product is involved, the product’s current values are shown in the fields instead of – No Change – as is the case when bulk editing.
Duplicating a product #
To save time, it’s possible to use a product and duplicate it to create similar products with variations and other qualities.
Go to Products > All Products and look through the list for a product you wish to replicate, then click Duplicate.
Deleting a product #
To delete a product:
- Go to: Products > All Products .
- Find the product you wish to delete.
- Hover in the area under the Product name and click Trash.
Mark a product as Featured #
To mark a product as featured, go to Products > All Products and select the Star in the featured column. Alternatively, select Quick Edit and then the Featured option.
Filter or sort products #
In addition to the options below, WooCommerce Customizer gives you the ability to customize your Product Catalog. Go to: WooCommerce Customizer – Product Catalog.
Filtering products #
Use the Filter function to get a product count, view products by type, or see which products are On Backorder or Out of Stock.
- Go to: Products > All Products.
- Select a Category, Product Type and/or Stock Status, or any combination of the three.
- Click Filter.
Filter by category #
Use the category filter function to filter products by category.
Note: When the site has fewer than 100 categories, the category filter field will appear as a dropdown. When the number of categories reaches 100, an input search will be used instead of a dropdown.
And unlike dropdown, input search will not show all categories, only categories that are tied to some product.
Sorting products #
Sorting is different than Filtering, in that you can drag and drop products to re-order them.
Product ID #
A WooCommerce Product ID is sometimes needed when using shortcodes, widgets, and links.
To find the ID, go to Products and hover over the product you need the ID for. The product ID number is displayed.
