Helpful guides for your WooCommerce store.
Documents #
Accessibility Tips for WooCommerce Store Owners
Overview While WooCommerce provides accessible foundations, store owners play a key role in creating an inclusive experience. This page offers tips and best practices for improving the accessibility of your store’s content, design, and customizations. In many parts of the world, ecommerce stores are legally required to meet accessibility standards. Making your store accessible not […]
Updates to WooCommerce, WordPress, extensions, themes, and payment gateways are a fact of life. Our team is hard at work, releasing updates that add new features, improve security, fix issues, and, in general, make your store better than ever. But how do you update WooCommerce without causing issues? We’ll cover a few of the common ways below. […]
Use FTP to manage your WooCommerce site
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method to transfer files between a client and a server over the internet or a local network. In the context of managing a WordPress site, such as those running WooCommerce, FTP allows you to upload, download, or modify files directly on your web server. This can be particularly useful […]
Import and export a site database
WordPress uses a database to store all the content and settings for your WooCommerce store in a structured format. It organizes data into tables, each dedicated to different types of information such as products, customers, and orders. This organization allows for efficient data management, which can help you to easily store, retrieve, and update your […]
Each store powered by WooCommerce and WordPress has two places where its data and content are stored: So, how should you safeguard your content and keep it backed up? Automatic backups The most efficient and reliable approach is to use an automated backup service; we recommend Jetpack VaultPress Backup. By using Jetpack Vaultpress Backup, you’ll benefit from: Manual […]
Search your WooCommerce site database
Searching the WordPress database on your WooCommerce site can help you quickly find and manage important information, like product details, order histories, and customer data. Where does your site database store WooCommerce information? In your WooCommerce database, specific tables organize and store key information. Here’s a quick look at where to find essential data: Some […]
Excluding pages from the cache Oftentimes if using caching plugins they’ll already exclude these pages. Otherwise make sure you exclude the following pages from the cache through your caching systems respective settings. These pages need to stay dynamic since they display information specific to the current customer and their cart Excluding WooCommerce session from the […]
Disable plugins without admin access
Normally, you can disable plugins — including WooCommerce — on your WordPress site from the Plugins > Installed Plugins section of your admin area. If you can’t access this part of your site’s admin area for any reason, there are other ways to disable plugins. Disable plugins with file manager or SFTP Changing the name […]
Email authentication and sender requirements
This document explains what email authentication is, its requirements, and how you can implement it to ensure your store’s emails are successfully delivered. In this digital age, where online transactions and communications are central to our lives, the integrity of email correspondence is more important than ever. Authenticating outbound emails from your WooCommerce store verifies to […]
Hooks, actions and filters are powerful tools that allow you to modify and extend the capabilities of your WooCommerce site without altering the core code. This document will give you a brief overview of these and an example of how to apply them to your WooCommerce site. What are hooks? Hooks are a broad category […]
Troubleshooting payment errors can depend on the payment gateway you are using and how it is set up or might be specific to your site or customer. WooCommerce comes with a number of built-in payment options and you can also see the payment gateways available in the WooCommerce.com Marketplace. Common errors and their causes When […]
How to update your PHP version
PHP is the most popular server-side scripting language, powering millions of websites including most WooCommerce stores. If you arrived at this page from the notice in your WooCommerce store, your store is running an outdated and unmaintained version of PHP. Not only is your website’s performance (a lot) lower than it should be, you may find […]
When managing a website, understanding HTTP and response codes is helpful for ensuring your site runs smoothly. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) forms the backbone of how users and sites communicate data over the web. Whether you’re browsing a website or managing your own, every interaction on the internet involves HTTP requests and responses. HTTP codes […]
The .htaccess file is a configuration file used on web servers running the Apache software. It’s important because it helps manage how your website behaves. For instance, you can use it to set up URL redirects, control access to your site’s files, and enhance security measures. Here’s why the .htaccess file is crucial for your […]
Understanding the WordPress wp-config.php file
The wp-config.php file is a core configuration file for WordPress. It contains essential settings that allow your website to connect to its database and function properly. This file is created when you first set up WordPress, and it stores information such as: You’ll find the wp-config.php file in the root directory of your WordPress installation. […]
In WooCommerce and WordPress, functions are blocks of code that perform specific tasks on your website, like displaying posts or adding products to a cart. They streamline complex processes, making your website run more efficiently and consistently. By using functions, you can avoid repeating code, keeping your site’s backend clean and manageable. Think of functions as […]
Connect your store to a WordPress.com account
A WordPress.com account acts like a passport for your WooCommerce store, connecting it to powerful services from WordPress.com and Automattic. These include: Creating an account If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, use the connection screen to create a new account. Enter your email address and click the Continue with email button, or continue with […]
The term “nonce” stands for “number used once.” It is a security measure used to ensure that a specific request or submission cannot be reused maliciously. This one-time number helps protect websites from various types of attacks, such as forgery, by making sure each transaction or session is unique and temporarily valid. Why do sites […]
Creating WooCommerce add-to-cart URLs
Below, we’ll cover how to create specific, clickable links that add a product(s) to your customer’s cart via custom URLs. Using this URL or link, you can add items to the cart, specify the quantity, and even redirect to another page. Finding your product ID Add-to-cart URLs require the WooCommerce product ID to work. You […]
Installing and Uninstalling WooCommerce
Overview WooCommerce can be installed and uninstalled the same as any other WordPress plugin. The Setup wizard provides an optional step for installing and fully configuring WooCommerce. Take a moment to review the server requirements before installation, or you may encounter issues when using WooCommerce. If you need a new host or don’t have one yet, […]
Guidelines – Refund and Return Policy Page
This page provides helpful guidelines for creating an effective Refund and Return Policy for your WooCommerce store. It covers essential topics such as the importance of having a clear policy, noting items that can or cannot be refunded, deciding who pays return shipping charges, and setting customer expectations for refund timelines. Additionally, it mentions legal […]
Importing WooCommerce Sample Data
Right after installing WooCommerce, your store may look empty — no products, orders, reviews. This is intentional so you can get started creating your own products and setting up WooCommerce exactly as you need. But maybe you’d like to see what a store full of sample products looks like. If so, we’ve got some data […]
Creating Sharable Checkout URLs in WooCommerce
Sharable Checkout URLs make it easier to share ready-to-buy bundles with a coupon code through email campaigns, social media, or landing pages. Below, we’ll cover how to create custom links that automatically add specific products and coupons to the cart then, redirect customers to the checkout page. You can include simple products with no additional […]
How do I prevent and respond to card testing attacks?
Card testing is a type of fraud where the someone obtains a large amount of stolen credit card data, and then attempts to determine which of those cards are valid. Typically, these fraudulent attempts involve making a multiple low-value purchases, each with a different card, to avoid detection by cardholders or banks. If the purchase […]
How to configure specific tax setups in WooCommerce
The tax scenarios in this document are step-by-step guides that show how to configure specific tax setups in WooCommerce. They provide all the steps needed to achieve a particular outcome but without going into detail. Due to the uniqueness and variety of stores out there, the scenarios are not exhaustive and for illustration purposes only. […]
You can choose to update WooCommerce with one click or manually update it. One-Click Update Be sure you’ve read and understand how to update your site, then come back to your live site to update.. Back up your live site. Go to: Dashboard > Updates within WordPress. If there is an update, you’ll see WooCommerce in the list of plugins/themes to update. […]
In order for the image resizer to be able to show resized images, it needs to have permission to store the resized files in a cache folder. This folder is located in your theme folder for example: wp-content/themes/freshnews/cache/. To allow the image resizer to write to this folder, you have to CHMOD the cache folder. What […]
This document gives an overview of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), explaining their importance for securing your WooCommerce store. You’ll learn how to set up a free or paid SSL certificate on your site, and why they are essential for protecting customer data and boosting trust. Our aim with […]
To optimize your WooCommerce store’s performance and security, it should be running the minimum supported versions of PHP and WordPress. This keeps your business running smoothly and creates the best online experience for customers. WooCommerce Minimum Requirements PHP versions less than 8.1 and MySQL versions less than 5.6 no longer receive active support, many versions […]
Some WooCommerce shortcodes ask for the category ID to display a list of categories. This document shows how you can locate the ID for your product categories. More info at Shortcodes included with WooCommerce. Better yet, consider using the blocks included in WooCommerce alongside a theme that supports full site editing. To find the product category […]
