How to Remove the 50 Variation Limit in WooCommerce: A Beginner-Friendly Guide
Are you struggling to add more than 50 variations to your WooCommerce products? It’s a common frustration, especially for businesses selling clothing, shoes, or anything with a lot of size, color, or material options. You’re not alone! WooCommerce, by default, limits the Explore this article on How To Make Your Own Woocommerce Shop Page number of variations you can load on a single product page to 50 for performance reasons. This article will guide you through understanding why this limit exists and, most importantly, how to remove it easily so you can properly showcase your full product range. We’ll keep it simple and explain everything like you’re new to WordPress and WooCommerce.
Why Does WooCommerce Have a 50 Variation Limit?
Imagine a product with hundreds of possible combinations – think of a t-shirt available in 20 colors and 10 sizes. If WooCommerce loaded all those variations at once, it could overload the server and make the page load very slowly. Slow page load times are bad news:
- Poor User Experience: Customers get frustrated and leave your site.
- SEO Impact: Google penalizes slow-loading websites.
- Increased Bounce Rate: More people leave your site without interacting.
To prevent this, WooCommerce implements a limit. While it’s a necessary safeguard, it can be incredibly restrictive for businesses with complex product catalogs. The solution is to adjust the threshold for the *’woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold’* filter.
Understanding the “woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold” Filter
The `woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold` is a filter that determines how many variations are loaded on a product page. When the number of variations exceeds this threshold, WooCommerce will use AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to load the remaining variations dynamically. This means they are loaded *after* the initial page load, improving performance.
The default value for this filter is 30. This value was increased to 50 in WooCommerce 3.0.
How to Remove (Or Increase) the Limit: The Discover insights on How Tograde To Woocommerce 3 Easy Way
The easiest and safest way to adjust this limit is by adding a small snippet of code to your WordPress theme’s `functions.php` file (or, better yet, a child theme or custom plugin – more on that later).
Here’s the code:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold', 'wc_remove_variation_limit' );
function wc_remove_variation_limit( $number ) {
return 200; // Change this number to your desired limit. Set to 0 to remove the limit entirely.
}
Explanation:
- `add_filter( ‘woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold’, ‘wc_remove_variation_limit’ );`: This line tells WordPress to apply our custom function (`wc_remove_variation_limit`) whenever WooCommerce needs the value of the `woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold` filter.
- `function wc_remove_variation_limit( $number ) { … }`: This defines our custom function.
- `return 200;`: This is the key! This line sets the new limit to 200 variations. You can change `200` to any number you want. Setting it to `0` removes the limit entirely, but be cautious with this (explained later).
Adding the Code: Step-by-Step
1. Access your WordPress files: The safest way is using an FTP client (like FileZilla) or your hosting provider’s file manager.
2. Locate your `functions.php` file: This file is typically found in your theme’s folder: `wp-content/themes/your-theme-name/functions.php`. IMPORTANT: If you are not using a *child theme*, you should create one. Updating your theme directly will overwrite your changes when the theme is updated. See instructions below.
3. Edit the `functions.php` file: Open the file in a text editor. Carefully add the code snippet provided above at the very bottom of the file, *before* the closing `?>` tag (if it exists). If there is no `?>` tag, just paste it at the end.
4. Save the file: Upload the modified `functions.php` file back to your server, overwriting the original.
5. Clear your cache: Clear any website caching plugins or server-side caching to ensure the changes take effect.
Important: Use a Child Theme!
Adding code directly to your parent theme is strongly discouraged. When your theme updates, your changes will be lost. A *child theme* inherits all the functionality and styling of your parent theme but allows you to make customizations without risking your changes being overwritten.
Here’s a quick overview of how to create a child theme:
1. Create a new folder: In `wp-content/themes/`, create a new folder for your child theme (e.g., `your-theme-name-child`).
2. Create a `style.css` file: Inside the child theme folder, create a `style.css` file with the following content (replace `your-theme-name` with your parent theme’s folder name):
/*
Theme Name: Your Theme Name Child
Theme URI: http://example.com/your-theme-child/
Description: Your Theme Name Child Theme
Author: Your Name
Author URI: http://example.com
Template: your-theme-name // IMPORTANT: This links your child theme to the parent theme
Version: 1.0.0
*/
@import url(“../your-theme-name/style.css”); /* Imports the parent theme’s styles */
/*
Add your custom CSS here
*/
3. Create a `functions.php` file: Inside the child theme folder, create a `functions.php` file. This is where you’ll add the code snippet from above. You need to also enqueue the parent theme’s stylesheet in order for your child theme to work.
<?php
// Enqueue parent styles
add_action( ‘wp_enqueue_scripts’, ‘my_theme_enqueue_styles’ );
function my_theme_enqueue_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style( ‘parent-style’, get_template_directory_uri() . ‘/style.css’ );
}
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_ajax_variation_threshold’, ‘wc_remove_variation_limit’ );
function wc_remove_variation_limit( $number ) {
return 200; // Change this number to your desired limit. Set to 0 to remove the limit entirely.
}
4. Activate the child theme: Go to *Appearance -> Themes* in your WordPress dashboard and activate your child theme.
Alternative: Using a Code Snippets Plugin
If you’re uncomfortable editing theme files directly, you can use a plugin like “Code Snippets”. This plugin allows you to add custom code snippets to your WordPress site without modifying your theme files.
1. Install and activate Check out this post: How To Export Products From Shopify To Woocommerce the “Code Snippets” plugin.
2. Go to *Snippets -> Add New*.
3. Paste the code snippet above into the code editor.
4. Give the snippet a descriptive title (e.g., “Increase WooCommerce Variation Limit”).
5. Choose “Run snippet everywhere” in the “How to run” section.
6. Save and activate the snippet.
Cautions and Considerations
- Performance Impact: Increasing the limit (or removing it entirely) *can* impact your website’s performance. Monitor your page load times closely. If you notice significant slowdowns, consider using a Learn more about How To Setup Table Rate Shipping In Woocommerce lower limit or optimizing your product data.
- Server Resources: Loading a large number of variations requires more server resources. Make sure your hosting plan can handle the increased load.
- User Experience: Even with AJAX loading, a product page with hundreds of variations can be overwhelming for users. Consider alternative strategies for displaying complex product options, such as using custom fields or grouping variations logically.
Real-Life Examples
* Clothing Store: A clothing store that sells t-shirts in 10 sizes and 20 colors needs more than 50 variations. Increasing the limit to 200 allows them to display all options on the product page.
* Shoe Retailer: A shoe retailer offering shoes in different sizes, widths, and colors would also benefit from increasing the limit to accurately represent their inventory.
* Customizable Product Seller: A business selling personalized gifts with various font options, colors, and engravings needs a higher limit to allow customers to design their perfect product.
Troubleshooting
- Changes not taking effect: Clear your website cache and your browser cache.
- Website slowdown: Reduce the limit to a lower value or consider upgrading your hosting plan.
- Error messages: Double-check the code snippet for typos and ensure it’s added correctly.
By following these steps, you can easily remove (or increase) the WooCommerce variation limit and offer your customers a better shopping experience. Remember to prioritize performance and consider the user experience when dealing with a large number of product variations. Good luck!
