How To Temporarily Hide A Woocommerce Product

How to Temporarily Hide a WooCommerce Product: A Simple Guide for Beginners

So, you’ve got a WooCommerce store humming along. Awesome! But sometimes, you need to take a product off the shelves, just for a bit. Maybe it’s seasonal, out of stock, or you’re tweaking the description. Whatever the reason, temporarily hiding a product is a super useful skill. This guide will walk you through the easiest ways to do it, without deleting anything!

Think of it like this: You’re a baker. You make amazing pumpkin pies, but you only sell them during the autumn months. You don’t want to delete the pie listing from your menu, because you’ll need it again in September. Instead, you just tuck it away until it’s pumpkin pie season again!

Why Temporarily Hide a Product?

Before we dive into the “how,” let’s understand the “why.” There are several excellent reasons to hide a product instead of deleting it:

Seasonality: As mentioned above, products like Christmas decorations or summer swimwear are only relevant at certain times of the year.
Out of Stock: Rather than confusing customers with a product they can’t buy, temporarily hide it until you restock.
Product Updates/Improvements: If you’re rewriting a description, improving images, or updating a product’s attributes, hiding it allows you to work without affecting the customer experience. Imagine completely taking your physical store offline every time you want to rearrange the shelves. That’s what deleting the product listing would be like.
Testing: Maybe you’re testing a new product variation or a price point. Hiding the old version allows you to run your test discreetly.
Promotions: You might hide a product during a specific promotion if it’s not included in the deal, to avoid conflicting information.

Method 1: Changing Product Visibility

This is the easiest and most common way to temporarily hide a WooCommerce product.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: Head to your WordPress admin area by typing `/wp-admin` after your website URL (e.g., `yourwebsite.com/wp-admin`).

2. Navigate to Products: In the left-hand menu, click on “Products” -> “All Products.”

3. Find the Product: Locate the product you want to hide. You can use the search bar to find it quickly.

4. Edit the Product: Hover over the product and click “Edit.”

5. Locate the “Publish” Box: On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a box labeled “Publish.”

6. Change Visibility: Click the “Edit” link next to “Visibility.”

You’ll see three options:
Public: Visible to everyone.
Hidden: Visible only to administrators and shop managers (i.e. you when logged in).
Password protected: Only visible to those who have the password.

7. Select “Hidden”: Choose “Hidden” from the options.

8. Update the Product: Click the “OK” button and then click the blue “Update” button at the top right to save your changes.

That’s it! The product is now hidden from the public. When you’re ready to make it visible again, simply change the visibility back to “Public” and update the product.

Reasoning: This method is simple and reversible. It’s perfect for most situations where you need to temporarily hide a product.

Method 2: Setting Product Status to “Draft”

Another easy method is to change the product status to “Draft.”

1. Follow steps 1-4 from Method 1 to navigate to the product edit page.

2. Locate the “Publish” Box: Again, find the “Publish” box on the right side.

3. Change Status: Click the “Edit” link next to “Status.”

4. Select “Draft”: Choose “Draft” from the options.

5. Update the Product: Click the “OK” button and then click the “Update” button.

Reasoning: Setting a product to “Draft” effectively removes it from your store’s frontend. It’s similar to taking it down for editing before publication.

Method 3: Using a Plugin (For More Advanced Control)

For more advanced control over product visibility, consider using a plugin. Several free and paid plugins offer features like:

Scheduling visibility: Set specific dates and times for products to automatically become visible or hidden.
Hiding products based on user roles: Show products only to specific customer groups.
Bulk editing: Hide or show multiple products at once.

Example Plugins:

WooCommerce Visibility: A simple plugin that adds visibility options to WooCommerce products.
Product Visibility by User Role for WooCommerce: Allows you to show products based on user roles.

Reasoning: Plugins provide granular control for complex scenarios. If you need to automate visibility changes or target specific users, a plugin is the way to go.

Method 4: Using Code (For Developers)

If you’re comfortable with PHP code, you can use the `woocommerce_product_is_visible` filter to control product visibility. This is best for developers who need very specific or dynamic visibility rules.

/**
Filter to hide products based on a custom condition.
* @param bool $visible Whether the product is visible.
@param int  $product_id The product ID.
@return bool
*/
function custom_hide_product( $visible, $product_id ) {
// Replace with your custom logic. For example, hide product if a custom field is set to "hidden".
$custom_field_value = get_post_meta( $product_id, '_custom_visibility_field', true );

if ( $custom_field_value === ‘hidden’ ) {

$visible = false;

}

return $visible;

}

add_filter( ‘woocommerce_product_is_visible’, ‘custom_hide_product’, 10, 2 );

Explanation:

The code uses the `woocommerce_product_is_visible` filter, which allows you to modify whether a product is visible or not.
The `custom_hide_product` function takes the current visibility status (`$visible`) and the product ID (`$product_id`) as arguments.
Inside the function, you can add your own custom logic to determine whether the product should be hidden. In this example, we’re checking the value of a custom field called `_custom_visibility_field`. If it’s set to ‘hidden’, the product is hidden. You will need to add this custom field using a plugin such as “Advanced Custom Fields”.
Important: Add this code to your theme’s `functions.php` file (child theme is recommended) or a custom plugin.

Reasoning: This method offers the ultimate flexibility. You can create very specific visibility rules based on any criteria you can code. However, it requires coding knowledge and carries the risk of breaking your site if not implemented correctly.

Important Considerations:

Cache: After making changes, clear your website’s cache (if you’re using a caching plugin) to ensure the changes are reflected immediately.
SEO: While hiding a product temporarily shouldn’t significantly impact your SEO, it’s always good practice to monitor your search engine rankings. If you’re hiding a product for an extended period, consider adding a note to the product page explaining why it’s temporarily unavailable, instead of simply hiding it. This provides a better user experience.
Testing: Always test your changes in a staging environment before implementing them on your live site.

By following these methods, you can easily and effectively manage your WooCommerce product visibility, keeping your store organized and customer-friendly. Good luck!