How To Hide Woocommerce Category

How to Hide WooCommerce Categories: A Comprehensive Guide

WooCommerce, the leading e-commerce platform for WordPress, offers a robust system for organizing your products using categories. However, there are times when you might want to hide specific WooCommerce categories from your shop page, product listings, or even the navigation menu. This article will guide you through various methods to achieve this, ensuring your online store presents the perfect selection to your customers.

Why Hide WooCommerce Categories?

There are several reasons why you might want to hide WooCommerce categories:

• Seasonal Products: Hide categories containing seasonal items when they are out of season.
• Membership-Based Products: Restrict access to certain categories only for members.
• Wholesale Products: Conceal wholesale categories from regular retail customers.
• Testing New Products: Keep new categories hidden while you’re still setting them up.
• Simplifying Navigation: Streamline your store’s navigation by hiding less relevant categories.

Methods to Hide WooCommerce Categories

Here are a few methods you can use to hide your WooCommerce categories, each with varying levels of complexity and flexibility:

1. Using the WooCommerce Product Visibility Setting

This is the simplest method and suitable for hiding categories from the shop page, category pages, and search results.

• Navigate to Products > Categories in your WordPress dashboard.
• Select the category you want to hide.
• In the “Edit category” screen, find the “Visibility” option.
• Choose “Hidden” from the dropdown menu.
• Click “Update” to save the changes.

Pros:

• Easy and quick to implement.
• No coding required.

Cons:

• Doesn’t hide the category from direct URLs.
• Doesn’t hide the category from widgets or menus by default.

2. Using a Plugin

Several plugins can help you manage category visibility with more control and flexibility. Here are a couple of popular options:

• Category Visibility: This type of plugin allows you to choose who sees specific categories based on user roles, logged-in status, or even individual user accounts.
• WooCommerce Category and Tag Filter: While primarily designed for filtering, some plugins in this category also offer options to hide categories based on various criteria.

To use a plugin:

• Install and activate your chosen plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
• Configure the plugin settings according to your specific needs. This usually involves selecting the category and defining the visibility rules.

Pros:

• More control over who sees the categories.
• Often offers advanced features like hiding categories based on location or device.

Cons:

• Requires installing a third-party plugin.
• Plugin compatibility issues may arise.

3. Using Custom Code (functions.php)

For those comfortable with code, you can use custom code snippets in your theme’s `functions.php` file or a code snippets plugin. This approach offers the most flexibility but requires a basic understanding of PHP.

Example code to hide categories by ID:

function custom_pre_get_posts_query( $query ) {
if ( ! is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() ) {
if ( is_home() || is_shop() || is_product_category() ) {
$query->set( 'tax_query', array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
'field'    => 'id',
'terms'    => array( 15, 23, 37 ), // Replace with your category IDs
'operator' => 'NOT IN',
),
) );
}
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'custom_pre_get_posts_query' );

Explanation:

• This code snippet filters the main query to exclude specific categories.
• Replace `array( 15, 23, 37 )` with the IDs of the categories you want to hide.
• The `NOT IN` operator ensures that products from these categories are excluded from the query results.

Pros:

• Highly customizable.
• No plugin required.

Cons:

• Requires coding knowledge.
• Incorrect code can break your website. Always back up your site before making changes to `functions.php`.

4. Hiding Categories from the Navigation Menu

Even if you hide categories from the shop page, they might still appear in your navigation menu. To remove them:

• Go to Appearance > Menus in your WordPress dashboard.
• Expand the “Categories” section.
• Uncheck the categories you want to hide from the menu.
• Click “Save Menu”.

Pros:

• Simple and straightforward.
• Enhances user experience.

Cons:

• Only hides categories from the menu.

Conclusion

Hiding WooCommerce categories can be a valuable technique for optimizing your online store and providing a better user experience. Whether you choose the simple visibility setting, a dedicated plugin, or custom code, the right approach will depend on your specific needs and technical expertise. Remember to test your changes thoroughly and back up your website before implementing any code modifications. By implementing these methods, you can strategically control the visibility of your WooCommerce categories, leading to a more streamlined and effective online shopping experience for your customers.