How to Hide a Category in WooCommerce: A Comprehensive Guide

Managing your WooCommerce store effectively means having control over every aspect of its presentation. Sometimes, you need to temporarily or permanently remove a category from your shop’s navigation without deleting its products. This guide will show you how to hide a category in WooCommerce, offering various methods to suit your specific needs and technical skills.

Why Hide a Category, Not Delete It?

Before diving into the methods, let’s clarify why hiding a category might be preferable to deleting it. Deleting a category permanently removes it, along with any associated data. Hiding a category, on the other hand, keeps the products and data intact, allowing you to:

• Temporarily remove a category for seasonal sales or limited-time promotions.
• Maintain product data for future use without cluttering your storefront.

Manage inventory without affecting existing orders or product links.

Easily re-activate the category whenever needed.

Methods to Hide a WooCommerce Category

There are several ways to hide a WooCommerce category, ranging from simple plugin solutions to more involved code modifications. Choose the method that best fits your comfort level with WordPress and WooCommerce.

1. Using a WooCommerce Category Management Plugin

The easiest method is often using a plugin specifically designed for WooCommerce category management. Many plugins offer features to hide or show categories with a simple click. Look for plugins with features like:

• Category Visibility Control: Allows you to selectively hide or show categories.

Easy Interface: Provides a user-friendly interface for managing category visibility.

Other Useful Features: Some plugins may offer additional features, such as bulk editing or custom category attributes.

Note: Always check plugin reviews and compatibility before installation.

2. Hiding a Category Using CSS

For users comfortable with CSS, you can hide the category using custom CSS. This method requires adding code to your theme’s stylesheet or a custom CSS plugin. You will need to target the specific category’s CSS class or ID. This method is less user-friendly and requires knowledge of CSS selectors.

Warning: Incorrectly implemented CSS can break your website’s styling. Always back up your theme before making code changes.

3. Manually Removing the Category from the Menu

This method only hides the category from the navigation menu, not the actual category page itself. This is useful if you want to keep the category accessible via direct links but want to remove it from the main navigation. You can do this by editing your theme’s navigation menu settings within the WordPress admin panel.

4. Using a Child Theme (Recommended)

For more complex customizations or if you plan to make changes directly to your theme’s code, using a child theme is strongly recommended. This helps prevent your changes from being overwritten when the parent theme is updated. This allows for more robust and safer implementation of the CSS method or other code modifications.

Conclusion

Hiding a WooCommerce category doesn’t have to be complicated. By choosing the method that best suits your technical skills and needs, you can effectively manage your store’s navigation and presentation. Remember to always back up your website before making any significant changes, especially when dealing with code modifications. Using a plugin offers the easiest and safest approach for most users. For more advanced users, CSS customization offers greater flexibility, but requires more technical expertise. Regardless of your chosen method, you’ll now have the tools to effectively manage your WooCommerce categories and maintain a clean and organized online store.