How to Set Inventory to Unlimited in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
Are you selling digital downloads, handmade-to-order items, or services on your WooCommerce store and tired of constantly managing inventory levels? Then setting your inventory to “unlimited” might be the perfect solution. This guide will walk you through the process, explaining *why* and *how* to do it simply and effectively.
Think of it this way: Imagine you’re selling a digital ebook about gardening. Every time someone buys it, you *don’t* physically ship anything. You don’t run out of ebooks! So, tracking inventory is just unnecessary work. Setting inventory to unlimited removes that burden.
Why Set Inventory to Unlimited?
Before we dive into the “how,” let’s understand *why* you might want to do this:
- Digital Products: As mentioned, digital goods like ebooks, software, or online courses don’t have a physical stock. It’s more efficient to have unlimited availability.
- Services: If you offer services like consultations, coaching, or design work, you’re selling your time. You might want to limit bookings through other means, but the concept of “stock” doesn’t really apply.
- Made-to-Order Items: If you create items on demand, like personalized mugs or custom artwork, you don’t have a fixed inventory. You fulfill orders as they come in.
- Simplification: Managing inventory, even if it’s a small stock, can be time-consuming. If your business model allows it, unlimited inventory streamlines your workflow.
How to Set Inventory to Unlimited in WooCommerce
There are a couple of ways to set inventory to unlimited in WooCommerce. Let’s look at the most common methods.
#### 1. Setting Unlimited Inventory at the Product Level (Individual Products)
This method is perfect if *only some* of your products have unlimited stock.
1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard. This is usually `yourwebsite.com/wp-admin`.
2. Navigate to Products -> All Products.
3. Find the product you want to edit and click “Edit” or “Quick Edit.”
4. Scroll down to the “Product data” section. (If you’re using Quick Edit, you may need to click “Edit” to see this.)
5. Click on the “Inventory” tab.
6. Uncheck the “Manage stock?” checkbox.
This is the key step. By unchecking “Manage stock?”, WooCommerce will no longer track the inventory for this product, effectively setting it to unlimited.
7. Click “Update” or “Save Draft” to save your changes.
Real-life example: A local artisan creates personalized wooden signs. They only make them when an order comes in. Unchecking “Manage stock?” eliminates the need to constantly update the quantity for each sign style.
#### 2. Bulk Editing Inventory for Multiple Products
If you have *many* products that should have unlimited inventory, bulk editing can save you a lot of time.
1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Navigate to Products -> All Products.
3. Select the products you want to edit. You can do this by checking the checkboxes next to each product title, or by using the checkbox at the top to select all products on the current page.
4. From the “Bulk actions” dropdown menu at the top, select “Edit” and click “Apply”.
5. In the bulk edit interface, find the “Stock status” dropdown.
6. Select “In stock” from the dropdown. This ensures that all selected products are marked as being in stock.
7. Set “Manage stock?” to “Do not change” This prevents WooCommerce from overriding any previously set inventory levels.
8. Click “Update”.
Important Note: The Bulk Edit feature can sometimes be tricky. If you have products where you *do* want to manage stock, ensure you *don’t* select them during the bulk edit. Otherwise, you’ll lose their stock information. Always double-check after making bulk changes!
#### 3. Using Snippet (advanced)
If you want all products to have unlimited inventory without having to manually change this setting for each product you may use snippet below to do so.
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_is_in_stock', 'set_all_products_in_stock', 10, 2 );
function set_all_products_in_stock( $is_in_stock, $product ) {
return true;
}
This code will set all products “in stock” no matter what inventory is set on product’s page.
Important Considerations:
- Order Management: Even with unlimited inventory, you still need to manage your orders! You’ll still receive notifications for new orders and need to fulfill them.
- Communication: If you are selling services or made-to-order items, make sure you clearly communicate your processing times or availability to your customers. Just because the inventory is unlimited doesn’t mean you can fulfill an infinite number of orders instantly.
- Plugin Compatibility: Rarely, a plugin might conflict with this setting. If you encounter any issues, try deactivating your plugins one by one to identify the culprit.
- Refunds and Returns: Setting inventory to unlimited doesn’t change your policies regarding refunds or returns. Make sure these are clearly stated on your website.
Troubleshooting:
- Products Still Showing as “Out of Stock”: Double-check that you *uncheck* the “Manage stock?” box (if using method 1) for each product. Or check if you apply snippet from section 3.
- Bulk Edit Not Working: Make sure you’ve selected the correct products and that your browser isn’t experiencing any caching issues. Try clearing your browser cache.
- Plugin Conflict: Disable recently installed or updated plugins to see if they’re interfering with the WooCommerce inventory settings.
By following these simple steps, you can easily set your WooCommerce inventory to unlimited for products where it makes sense. This simplifies your store management and allows you to focus on other important aspects of your business, like marketing and customer service. Good luck!
