How To Tell If My Woocommerce Templates Have Been Customized

How to Tell if Your WooCommerce Templates Have Been Customized (Even if You’re a Beginner!)

So, you’re running a WooCommerce store – awesome! You’re probably thinking about ways to tweak it and make it uniquely yours. One way to do that is by customizing WooCommerce templates. But how do you know if your templates have *already* been customized? Don’t worry, even if you’re not a coding whiz, this guide will help you figure it out!

Why Customize WooCommerce Templates?

Before we dive into detective work, let’s quickly recap *why* you might want to customize templates in the first place. WooCommerce themes are designed to be flexible, but sometimes you need to make more specific changes to:

Change the layout: Maybe you want the product image on the left and the product description on the right.
Add or remove elements: Perhaps you want to remove the “Add to Wishlist” button from the product page.
Adjust the styling: Want a different color scheme or font just for your WooCommerce sections?
Integrate with specific plugins: Sometimes plugins require template adjustments to display their information correctly.

Real-life example: Let’s say you sell handmade jewelry. You might customize the product page template to include a section showcasing the artist and the inspiration behind each piece. This adds a personal touch that a generic WooCommerce template wouldn’t provide.

The Tell-tale Signs: How to Check for Template Customizations

WooCommerce template customization usually happens in one of two ways:

1. Through a child theme: This is the recommended method, as it protects your changes when the main theme updates.

2. Directly in the parent theme (NOT recommended!): This is risky, because updates to your theme can overwrite any changes you’ve made.

Let’s look at how to check for customizations in each scenario.

Checking for Customizations in a Child Theme (The Safe Way!)

A child theme is like a “shadow” of your main theme. It inherits all the features and styles of the parent theme but allows you to override specific parts without touching the original files.

Here’s how to see if your theme is using a child theme and if it has customized WooCommerce templates:

1. Check Your WordPress Theme Settings:

Go to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard.
Is there a theme named something like “YourTheme Name Child”? If so, a child theme is active.
Active child theme means that all of your theme code is currently loaded from there.

2. Inspect the `woocommerce` Folder in Your Child Theme:

Connect to your website using an FTP client (like FileZilla) or access the file manager in your hosting account.
Navigate to `wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/`. Replace `your-child-theme` with the actual name of your child theme.
Look for a folder named `woocommerce`. This is the crucial part. If it exists, it means that some WooCommerce templates have been customized.

Reasoning: WooCommerce looks in this specific `woocommerce` folder in the child theme *first* before using the default templates in the WooCommerce plugin itself.

3. Examine the Files Inside the `woocommerce` Folder:

Open the `woocommerce` folder. You’ll see a directory structure that mirrors parts of the WooCommerce plugin’s `templates` folder.
The files you find inside the `woocommerce` folder are the modified templates. They are overriding the default WooCommerce templates.
Example: If you find a file named `single-product.php` inside `woocommerce`, it means the single product page template has been customized.

Example Directory Structure:

wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/woocommerce/

single-product.php (Customized single product page)
archive-product.php (Customized product archive page)
checkout/form-checkout.php (Customized checkout form)
…and so on

What to look for inside `woocommerce` folder?

Any folder inside that represents a section of the WooCommerce template. E.g. `checkout`, `emails`, `myaccount`, `single-product`
Specific PHP files that represent a file that controls how the specific section looks like. E.g. `form-checkout.php`, `email-header.php`, `my-address.php` and `review-order.php`

Checking for Customizations Directly in the Parent Theme (Be Careful!)

As mentioned earlier, directly editing the parent theme is a bad practice. However, if you suspect someone might have done it, here’s how to check:

1. Navigate to Your Parent Theme’s Folder:

Using FTP or your hosting file manager, go to `wp-content/themes/your-parent-theme/`. Replace `your-parent-theme` with the actual name of your parent theme.

2. Look for the `woocommerce` Folder (Again!):

Just like with child themes, look for a folder named `woocommerce`. If it exists here, it’s a strong sign of direct parent theme customization.

3. Inspect the Files Inside the `woocommerce` Folder:

Open the `woocommerce` folder. The presence of files in this folder indicates customized templates in the parent theme.

Important Warning: If you find modifications in the parent theme, create a child theme immediately! Then, move the customized template files from the parent theme’s `woocommerce` folder to the child theme’s `woocommerce` folder. This will protect your changes from being overwritten by theme updates.

Using a Code Editor to Compare Templates (For the More Advanced!)

If you want to see *exactly* what changes have been made, you can use a code editor (like VS Code, Sublime Text, or Atom) to compare the customized template files with the original WooCommerce templates.

1. Locate the Original WooCommerce Templates:

These are located in the WooCommerce plugin directory: `wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/templates/`.
The directory structure in the `templates` folder mirrors the `woocommerce` folder in your theme.

2. Compare the Files:

Open both the customized template (from your theme) and the original template (from the WooCommerce plugin) in your code editor.
Use the code editor’s “diff” or “compare” feature (usually found in the “View” or “Edit” menu). This will highlight the lines of code that have been added, removed, or modified.

Example: You might see that a specific function has been added to display a custom product badge, or that some HTML has been altered to change the product layout.

Summary: How to Tell if Your WooCommerce Templates Are Customized

| :—————————— | :————————————- | :—————————————————————– | :——————————————————————————————————————————————— |

| Child Theme is active | `wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/` | Templates have been customized using a child theme (Good!) | Inspect the files in the `woocommerce` folder to see the customizations. |

| No Child Theme, but see customized files in parent theme | `wp-content/themes/your-parent-theme/` | Templates have been customized directly in the parent theme (BAD!) | IMMEDIATELY create a child theme and move the customized template files to the child theme’s `woocommerce` folder. |

| No `woocommerce` folder found | `wp-content/themes/your-child-theme/` OR `wp-content/themes/your-parent-theme/` | No template customizations found. | Continue with the implementation of WooCommerce with its default look. |

By following these steps, you can easily determine whether your WooCommerce templates have been customized and understand the extent of those modifications. Remember that understanding your templates is key to creating a truly unique and effective online store! Good luck!