Using Product Categories in WooCommerce


What are Product Categories?

Product Categories provide an extra layer of information about your products and help organize your store. In your product hierarchy, Categories should be considered less specific than product tags. For example, if you sell books, your category to tag ratio may look something like this:

Category Tag
Science Fiction aliens, cyberpunk, dystopia, new wave, post-apocalyptic, steampunk
Mystery crime, detective, historical, noir, police procedural, suspense
Romance contemporary, historical, multi-cultural, paranormal, suspense
Non-fiction art & photography, autobiography, biography, cookbooks, diary & memoirs, essay

How to Assign a Category to a Product

  1. Log into WordPress Dashboard
  2. Click Products on the left panel
  3. Select the product to which you are assigning a category
  4. Under Product Categories, check a pre-existing category
  5. If adding a new category, click + Add New Product Category and fill in the category name in the field below
  6. Once you have assigned a category to a product or added a new category, click update

How to Edit Categories

You can also add and edit categories in the dedicated category interface.

  1. Under Products click Categories
  2. To add a new category, fill in the fields on the left side of the screen and then click Add New Product Category
  3. To edit a pre-existing category, select a category on the right side of the screen

Category Images

WooCommerce Categories differ from WordPress Categories in their ability to accept image thumbnails. Not every theme will display these category images, but if you would like to assign one, follow the steps below:

  1. From within the Categories interface, select the category you want to edit
  2. Under the Thumbnail option click Upload/Add image
  3. Select your image from the Media Library or Upload an image
  4. Click Update

Well done! You now know how to create, edit, and assign Categories to Products in WooCommerce!


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