Discontinued Products Manager

Overview

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Discontinued Products Manager lets you mark WooCommerce products as discontinued instead of simply out-of-stock. Discontinued products display a customizable badge, show a message explaining the situation, suggest alternative products customers can buy instead, and can be hidden from the shop, search results, and sitemaps. Direct URLs remain accessible so existing SEO value is preserved.

Installation

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1. Upload the discontinued-products-manager folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
3. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Discontinued Products to configure

Requirements

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• WordPress 6.4 or higher
• WooCommerce 9.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher

Settings

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Access settings at WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Discontinued Products.

General

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Setting	Description	Default
Enable Plugin	Master toggle to enable/disable all discontinued products functionality	Disabled
Stock Status Text	Text shown in place of the stock status (e.g. “Discontinued”, “No Longer Available”)	Discontinued
Auto-Discontinue Default	When enabled, new products have auto-discontinue checked by default	Disabled
Remove Add to Cart	Hide the Add to Cart button on discontinued product pages	Enabled

Display

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Setting	Description	Default
Show Badge	Display a badge overlay on discontinued product images	Enabled
Badge Text	Text shown inside the badge	Discontinued
Badge Position	Where the badge appears on the image: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right	Top Right
Badge Background Color	Badge background color	#dc3545
Badge Text Color	Badge text color	#ffffff
Greyed-Out Image	Apply a greyscale filter to discontinued product images	Disabled

Messages

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Setting	Description	Default
Global Message	A message displayed on all discontinued product pages. HTML is supported. Can be overridden per product.	Empty
Message Position	Where the message appears: Before Add to Cart, After Title, or After Price	Before Add to Cart
Message Background Color	Message box background	#fff3cd
Message Text Color	Message box text color	#856404
Message Border Color	Message box border color	#ffc107

Alternatives

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Setting	Description	Default
Show Alternatives	Display alternative product suggestions on discontinued product pages	Enabled
Primary Source	Where alternatives come from: Manual selection, Related, Upsells, Cross-sells, or Same Category	Manual selection
Fallback Source	Used when no manual alternatives are set	Related products
Section Header Text	Heading above the alternatives grid	Consider these alternatives
Number of Products	How many alternative products to show	4
Number of Columns	Grid column layout	4

Visibility

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Setting	Description	Default
Hide from Shop	Remove discontinued products from shop and category pages. Direct URLs remain accessible.	Enabled
Hide from Search	Remove discontinued products from search results	Enabled
Hide from Widgets	Remove discontinued products from WooCommerce product widgets	Enabled
Exclude from Sitemap	Remove discontinued products from WordPress, Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and SEOPress sitemaps	Disabled

Advanced

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Setting	Description	Default
Enable 301 Redirects	Redirect visitors from discontinued product pages to an alternative product. Can be overridden per product.	Disabled
Custom CSS	Add custom CSS to style discontinued product elements. Available classes: .dpm-discontinued, .dpm-badge, .dpm-discontinued-message, .dpm-alternatives-grid	Empty
Export	Download a CSV file listing all discontinued products	Button

Per-Product Settings

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On the product edit screen, the Discontinued tab in the Product Data panel provides:

• Custom Message: Override the global message for this product (HTML supported)
• Alternative Products: Select specific products to suggest as replacements
• Enable Redirect: Override the global redirect setting for this product
• Redirect Product: Choose a specific product to redirect to (otherwise uses the first alternative)

In the Inventory tab:

• Auto-Discontinue: Automatically mark this product as discontinued when stock reaches zero

For variable products, auto-discontinue can be set per variation.

How It Works

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1. Mark a product as discontinued by changing its stock status to “Discontinued” in the product editor, using the REST API, or via the bulk action in the products list
2. The plugin registers “Discontinued” as a valid WooCommerce stock status, distinct from “Out of Stock”
3. Discontinued products become non-purchasable (Add to Cart is removed), display a badge and optional message, and show alternative product suggestions
4. Visibility settings control whether the product appears in the shop, search, widgets, and sitemaps
5. Direct URLs to the product remain accessible, preserving SEO value and allowing customers to find alternatives
6. If auto-discontinue is enabled for a product, the plugin monitors stock changes and automatically sets the status to “Discontinued” when stock reaches zero
7. All status changes are logged to the activity log for auditing

Auto-Discontinue

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When auto-discontinue is enabled for a product (via the Inventory tab checkbox), the plugin monitors stock levels. If the stock quantity reaches zero, the product is automatically marked as discontinued instead of “Out of Stock”. The previous stock status is stored so the product can be restored later.

301 Redirects

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When enabled globally and per-product, visitors who land on a discontinued product page are redirected (301 Permanent) to an alternative product. The redirect target is either:

• The product specified in the “Redirect Product” field, or
• The first alternative product from the alternatives list

This is useful for consolidating SEO authority from a discontinued product page to its replacement.

Template Override

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The alternative products grid template can be overridden in your theme. Copy templates/alternative-products-grid.php from the plugin to yourtheme/discontinued-products-manager/alternative-products-grid.php and customize it.

Deactivation & Reactivation

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• On deactivation: All discontinued products are reverted to “Out of Stock” so your shop continues to function normally. Their IDs are stored for potential reactivation.
• On reactivation: Previously discontinued products are automatically restored to “Discontinued” status.

Developer Hooks

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Filters

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Filter	Description	Args
dpm_product_is_discontinued	Override whether a product is considered discontinued	(bool, WC_Product)
dpm_availability_text	Customize the discontinued availability text	(string, WC_Product)
dpm_discontinued_message	Filter the message shown on the product page	(string, WC_Product)
dpm_hide_product	Control visibility per product	(bool, int)
dpm_alternative_products	Customize the alternative products array	(array, WC_Product)
dpm_badge_html	Customize badge HTML output	(string, array, string)
dpm_redirect_url	Modify the redirect URL	(string, int, int)
dpm_should_redirect	Control whether a redirect occurs	(bool, int, string)

Actions

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Action	Description	Args
dpm_before_discontinue_product	Fires before a product is discontinued	(int, WC_Product)
dpm_after_discontinue_product	Fires after a product is discontinued	(int, WC_Product)
dpm_before_restore_product	Fires before a product is restored	(int, WC_Product)
dpm_after_restore_product	Fires after a product is restored	(int, WC_Product)

HPOS Compatibility

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Discontinued Products Manager is fully compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) and WooCommerce Cart/Checkout Blocks.