WooCommerce Self-Service Guide

WooCommerce Troubleshooting and Conflict Testing are useful for finding out why your site is having problems. Having an issue with your WooCommerce store? Our aim is to help you solve it.

According to stats, most are caused by:

• Outdated software on your site
• Conflict with your theme
• Conflict with another plugin

Keeping software up to date better protects your website against hacking. The latest versions of WordPress, WooCommerce, and WooCommerce.com extensions, as well as your theme and other plugins, often have bug fixes that resolve the current trouble you’re having. This forms the basis of WooCommerce Troubleshooting and Conflict Testing

To check if there are updates for your website, go to WooCommerce > Status > System Status, where important notifications are highlighted in red.

More information at: Understanding the WooCommerce System Status Report.

To ensure that the update process runs as smooth as possible:

1. Make a full backup of your site, data, and files.
   • Ask your hosting company to assist you
   • Use Jetpack Backup (it’s free)
2. Go to Dashboard > Plugins, and update third-party plugin(s) that are out of date. Do not update WooCommerce yet.
3. Update extensions purchased from WooCommerce.com. You can also download the extension(s) from your WooCommerce.com Account and overwrite plugin(s) manually via FTP in /wp-content/plugins/
4. Go to: WordPress Dashboard > Plugins and upgrade WooCommerce to the latest stable version.
5. Update WordPress to the current version. A notification on your WordPress Dashboard tells you if an update is available.
6. Update your theme to the current version. Check with the author to see if you’re running the latest version.

More information at: How to Update WooCommerce.

Almost half of the interactions we receive are related to issues caused by conflicts with third-party themes and plugins.

WooCommerce Troubleshooting and Conflict Testing is the best workflow to identify where the conflict is.

To troubleshoot theme and plugin conflicts:

1/ Switch to a default WordPress theme, such as our free Storefront theme or a default WordPress theme, to see if the problem still exists. If it goes away, contact your theme developer about the issue. There may be an update that solves it.

If the problem persists using a default theme, go to the next step.

2/ Deactivate temporarily all your plugins, except WooCommerce and the WooCommerce.com extension(s) giving trouble. Does that fix it?

• If yes, there’s likely a conflict with one of the disabled plugins. To pinpoint which one, reactivate plugins (one at a time), repeat the actions taken when the issue appeared, and see when/if the issue reappears.
• If the issue remains while running a default theme and no extra plugins activated, go to the next step.

3/ Contact a Happiness Engineer to investigate and advise. In the support ticket, provide us with as much info as possible. Answering these questions will speed the process:

• When exactly did you first notice the problem?
• Have any updates been applied to your website recently?
• Have you changed themes or made design changes?
• Have you installed any new plugins?
• Can the issue be replicated on multiple devices?
• Is your problem happening in one browser or all of them?
• Do you see a specific error message? Take a screenshot.

More information at: How to Test for Theme and Plugin Conflicts.

Fatal error messages typically tell you the path, including the name of the plugin or theme causing it. This helps track down where/what to fix.

The WooCommerce System Status page provides a wealth of info on versions, template overrides, and memory. To access, go to WooCommerce > Status > System Status

Items requiring action are highlighted in red. This may include Updating Memory, creating pages correctly, or updating outdated plugins. Please see the documentation around Understanding the System Status Report.

See Troubleshooting a Slow Site Guide for tips and tricks.

To update a plugin manually via FTP, unzip the download and load the files via FTP and overwrite existing files. There is no need to deactivate the plugin, and no need to delete files. You can’t automatically update WooCommerce plugins via your WordPress admin unless you activated your subscription – you must do it via FTP.

Alternatively, a zip file can be uploaded directly in your WordPress admin, under Plugins > Add New.

WooCommerce.com purchased extensions do not use manually entered keys. To activate a subscription for an extension purchased from the Woo Marketplace, please connect your WooCommerce.com account to your store.

• My Downloads – to manually download purchased extensions
• My Subscriptions – view your current subscriptions and manage extension renewals

Requesting a new feature or help with customization is beyond the scope of our Support Policy. Customizations or particular features/functionality can be addressed by contacting Codeable.io.

Ideas/feature requests for WooCommerce.com extensions and WooCommerce core can be posted directly on our Ideas Board. We act on feedback and ideas with the highest priority.

You’re running an older version of the WooCommerce database compared to the plugin version you have active and need to update to the latest. More info at: How to Update WooCommerce – Data update notice.

If you notice product variations, tax rates, and other large data sets not saving, see solutions at Problems with large amounts of data not saving (variations, rates, etc).

If you have found a bug in the core WooCommerce plugin (not an extension) that persists after performing the above troubleshooting steps, report it to our developers at the WooCommerce GitHub repository.

We have Documentation that covers all our plugins, extensions, and themes in detail. We put a lot of effort into improving content and making it easier to navigate.

Here are a few resources to assist you:

• WooCommerce Troubleshooting
• How to Work with Variable Products
• Translation/Localization
• Fixing Blurry Product Images
• Fixing Outdated WooCommerce Templates

If you’re having trouble with a paid extension from the WooCommerce.com marketplace, open a new ticket so one of our Happiness Engineers can assist further. For faster and more efficient help, share the results from the steps you took above using this guide.

• Need ongoing advanced support, or a customization built for WooCommerce? Hire a WooExpert agency.
• Are you a developer building your own WooCommerce integration or extension? Check our Developer Resources.