Categories are the best way to organize your WooCommerce product categories in an efficient, user-friendly way, allowing your customers to browse through your inventory with ease. However, if you don’t organize your store efficiently, you’re making things harder for your customers than they have to be, which can have a big effect on your sales.
If you have a simple import, then you can include categories as part of your import Tools › Import › WordPress. Here, you can upload your import file and map out your fields (including categories) to complete your product category import.
But is there an easier way to get this task done quickly instead of creating single categories, especially when you have large imports to upload? And what about if you have multiple categories, like subcategories and a hierarchy structure?
The answer is yes. There are a few plugins out there that provide you with the function to import categories, at scale, with more control. Let’s check them out.
1. WP Sheet Editor
WP Sheet Editor provides a variety of plugins to download or upload information in bulk easily. Among them, their Categories, Tags, Product Attributes, Taxonomies Spreadsheet plugin is developed with importing categories into WooCommerce in mind.
If you have a CSV file containing all your categories’ information and you have made some changes to your categories and want to upload them, this plugin offers a quick and easy way to do so.
How to Upload Categories with WP Sheet Editor
First, you should organize your data in a CSV file, including categories details, e.g. category descriptions, URL slugs, category names, category images etc.
After you ensure you’ve got your CSV file ready, and you can import it to WP Sheet Editor, start by accessing the spreadsheet editor. To do this, go to WP Admin → Sheet Editor → Categories/Taxonomies.
Next, we need to import our WooCommerce categories to WP Sheet Editor. To start importing, simply click on the plugin’s Import tool, located on the plugin’s top toolbar.
A pop-up will display where you’ll be prompted to upload your import file.
Once you’re done, click on the Next button. It’ll lead you to another pop-up. Here, click on Import all the columns, or select the individual column with your product categories in it.
Click on The preview is fine, start import.
This is one of the simplest plugins out there to use for WooCommerce store owners that want to import categories to their website. The ability to bulk edit products comes in extremely useful, especially if you have a large store with a lot of products to manage.
2. WP All Import
WP All Import is another alternative for importing pages and posts into WordPress.
If you want to use it for WooCommerce, you need to make sure you download the additional WooCommerce product option that’s part of the paid version.
The free version is usable for basic imports, but the premium version is recommended as it has increased functionality specifically for e-commerce websites.
After you’ve downloaded and installed the plugin(s), go to All Import → New Import in your WordPress dashboard.
Make sure to click on “Taxonomies” and then “Product Categories” as the specific taxonomy you want to import.
You’ll need to configure the import mapping by connecting your file’s columns to the category fields. This is all the typical information you’ll find on your product CSV file, like the category name, the slug or URL, product description, and then parent category and category image are optional.
Make sure that before you finalize the import, set up the advanced options according to your needs in the import settings screen.
These include how to handle duplicates (whether to skip or update them), image handling settings and parent-child relationships between categories if your structure has hierarchy.
If you want multiple categories and subcategories, make sure to upload them in separate columns, as you can add both categories and parent categories easily within the upload section by scrolling down to “Other Category Options”.
Finally, preview your data to make sure everything is mapped correctly then hit the import button.
Once completed, be sure to review the import log carefully to identify and fix any errors that may have occurred during the product category import process.
Additional Resource: Password Protect Your WooCommerce Categories
If you don’t want to publicize your WooCommerce categories, you’ll need a method that specializes in making specific categories private for password-holders only.
Our PPWP Pro plugin and its Access Levels extension can protect your products from public access, and only allow those with a password to access your product categories. You can then set different access levels for the content depending on how much access you want to give users.
You can do this by following these steps:
Creating a Base
Once you get PPWP Pro and its Access Levels extension, simply navigate to Password Protect WordPress > Access Levels to start setting things up.
Here, click on the Add New Base button.
A pop-up will appear where you can give your base a name and a description. Click on Save Changes when you’re done.
Next, we can add WooCommerce product categories to the base we’ve created. Here, click on the Edit Levels, which is in the same row as the base you want to edit.
Now, you can choose the WooCommerce categories that you want to protect.
You can also choose to set them by levels, which means that categories under a specific level will be unlocked by a password in the same or higher levels. For example, you may want to set some to members only if they’re limited edition.
You can display specific categories or exclude specific categories based on your business needs.
Finally, you can add passwords to unlock protected WooCommerce categories. To do this, switch to the Add New Password tab to create passwords that will allow users to unlock your category. You can also set the usage limit as well as password expiry.
This won’t be of use for everyone, but it can help give you more control over who accesses your WooCommerce categories.
Conclusion
We’ve walked you through how to import WooCommerce categories into your shop using both WPSheet Editor or WP All Import, which are both highly recommended plugins for importing categories. These tools are especially useful when dealing with large inventories or complex category hierarchies, so be sure to use them to your advantage.
