Home > WooCommerce > Docs > How to Hide a WooCommerce Category on Shop Page

How to Hide a WooCommerce Category on Shop Page

Last updated: May 01, 2024
This article has been written and researched by our expert Avada through a precise methodology. Learn more about our methodology

Sam

Author

Daniel

Researcher

There are numerous advantages to installing a plugin that allows you to conceal categories in your WooCommerce store as an online store owner.

For example, in your WooCommerce store, you might sell specific things to specific consumers or create a members-only zone. And, despite the fact that WordPress and WooCommerce are robust and feature-rich platforms, they don’t come with this capability out of the box.

This article will show you How to hide a WooCommerce Category on Shop Page to upgrade your online store.

Benefits of hiding a WooCommerce category on shop page

When you hide WooCommerce categories, you can:

  • Show various products to various users.
  • Differentiate the charges for different types of users.
  • Encourage customers to sign up for an account, and they will become committed members or subscribers.

You can restrict access to many products at once by hiding one or more WooCommerce categories. So, if you want to create staff-only product pages on your website to sell staff attire or specialized equipment, you can simply assign these items to a category and hide the entire category.

How to hide a WooCommerce category on shop page

Step 1: Set up the plugin’s basic options

To set up the plugin’s settings, log in to your WordPress admin panel and navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Protected categories.

Untick both boxes next to the Category Visibility option if you wish to hide your protected product categories from your store. The product categories, as well as all of the products listed within them, will be concealed from your store in this manner. They won’t appear in widgets, search results, or the navigation menu of your store.

Set up the plugin's basic options

Additionally, you have the option of prefixing all of your concealed categories names. To make it easier to identify between concealed categories, the Prefix categories option prefixes them with Protected or Private.

Step 2: Select an option to hide WooCommerce categories

To see your existing categories, click to Products –> Categories. Choose the category you want to hide and press the Edit button. (Alternatively, you can make a new category private by creating a new category.)

Choose an option to hide WooCommerce categories

You will be taken to the Edit category screen, where the Visibility section will be found near the bottom of the page. Select one of the options after ticking the Protected option.

Protected with a password. The user can access the concealed category after entering the right password in a login form. By clicking the (+) icon, you can generate numerous passwords. Using their unique passwords, different users (or user groups) will be able to access the same hidden category.

  • Roles of users - The hidden category will be accessible to those with the given user roles.

  • Users - The hidden category will be accessible only to specified, particular individuals that you choose.

To continue, go to the bottom of the screen and click the Update (or Add new category) button.

Step 3: Set up your login form

If you chose the Password protected option in Step #2, you will need to set up your login form as well.

Set up your login form

You can do the following by going to WooCommerce –> Settings –> Products -> Protected categories:

Set a password expiration date. This allows you to specify the length of time the password should be used to unlock the concealed category.

Make a decision on the password entering page. This option allows you to choose the location of your online store’s login page. You have the option of creating a new page (such as Access Store).

Set up the password entry form. You can change the headline, message, password label, login button label, and more on the login form.

Users and customers can log in by going to the appropriate page as a result of this. When a user uses a direct link to visit a hidden category, they will be requested to provide the password.

Step 4: Allow users to log into password-protected user and role categories

Suppose you chose the User roles or Users option in Step #2. In that case, you may specify what happens if a user without the appropriate user privileges attempts to view a concealed category or product. This could be a logged-out user or someone who has a different role than the one(s) to which you’ve given access.

Allow users to log into password-protected user and role categories

You also have the option of displaying a custom page. In this manner, you can build a page (such as Login Required) with a message informing users that they must log in with their account in order to view the hidden category.

2 Other Methods to hide a WooCommerce category on shop page

1. Hiding the Category Using the get_terms Filter

Hiding the Category Using the get_terms Filter

You don’t want all of your categories to show up on your store page, so you will want to hide some of them, especially if you don’t want the generic “uncategorized” category to appear, making your site more visible confused and unappealing.

It may simply be hidden from the shop page, or the category can be renamed to make it more relevant. This strategy can be used to conceal it.

  • First, you will need to come up with a category slug. From the WordPress dashboard, click to Products > Categories.
  • The uncategorized category’s slug is “uncategorized.” Enter the following code into functions.php to make this category invisible to your child theme.

The category now includes the get terms function. The “Uncategorized” category should no longer be visible.

The slug names for all the categories you want to hide can then be entered:

Hiding the Category Using the get_terms Filter

The products in the categories “Uncategorized” and “furniture” will be hidden with this code.

2. Using the “woocommerce_product_query_tax_query” filter

Using the “woocommerce_product_query_tax_query” filter

The second way is to use the WooCommerce product query action to hide uncategorized products from the shop page. This must be included in the functions.php file. Add the code as follows:

Using the “woocommerce_product_query_tax_query” filter

This code is meant to be used on pages where you don’t want the Product Categories to appear. The values in the $tax query array must be set to the values of the categories you want to delete.

We utilize the “woocommerce product query tax query” filter to see if the page already has a “is shop()” function. We can add more taxonomic search parameters to the query to make it more specific.

Then, add an array that reduces or removes the desired categories from their slugs in the taxonomy. You may conceal the WooCommerce category from the shop page using any of these two approaches.

3 Best plugins to hide a WooCommerce Category on Shop Page

1. Hide Categories Or Products On Shop Page

Hide Categories Or Products On Shop Page

The WooCommerce extension Hide Categories Or Products On Shop Page Hide Categories Or Products On Shop Page is a WooCommerce extension that hides categories or products on the shop page. WooCommerce products and categories can be hidden from the shop page. This is a free plugin that works with WooCommerce.

Features:

Hide the categories. Hide products Hide products and categories. Multiple categories might be chosen. Widget categories can be hidden. Hide the categories/products you don’t want to see. Display The 404 Error Page

Price: free

2. WooCommerce Products Visibility

WooCommerce Products Visibility

You can choose which products will be visible site-wide for each user role using the WooCommerce Products Visibility plugin WooCommerce Products Visibility

Remember that WooCommerce Products Visibility is the ONLY plugin that allows you to create combination visibility rules. That means you may hide products, categories, and tags for a specific function at the same time.

It’s also the only plugin that hides the specified products, categories, and tags across your entire website, including menus, widgets, and even your theme, as long as it uses normal WordPress filters.

Features:

For non-logged-in users, see or hide products, hide the prices and add to cart buttons, hide the add-to-cart buttons (but show the prices), hide sale pricing and give them a reason to sign up and check out your offers! For logged-in users, hide or reveal products. For wholesale customers, hide or reveal products.

Price: $24

3. WooCommerce Protected Categories

WooCommerce Protected Categories

This plugin WooCommerce Protected Categories is unique in that it is designed specifically for websites that cater to individual clients. You can hide a category from your website and password-protect it. Then give your client the password, and they’ll be able to browse a gallery of products that have been hand-picked just for them. You can also choose to limit protected categories to “user roles” rather than individual users.

Features:

  • Simple for both you and your customers: they simply log in or input their password.
  • Hide protected categories from menus and widgets if desired.
  • Passwords, roles, and even individual users can be used to restrict WooCommerce categories (including sub-categories).

Price: free

Conclusion

The WooCommerce shop page hide category function is essential for making your shop page easier to use and administer. It allows you to effortlessly organize your products and categorize them into the appropriate categories. It’s also wonderful for customers who can pick and choose the things they want, increasing customer happiness and, as a result, increasing traffic, revenue, and conversions.

I hope you find this article about How to hide a WooCommerce Category on Shop Page fundamental!


Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.

Stay in the know

Get special offers on the latest news from AVADA.