Are you an eCommerce website owner based on WooCommerce? Then you must know the WooCommerce 5.0 has launched on February 9. It is the second minor release of 2021.
WooCommerce has recommended keeping a backup of any site. Apart from that, ensure themes and plugins are compatible before updating.
In the previous release, they have followed the Semantic Versioning schema. But in this release, they come after WordPress versioning schema. What does that mean? Well, it will now backward-compatible.
Apart from versioning, they have updated the WooCommerce admin package from 1.8.3 to 1.9.0.
- Some Significant Fixes and Enhancements in WooCommerce Release Update
- Added Filters and Actions in WooCommerce Release Update
- Changes in Database and Template
- Challenges You May Face After WooCommerce Update
- New WooCommerce Release Update is Over to You
Some Significant Fixes and Enhancements in WooCommerce Release Update
Before going forward, please read out how to update WooCommerce. Let's see the highlights together.
Product Review Count
In 4.9 there were some issues with the product review count though they have been fixed once. But from the 5.0 release, it will work without any hassle and new reviews or comments will be added quickly.
Deprecate Legacy Reports
What if you have the opportunity to analyze your WooCommerce? Well, congratulation, the WooCommerce 5.0 has added a new and improved WooCommerce Analytics. And, team WooCommerce is urging the users to grab this chance to enhance their business.
Added CSS Variables
This WooCommerce release update has added prefixed CSS variables to the stylesheet. How does it help the users? Well, from now developers will get easier extendibility when they need to use the same default styling of WooCommerce without recreating the CSS. So, this release is saving the valuable time of WooCommerce developers.
Updated Products, Orders, and Coupons Restoring
Before the 5.0 release, if a user trashed any order, coupon, or product, then it was restored in draft status. But, now this version has changed that functionality. Thus, the restored item will be on that status where they were before getting into the trash.
Changing Product Type with Attached Files
It is the last fix of this update. In the past, when a customer placed an order for a product that had downloadable files and when s/he changes the product type, the permission of that downloadable files lost and the user couldn't get access. So, this issue has been fixed and now WooCommerce recognizes the product type. Thus, the same customer gets permission for the desired product.
Added Filters and Actions in WooCommerce Release Update
In WooCommerce 5.0, you will get a new action and two new filters.
New Action
The action woocommerce_activated_plugin has been added and it indicates that packages such as WooCommerce Admin have activated.
New Filters
woocommerce_delete_variations_on_product_type_change filter is added. It prevents the variations from being deleted while the user tries to switch from a variable product type to a variable product type.
woocommerce_new_order_email_allows_resend is added as well. This filter allows resending of the new order email to the admin.
Changes in Database and Template
There are no schema modifications to the database tables. But there is a script that fixes any potential issues the product review counts by running in the database. This in turn will bump the database version to 5.0.0.
On the other hand, there is no change in the template.
Challenges You May Face After WooCommerce Update
Undoubtedly, WooCommerce is one of the best eCommerce software in the current marketplace. But still, people face some issues after updating this plugin. To minimize your problem and time, we will share some common obstacles a user can face after a new release update.
New WooCommerce Update Conflict the Plugins and Themes
Being a WooCommerce marketplace owner is not that easy as the person has to manage the customers, organize the shipments, ask for reviews and work on it. So, it's obvious that a business owner can forget the performance or security of the website. In that case, s/he missed updating the existing theme or plugins. And, it conflicts when they update the WooCommerce new release.
So, before updating any WooCommerce release never forget to update your theme and plugin. If you don't follow this you may also have some struggles in your codebase.
If you want to check the new WooCommerce updates go to WordPress dashboard> WooCommerce> System Status. All the updates or notifications will be highlighted in red.
Struggling with the Product Image Sizes
Any website must have images that are clear and good-looking to the audience. When it's about the WooCommerce store it's much more crucial. Because after watching the image properly, the customers will order something from that store.
If the images of your website are blurry or stretched then you are facing image sizing issues. After updating WooCommerce, you can get this problem. So, what is the way to cope up with this trouble? Well, make sure the theme’s default image sizes and WooCommerce default image sizes are the same.
3 Types of Images in WooCommerce
- Single product images are the largest image of any eCommerce site.
- If you are on a specific category page of any products, you will notice the images are medium-sized.
- Last but not the least, the images underneath the individual images there is some tiny product images. These are the smallest images of WooCommerce.
If you want to modify the dimensions of the default image then go to WooCommerce> Settings> Products> Display.
You can the default image sizes and ensure it is same as the theme image size.
Wrong Hosting Configuration
Previously we have talked about checking the update of your store theme and plugin. If still, you are facing issues then it's time to check your hosting. You could face some issues with the online store due to the hosting configuration.
It could be possible that the hosting environment for WooCommerce may not optimize by your current host. So, contact them and elaborate on the problem. On the other side, a WooCommerce managed host can assist you to get out of these types of problems. If you want to grow your business, it's mandatory.
New WooCommerce Release Update is Over to You
In the eCommerce world, you must keep the online store updated all the time. After updating the new release of WooCommerce if you face issues, you can follow the solution above. But still, if the problems are not solved try to contact the WooCommerce support team.
Besides, while updating your WooCommerce, don't forget to check whether the existing theme is mobile-friendly or not. Because According to a statistic, around 79% of Smartphone users preferred to purchase online.
If you have any further questions, ask us in the comments section.