Collection for WooCommerce

1. Overview

Collection for WooCommerce turns WooCommerce product categories and product tags into smart collections, the way collections work in Shopify. You add conditions to a category, for example "Tag is equal to summer" and "On sale is equal to Yes", choose whether a product must match all of them or any of them, and the plugin puts every matching product into the category.

A collection is an ordinary product category or tag. Its archive page, menu entries, widgets, filters and blocks work as before. The only difference is a set of conditions stored on the term (see Term meta and post meta). Categories and tags without conditions are never changed, and a product's other categories and tags always stay as they are.

For every collection you choose what happens to products in it that do not match: remove them, remove them only if the conditions added them, or never remove anything. Version 3 remembers which products the conditions added, so products you put into a category by hand can stay.

How it works

1. Open Products → Categories (or Products → Tags), add or edit a term and fill in Collection conditions.
2. Choose what happens to products that do not match. A notice explains the choice; Preview matching products shows the result.
3. Save. If the new conditions would remove products, the plugin lists them first and asks.
4. The plugin stores the conditions on the term and starts a background check of every product. From then on a product is checked again whenever it changes, and all products on a schedule (every hour by default).
5. Every change the conditions make is written to the activity log and, after a save on the product screen, shown in a notice.

At a glance

What it does not do

• It does not create categories or tags, and it never deletes one. Create the term first, then add conditions.
• It does not change categories and tags that have no conditions.
• It does not add anything to the shop front. A collection is shown like any other category or tag.
• It does not test custom (local) product attributes, custom fields or the attributes of single variations. The Attribute condition uses global attributes (Products → Attributes) set on the product.
• It does not order the products inside a collection; WooCommerce does (or Category Products Reorder for WooCommerce).
• It does not touch products in the Trash, auto-drafts or revisions.
• Removing all conditions does not empty a collection: it becomes a normal category or tag and keeps its products.

2. Requirements

3. Installation

1. Make sure WooCommerce is installed and active.
2. Open Plugins → Add Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip from your purchase (wphub-collections-3.0.0.zip), click Install Now and then Activate.
3. Open Plugins → WpExperts Hub Licences and activate your licence key to receive updates.
4. Check the defaults under WooCommerce → Settings → Collections (see Settings).
5. Open Products → Categories, add or edit a category and use Collection conditions (see Quick start).

Activation creates no tables, roles or pages. It switches version 2.x off if it is active, takes over its data (see Updating from version 2.x) and schedules the periodic check on the next page load. Settings are stored as WooCommerce options when you first save the settings tab; until then the defaults apply.

Licence and updates

The plugin bundles the WpExperts Hub licence and update client (licence/class-wpxh-licence-client.php). It is loaded only in the admin, for scheduled tasks and for WP-CLI. One screen manages every WpExperts Hub plugin on the site: Plugins → WpExperts Hub Licences.

1. Find your licence key in the purchase email or under My Account → Downloads on wpexpertshub.com.
2. Paste it into Licence key on the plugin's card and click Activate licence.
3. New versions then appear on the normal Dashboard → Updates and Plugins screens. Without an active licence WordPress shows the update but cannot install it automatically.

The licence only unlocks updates. No feature of the plugin checks it. A licence bought for version 2.x works for version 3 (the licence server knows both plugin folders).

Updating from version 2.x

Up to 2.5.0 the plugin lived in the folder wxp-woo-collections. Version 3 lives in wphub-collections, so WordPress treats it as a different plugin. The recommended way:

1. Upload and activate version 3 next to the old one. It deactivates version 2.x, copies its conditions, takes over the licence key, removes the old scheduled jobs and shows: "the previous version (folder "wxp-woo-collections") was deactivated because version 3 replaces it. Its N collections were taken over with their conditions."
2. Delete the old Collection for WooCommerce (folder wxp-woo-collections) on the Plugins screen. Your collections stay.

If you clicked "Update now" on version 2.x (or WordPress updated it automatically): WordPress installs the new folder in place of the old one but cannot switch the new plugin on, because it is a different plugin. The Plugins screen may say "The plugin wxp-woo-collections/wxp-woo-collections.php has been deactivated due to an error: Plugin file does not exist." Nothing is lost: the old conditions, the licence and the products' categories are still there, but products are not assigned until you click Activate under Collection for WooCommerce. Version 3 then copies everything and says "version 3 took over the N collections of the previous version". Sites with plugin auto-updates switched on should check the Plugins screen after the update.

What the takeover does, once per site (option wphub_collections_legacy_done):

• Copies the 2.x conditions of every product category (term meta _wxp_term_condition) to _wphub_collections_rules, unless the category already has 3.x conditions. Conditions on values that are not offered any more (a deactivated add-on's product type, a deleted attribute) are copied too.
• Marks the products that are in those categories as "added by the conditions", because version 2.x decided all of them. This only matters if you later choose "Remove it only if the conditions added it".
• Copies an activated licence (_wxp-woo-collections_licence_key and its status) to _wphub-collections_licence_key if version 3 has none yet.
• Removes the 2.x scheduled actions (wxp_col_queue, wxp_col_queue_batch) and its temporary options and transients. The 2.x conditions themselves stay for the old uninstall routine.

Version 2.x always removed products that did not match. Version 3 does the same by default ("Remove it, also when it was added by hand"), so nothing changes until you choose another setting. Code that used the 2.x hooks keeps working; see Hooks of version 2.x. If both versions are loaded in one request (2.x reactivated by hand), version 3 stops the hooks of 2.x and deactivates it on the next admin page.

Multisite

Conditions are term meta and settings are options, so each site has its own collections, settings, log and scheduled actions. Network activation takes over the 2.x data on every site at once. A 2.x copy that is active for the whole network is only deactivated network-wide when version 3 is network-active too; otherwise a notice asks you to deactivate it once every site uses version 3. Deleting the plugin cleans every site (see What deactivation and uninstall remove).

Deactivating and deleting

Deactivating removes the plugin's scheduled actions (on every site when it was network-active). Conditions, settings and the log stay, products keep their categories, and nothing is checked until you activate the plugin again. Deleting the plugin keeps the conditions unless "When the plugin is deleted: also delete the conditions of all collections and these settings" is ticked. Categories, tags and the products in them are never deleted.

4. Quick start

1. Open Products → Categories, enter a name such as "Summer Sale" and scroll to Collection conditions. To turn an existing category into a collection, click its name instead.
2. Under Products must match, choose All conditions (the default) or Any condition.
3. Set the first condition: a field such as Tag, an operator such as "is equal to" and a value such as summer. Click Add another condition for more, for example On sale is equal to Yes.
4. Under When a product in this category does not match, keep the store default or choose another setting. The notice below the list explains it.
5. Click Preview matching products to see how many products match.
6. Click Add new category, or Update on the edit screen. If products would be removed, the plugin lists them first.

Products are assigned at once when they change and all existing products are checked in the background; the blue panel at the top of the screen shows the progress.

5. Smart collections

The Collection conditions box

The box appears on the Add and Edit screens of Products → Categories and Products → Tags for users who can manage product terms, when conditions are switched on for that type (Conditions on). On the edit screen it says how many products are in the term now, with a View products link.

• Products must match: All conditions or Any condition. A counter shows how many conditions are filled in.
• Conditions: each row has a field, an operator and a value (and an attribute for the Attribute field). Category, tag and attribute values suggest your existing names while you type (up to 500, see filters). Up to 50 rows; a value can be up to 255 characters.
• When a product in this category does not match: the store default or one of the three settings described under Products that do not match. Change the store default opens the settings tab.
• The notice below explains what the chosen setting will do and, when the term has products, how many it holds now.

Rows without a value are ignored. When some rows are filled and others are empty, the first click on Update stops with a warning; fill the rows in, delete them or click Update again. When every submitted condition is invalid (for example a number field with letters), the stored conditions are kept and a warning says so; to turn a collection back into a normal term, delete all rows on purpose and save.

Condition fields and operators

How a condition is evaluated

• "is not equal to" and "does not contain" on Category, Tag and Attribute match products that have no such term at all.
• A Category or Tag condition can name another collection. Collections are evaluated together, so a chain of collections is complete after one check, and two collections that exclude each other do not switch back and forth.
• A stored condition whose value is not offered any more (a product type of a switched-off add-on, a deleted attribute) is kept and shown as "(not available now)" or "Deleted attribute (#ID)". It matches no product until the value exists again, so the collection does not suddenly collect more products.

Products that do not match

Every collection has the setting When a product in this category does not match. The store default is set under General settings.

The plugin remembers which products the conditions added (post meta _wphub_collections_auto, one row per collection). That record is what makes the middle setting possible; it is kept up to date in every setting, so you can switch at any time.

The check before saving

When you click Update on an existing collection after changing its conditions or its setting, the plugin first checks the products that are in the term now ("Checking which products these conditions would remove… X of Y"; Save without checking skips it). If none would be removed, it saves. Otherwise it shows Some products will be removed with their names and three choices:

• Save and remove them saves as you set it.
• Keep the products added by hand (only with "Remove it, also when it was added by hand") switches the collection to "Remove it only if the conditions added it" and checks again.
• Cancel returns to the form.

The check is skipped for new terms, for "Keep it", when nothing that matters changed and when "Check before saving" is switched off. If the check cannot finish, you can Save anyway or Cancel.

Preview matching products

The button checks every product against the conditions in the form, in small steps that also work for large catalogues, without saving anything. It says how many products match with a few examples and, on the edit screen, how many would be added, removed or kept by the chosen setting. It follows the same rules as the real check, including other collections named in a condition and the language rule of Polylang.

Smart tags

Product tags get the same box on Products → Tags. A smart tag such as "Last few" (Inventory is less than 5 and Stock status is In stock) can be shown in tag clouds and filters, and category collections can use it ("Tag is equal to Last few"), or the other way round. Switch categories or tags off under Conditions on; a switched-off type keeps its conditions but is not changed any more and its box is hidden.

When products are checked

• At once: when a product is created or saved (edit screen, Quick Edit, Bulk Edit, REST API, the WooCommerce CSV importer, WP All Import, the XAdapter importer, other plugins, WP-CLI), when its stock changes, when a variation is saved, changes stock or is deleted, when its categories, tags or attributes are set by other code, and when a scheduled product is published.
• In the background: all products after you change a collection's conditions or setting, after a relevant setting changes, after a term a condition names is renamed or deleted, and periodically (every hour, twice a day, once a day or never).
• On demand: Re-check all products now in the status panel.

The background check looks at published and private products (also drafts, pending and scheduled products when that setting is on). A draft is always checked when it is saved.

What the plugin changes on a product

Only the categories and tags that have conditions. For each product the plugin works out which collections it matches (with Polylang only collections of its own language), adds the ones it matches and removes the ones it does not match, as far as each collection's setting allows. All other categories and tags stay.

• A product whose only category was the default one ("Uncategorized") loses it when it joins a category collection, unless that setting is switched off.
• A product that would be left without any category gets the default category back (of its own language with Polylang).
• Products in the Trash, auto-drafts and revisions are never changed.

Background checks and the status panel

A full check walks through the products by ID in batches (50 by default), one batch at a time, each limited to 20 seconds, with WooCommerce's Action Scheduler (group wphub-collections). Changing conditions while a check runs starts a new one, so the new conditions reach every product.

The panel at the top of the categories and tags screens and of the settings tab shows the number of smart collections, the progress of a running check ("Checking your products: X of Y done", refreshed every few seconds) or when the last full check ran and how many products it checked and updated. A check that has made no progress for 15 minutes is reported as stopped and can be started again with Re-check all products now. With "Automatic assignment" switched off the panel says that nothing is changed.

The Collection rules column

The lists on Products → Categories and Products → Tags get a Collection rules column (it can be hidden in the settings): a badge such as "2 rules (match all)" and the collection's setting (Removes non-matching, Keeps hand-added, Only adds), or a dash for a normal term.

The product edit screen

In the Product categories box, collections are marked Smart with a note that ticking or unticking them can be changed back when you save; the Product tags box lists the product's smart tags. After you save a product on its edit screen, a notice says what the conditions changed, for example "Collection conditions added it to Summer Sale." with a link to the activity log. Quick Edit and Bulk Edit show no notice; their changes are in the log. Both can be switched off in the settings.

The activity log

WooCommerce → Settings → Collections → Activity log lists every category and tag the conditions added to or removed from a product, newest first: when, the product, the change, why and the trigger. The last 500 changes are kept, 50 per page, and Clear the log empties it.

Triggers: Product saved (in the admin, by Quick or Bulk Edit, the REST API, or by WooCommerce itself, for example when an order changes the stock), Background check, Stock changed (stock set without a product save), Variation changed, Categories or tags set by other code, Import, Scheduled product published.

Polylang

Add the conditions on the term of each language; the values are names in that language (the French category "Chaussures" uses French tag names). A collection only collects products of its own language, and a product only joins collections of its own language. A product that loses its last category gets the default category of its own language. The preview and the check before saving follow the same rule.

Renaming and deleting terms

Renaming a category, tag or attribute term updates the "is equal to" and "is not equal to" conditions that name it; conditions such as "contains" are not rewritten. Deleting a term re-checks the products. Both start a full check.

Who can do what

Conditions are saved only from the plugin's own form with its nonce, so forms of other plugins cannot change them by accident.

6. Settings

All settings are on WooCommerce → Settings → Collections, in three sections. They are WooCommerce options named wphub_collections_<key>.

General

Saving a setting that changes which products belong where (pause, categories/tags, store default, default category, drafts) starts a full check.

Background checks

Activity log

The third section shows the log described under The activity log, with paging and Clear the log.

Limits that code can change

7. Developer reference

Filters

// Never remove products from the "Sale" category, whatever its setting says.
add_filter( 'wphub_collections_mode', function ( $mode, $stored, $term_id ) {
	return 42 === (int) $term_id ? 'add_only' : $mode;
}, 10, 3 );

Actions

Hooks of version 2.x

They still work and are reported as deprecated (once per request) when something uses them: merge_collection_categories (true = every collection only adds; use wphub_collections_mode), wxp_collection_product_categories, wxp_collection_batch_size, wxp_collection_batch_seconds, wxp_collection_queue_interval, wxp_collection_product_updated (with category IDs only) and wxp_collection_pass_completed.

AJAX and admin-post actions

The conditions are posted with the term form (fields wphub-collections-field[], -operator[], -value[], -attribute[], the match and mode fields) and saved on created_term / edited_term only when the form carries wphub-collections-data and the nonce wphub_collections_nonce (action wphub_collections_rules).

Term meta and post meta

Options, transients and scheduled actions

• Settings: wphub_collections_enabled, _on_categories, _on_tags, _default_mode, _drop_default_cat, _confirm_removals, _rules_column, _product_screen, _log_enabled, _delete_data, _schedule, _batch_size, _include_drafts.
• State: wphub_collections_job (the running or last full check), wphub_collections_lock (one batch at a time; a lock older than two minutes is taken over), wphub_collections_log, wphub_collections_version, wphub_collections_legacy_done, wphub_collections_legacy_copied.
• Licence: _wphub-collections_licence_key, _wphub-collections_key_status; the shared update cache wpxh_licence_check_v2 (site transient).
• Transients: wphub_collections_rules_cache (all conditions, 12 hours, cleared on every change), wphub_collections_schedule_checked, wphub_collections_legacy_notice, wphub_collections_notice_<user ID> and wphub_collections_product_notice_<user ID> (messages after saving, 5 and 10 minutes).
• Action Scheduler, group wphub-collections: wphub_collections_check (recurring full check) and wphub_collections_batch (one batch, argument = the run ID). Without Action Scheduler a batch runs as the WP-Cron event wphub_collections_batch.

WordPress and WooCommerce hooks used

Products: woocommerce_new_product, woocommerce_update_product, woocommerce_new_product_variation, woocommerce_update_product_variation, woocommerce_before_delete_product_variation, woocommerce_product_set_stock, woocommerce_variation_set_stock, woocommerce_before_product_object_save / woocommerce_after_product_object_save, set_object_terms, future_to_publish, pmxi_saved_post (WP All Import), xadapter_product_imported, shutdown. Terms: created_term, edited_term, edit_terms, delete_term, manage_edit-{taxonomy}_columns. Admin: woocommerce_get_settings_pages, admin_enqueue_scripts (handles wphub-collections-admin and wphub-collections-product), admin_notices, admin_init. Compatibility is declared on before_woocommerce_init.

File layout

wphub-collections/
  wphub-collections.php                     engine: conditions, assignment, background checks, log, upgrade
  classes/class-wphub-collections-admin.php      conditions box, preview, notices, rules column, product screen
  classes/class-wphub-collections-settings.php   WooCommerce → Settings → Collections
  classes/class-wphub-collections-migration.php  takeover of version 2.x
  view/  add.php  edit.php  builder.php  row.php
  assets/js/admin.js  assets/js/product.js  assets/css/admin.css
  licence/class-wpxh-licence-client.php
  languages/wphub-collections.pot
  uninstall.php  readme.txt

Constants: WPHUB_COLLECTIONS_VERSION, WPHUB_COLLECTIONS_FILE. Main object: wphub_collections() (class WPHub_Collections).

8. Privacy

What is stored

Conditions and settings, which products the conditions added, and the activity log (time, product ID and name, term, change, reason, trigger). No customer data and no data about the admin who made a change; the short messages after saving are stored per user ID for a few minutes. Nothing is shown on the shop front.

Data sent to wpexpertshub.com

Only the licence and update client contacts wpexpertshub.com: your licence key, the site address and the plugin version, when you activate or deactivate a licence and when WordPress checks for updates (cached for 12 hours). No product or customer data leaves your site.

What deactivation and uninstall remove

• Deactivation: the scheduled actions. Everything else stays.
• Uninstall (delete), always: the scheduled actions, the job state and lock, and the temporary transients, on every site of a network.
• Uninstall with "When the plugin is deleted: also delete…" ticked: also every wphub_collections_* option (settings, log, version), the licence options, the conditions and settings of all collections (also the conditions of version 2.x) and the "added by the conditions" marks.
• Never: categories, tags, products or their assignments.

9. Troubleshooting

• After updating from 2.x the plugin is switched off and WordPress says "Plugin file does not exist": expected after "Update now" on version 2.x. Go to Plugins and click Activate under Collection for WooCommerce; see Updating from version 2.x.
• A product did not join a collection: look at the Collection rules column (a dash means no valid condition) and at the activity log. Common causes: an empty value, an Attribute condition without an attribute, All conditions with one that cannot match, a name that differs from the typed value, an Inventory condition on a product that does not manage stock, another Polylang language, a draft (see Draft products), or Automatic assignment switched off. Use Preview matching products, then Re-check all products now.
• A category I ticked by hand disappeared from a product: the category is a collection set to "Remove it, also when it was added by hand" and the product does not match. Choose "Remove it only if the conditions added it", or remove the conditions.
• Products never leave a collection: its setting is "Keep it", the store default is, or a filter on wphub_collections_mode (or the 2.x merge_collection_categories) returns add_only.
• The Collection conditions box is missing: conditions are switched off for that type in the settings, WooCommerce is not active, or your user cannot manage product terms.
• The panel says "Checking your products" for a long time: open Tools → Scheduled Actions and look for pending wphub_collections_batch actions. If they stay pending, WP-Cron or Action Scheduler is not running on the site. After 15 minutes without progress the panel offers Re-check all products now again.
• The preview shows another number than the collection ends up with: a product changed in between, or the collection's setting keeps products that do not match; the preview counts them as kept.

10. FAQ

11. Changelog

3.0.0 (13 October 2026)

• New: plugin folder, text domain and code renamed to wphub-collections. Version 3 takes over the conditions, licence and settings of version 2.x, deactivates the old plugin and says it can be deleted; after an "Update now" of version 2.x the takeover happens when you activate version 3. The old hooks keep working (deprecated).
• New: per collection, "When a product does not match": remove it, remove it only if the conditions added it, or keep it. The plugin remembers which products the conditions added.
• New: a notice next to the conditions, and the check before saving with Save and remove them / Keep the products added by hand / Cancel.
• New: smart tags.
• New: WooCommerce → Settings → Collections (pause, categories/tags, store default, Uncategorized, check before saving, rules column, product screen, log, schedule, batch size, drafts, data on uninstall).
• New: activity log; Smart marks and a notice on the product edit screen.
• Fix: the preview ignored other collections named in a condition and the Polylang language rule; Inventory used stock numbers while stock management was off store-wide; conditions on unavailable values were dropped (the collection widened); conditions saved during a running check could be overwritten; saving only invalid conditions removed all conditions; a stopped check could not be restarted; scheduled products published by WP-Cron were checked late; saving needs the plugin's own nonce.
• Tweak: uninstall keeps the conditions unless you choose otherwise; the licence client loads only in the admin, cron and WP-CLI; tested with WordPress 7.1 and WooCommerce 11.2.

2.5.0 (6 October 2026)

• Polylang fixes (rules cache, rules applied to every language, default category of the language), Inventory without stock management, chains of collections, a more robust background check, validation of values, renamed and deleted terms, terms set by other code, new fields (short description, SKU, price, on sale, stock status, product type), Preview matching products and the status panel.

2.4.0 (27 September 2026)

• New licence client; "contains" conditions, manual categories, Quick Edit and stock changes fixed; renamed to Collection for WooCommerce.

12. Support

Email support@wpexpertshub.com. Please include:

• Your order ID.
• The plugin version (this page describes 3.0.0), your WordPress, WooCommerce and PHP versions, and your Polylang version if you use it.
• The collection's conditions and setting (a screenshot of the Collection conditions box helps) and the name of a product that does not behave as expected.
• The matching lines of the activity log and the text of the status panel.

More plugins and documentation are at wpexpertshub.com.