How to Export Products from WooCommerce?

Products are the key components of a WooCommerce store. They must be imported, exported, and updated regularly to ensure the smooth flow of your business. This article will guide you through exporting products from your WooCommerce store using two methods: WooCommerce built-in export feature and third-party plugins.

If you have a WooCommerce store, how will you deal with the challenge of exporting products? This is especially true if your store has a huge product catalog running hundreds or thousands. In such scenarios, exporting could become daunting, taking up immense time and resources.

So, does WooCommerce have a default export feature? Or do you need plugins to do these? If so, what’s the best plugin to do it? If you have been wondering about these questions, you are in the right place. This article will dive into how you can export products from WooCommerce using its inbuilt export tool and through export plugins.

So, let’s get straight into it.

You can use the default WooCommerce functionality to export products from one site and import them into another. For this,

Step 1: Select Export from the Products Option

• Go to the Products menu from your WordPress admin dashboard.
• From here, click the Export button.

The following window appears after that.

Let’s take a look at the functions of each of these options:

• Which columns should be exported – Here, you can choose specific columns to be exported, such as ID, Type, SKU, Name, etc, associated with the products. To export all columns, you can leave the field empty.
• Which product types should be exported – This field allows you to export products belonging to a specific product type only, such as simple products, grouped products, external products, and variable products. Alternatively, you can leave the field empty to export products of all types.
• Which product category should be exported? – This field allows you to export products by category. If you leave it empty, you will export all product categories.
• Export custom meta – This check box exports custom meta, i.e., additional product data added by third-party plugins or via coding.

Step 2: Configure Export Fields

To configure the fields, click on the field and select from the dropdown.

For example, here is how the fields will be configured if you export products belonging to simple and grouped product types that come under the ‘clothing & accessories’ category.

Once you configure it as per your preference, you can click the Generate CSV button to export the CSV file containing the product data.

Although WooCommerce’s export feature makes it relatively easy to export products, it has a few limitations that make it suitable only for basic export purposes.

If your store has an extensive catalog of products, this feature is simply not preferred, and it is generally incapable of handling exports. Besides, there are no advanced options like column filtering, export scheduling, bulk exports, etc., which gives you even less degree of control over the export process.

To resolve this, you can rely on specialized data migration plugins, such as the Product Import Export for WooCommerce plugin, which is well-suited for product exports.

Now, let’s find out how to do it using this plugin.

Now, let’s look at the steps involved in exporting products from WooCommerce using this free plugin. The exported product data can be obtained in a CSV file.

Step 1: Install & Active Product Import Export for WooCommerce Plugin

From your WordPress dashboard,

• Navigate to Plugins > Add New Plugin
• Search for ‘Product Import Export for WooCommerce’ in the search box.
• Install and Activate the plugin.

Step 2: Select Product as Post Type to Export

Once the plugin is installed and activated,

• Go to WebToffee Import Export (Basic) > Export.
• Select Product as the post type.

Proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Select Advanced Export Method

• You may choose the Advanced export option from here to make the most out of the plugin through advanced filtering and column selection options.

Proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Filter Product Data for Export

Sometimes, you don’t want to export all the products in your store. This step allows you to export a selected list of products.

Choose to exclude certain products from the export by defining the criteria fields.

Step 5: Map and Reorder Product Export Columns

Here, you can control what product data needs to be exported and what does not, name the CSV headers, and organize product columns within the output CSV file by simply using drag-and-drop actions.

Step 6: Set Up Advanced Export/Batch Export

In this final step, you can configure the batch export count, i.e., the number of products the server will process for every iteration within the timeout interval.

If you know your server capacity, you can adjust this number accordingly. But if you are unsure, you can go with the default value.

• Set the delimiter for separating columns in the CSV file, such as commas, semicolons, tabs, etc.
• Then, click the Export button to export products.

All your product data will be exported into a CSV file. A pop-up will appear with a Download file button, allowing you to save the file to your computer easily.

A premium version of this WooCommerce product import-export plugin is available. This version offers advanced features like automated exports or exporting product variations, subscriptions, custom fields, and more.

The WooCommerce Product Import Export plugin is highly rated and widely used for migrating WooCommerce store products and related data from one store to another. It is recommended if you have a larger WooCommerce store with a huge volume of products and want more control over the import process.

• Import and export hundreds of thousands of products swiftly
• Export multiple product types: simple, variable, grouped, affiliate, custom
• Supports various file formats: CSV, XML, TSV, and Excel
• Export product images, categories, tags, reviews
• Custom export specific products with filtering with advanced filtering
• Schedule export of WooCommerce products using FTP/SFTP

Every WooCommerce store will need to export products from its store at various points. When the need arises, you should have an easy and proper way to do this.

This article has introduced you to exporting products with and without a plugin. We recommend using the plugin for handling your store’s data exports, considering the high level of flexibility and customization it offers and the ease of use it brings to the export process.