How-tos, WooCommerce Advanced Bulk Edit

How to Filter WooCommerce Products by Custom Taxonomies in WCABE

Posted on by Yas G

WooCommerce is flexible enough to handle almost any product structure — but once your store grows, managing products efficiently becomes a challenge. This is where custom taxonomies and bulk editing become essential.

Custom taxonomies are commonly used for things like brands, product series, suppliers, materials, collections, or any custom classification your store needs beyond standard categories and tags.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to filter WooCommerce products by custom taxonomies and bulk edit them using WooCommerce Advanced Bulk Edit (WCABE) — step by step.

 

What Are Custom Taxonomies in WooCommerce?

By default, WooCommerce provides:

  • Product Categories

  • Product Tags

However, many stores require additional classification layers. Custom taxonomies allow developers and plugins to create new ways to group products, such as:

  • Brand (Nike, Adidas, Puma)

  • Supplier or Vendor

  • Season or Collection

  • Compatibility (e.g. device models)

  • Custom attributes stored as taxonomies

While WooCommerce supports custom taxonomies natively, filtering and bulk editing products by them is not available out of the box. This is exactly the gap WCABE fills.

 

Why Filtering by Custom Taxonomies Matters

Without proper filtering, bulk editing WooCommerce products becomes slow and error-prone and:

  • You must manually edit products one by one

  • Bulk actions become risky or impossible

  • Large catalogs are hard to manage

With a WooCommerce custom taxonomy filter, you can:

  • Load only the products you need

  • Apply changes safely in bulk

  • Save hours of repetitive work

WCABE makes this process fast, visual, and reliable.

 

Step 1: Import the Custom Taxonomy into WCABE

Before you can filter or bulk edit a custom taxonomy, WCABE needs to detect and import it.

How to Import a Custom Taxonomy

  1. Go to Products → WooCommerce Advanced Bulk Edit

  2. Click Find Custom / Meta Fields

  3. Wait for the scan to complete

  4. Look for your custom taxonomy in the list

What Does a Custom Taxonomy Look Like?

Custom taxonomies usually appear with names like:

  • pa_brand

  • product_brand

  • supplier

  • custom_collection

Once you find the correct taxonomy:

  • Select it

  • Import it into WCABE

 

WCABE Import Custom Taxonomy Flow

After importing, the taxonomy will appear as a column in the data grid, allowing you to view and edit its values:

WCABE Bulk Editing Brand Custom Taxonomy

 

📌 If you’re unsure which taxonomy is correct, check how it’s registered in your theme or plugin.

Step 2: Enable the Custom Taxonomy as a Filter

This step is often missed.

Seeing the taxonomy in the grid does not automatically make it available as a filter.

Enable the Filter Field

  1. Open Plugin Options

  2. Go to the Search Fields tab

  3. Find your imported custom taxonomy

  4. Enable it

  5. Save the settings

 

WCABE Enable Custom Taxonomy Filter

Once enabled, the taxonomy becomes available in the Filter Products panel before clicking Get Products:

WCABE Custom Taxonomy Filter Display

This step is required for woocommerce custom taxonomy filter functionality to work correctly.

 

Step 3: Filter Products by Custom Taxonomy

Now you’re ready to filter products.

  1. Open WCABE

  2. Use the Filter Products section

  3. Select your custom taxonomy

  4. Choose one or more terms

  5. Click Get Products

Only products matching the selected taxonomy terms will be loaded into the grid.

This makes bulk edit WooCommerce custom taxonomy operations safe and precise.

 

Step 4: Bulk Edit Products Using the Custom Taxonomy

Once products are filtered, you can:

  • Change prices

  • Update stock values

  • Modify other taxonomies

  • Edit custom fields

  • Apply conditional bulk actions

WCABE treats custom taxonomies the same way as standard ones, ensuring consistent behavior across your store.

 

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

The custom taxonomy appears in the grid but not in filters

Make sure it is enabled in:
Plugin Options → Search Fields

The taxonomy does not appear in “Find Custom / Meta Fields”

Check that the taxonomy:

  • Is registered for the product post type

  • Is not hidden (public and show_ui should be enabled)

Filters return no products

Confirm that products actually have terms assigned in that taxonomy.

 

Why Use WCABE for Custom Taxonomy Bulk Editing?

WCABE is built for large WooCommerce catalogs and advanced store setups. It allows you to:

  • Filter products with precision

  • Avoid loading unnecessary products

  • Perform safe bulk edits with full control

👉 Learn more about WooCommerce Advanced Bulk Edit and its features.

 

Final Thoughts

If your store relies on custom taxonomies, managing them manually is not scalable. With WCABE, filtering and bulk editing WooCommerce products by custom taxonomies becomes fast, reliable, and intuitive.

Need help?
Contact our support team or check out more WCABE tutorials to get the most out of your workflow.

Happy bulk editing 🚀

Yas G