Do you need to create a WooCommerce grid / list view for your store? Keep reading to learn how to use the bestselling WooCommerce Product Table plugin to let customers choose between a grid or list view of your products. This can make your store more user-friendly and improve your conversion rate.
I’ll also provide full step-by-step instructions on how to create your very own WooCommerce grid/list view toggle.
Why do I need a WooCommerce grid/list view plugin?
When you create a fresh WordPress/WooCommerce install and add a theme, your store will come with some fairly standard built-in layouts. Your products will be listed in a default grid layout with approx. 3 products on each row, large product images, and some basic data such as name and price. There will be an add to cart button but no extras such as quantity arrows or variation dropdowns. Each product will take up quite a bit of the page because of the large images and extra space between each row.
Some types of product lend themselves perfect to this default grid layout. However, others don’t sell well in this way.
When you set up WooCommerce, it’s important to think about the best way to present the types of products you’re actually selling. Don’t just stick with the grid that comes with your WordPress theme.
Many types of products sell better when listed in a tabular WooCommerce list view. The data is listed in a much more structured way, with each product on its own row of table, and multiple columns of information about each product.
Other products work well in either format, but it's nice to give customers a choice of how to view products.
Keep reading to learn how to display products in a table-based list format; and also how to add a grid/list view toggle so that customers can switch between the two views.
While you’re reading this, I expect that you’ve already started thinking of ways a WooCommerce grid or list view can boost your sales. Here are some of the main reasons:
More products per page
A WooCommerce list view plugin lists products in a way that takes up significantly less space per product. This means that customers can see more products at a time. They don’t have to scroll as much or click to multiple pages. This helps them to find and buy products more quickly, boosting your conversion rate.
More product data directly in the list view
When you discover that a list view plugin uses less space per product, you might assume that it contains less information about each product. Surprisingly, the opposite is actually true!
By listing products in a space-saving table, each product takes up a small amount of space. But the extra columns let you display extra product data, all within the table view.
You can see how this works in the screenshots below. As you can see, the default store layout displays just 3 products in the same space as the WooCommerce list view shows 6! Yet the table layout contains columns for extra data, quantity and variation options which aren’t available in the basic layout. It’s a win-win, for both you and your customers!
Left: Grid view. Right: List view.
Order form functionality
When you use WooCommerce Product Table to create a list view, you can just list products with links to the single product page. If you prefer, you can even disable the links and use it to create a read-only product catalog.
But for many stores, the best way to grow your sales is to use the product list view to use it as a one-page WooCommerce order form. An order form layout puts ALL the information that customers need to buy on a single page. There are extra columns of information to allow customers to make buying decisions. And once they’ve chosen, they can quickly select the products they require, choose variation options and quantities, and add them to the cart.
By adding these extra purchasing elements, you can transform a basic product list view into a fully functional WooCommerce order form. The entire ordering process is kept on a single page, which significantly speeds up the buying process. And research shows that the quicker the buying process, the more sales you’ll get!
What types of products sell better in a list or grid layout?
Like I said, some products sell best in a list view, while others benefit from having a grid view too. You need to think about the types of products on your store. Decide which layout will best boost your sales - or whether it's best to let customers toggle between a grid/list view.
Here are some examples of products that work well when listed in a WooCommerce table view:
Non-visual products such as car parts - Lots of WooCommerce stores sell products where data is more important than what the product looks like. If you’re selling something like car parts where looks aren’t important, then it’s much better to list products in a compact list view. Sure, you might have a small thumbnail image of each product (although this isn’t essential). But you shouldn’t use the huge images that come with the standard grid layout.
Industry-specific products such as restaurant foods - Some types of product sell best when displayed in a specific way, based on customer expectations. For example, a restaurant online ordering system is most effective when the foods are presented in a way that mimics the layout of a printed restaurant menu. The best way to achieve this is via a web page with separate product tables for starters, main courses and desserts, with quick tick boxes for customers to select foods and order online.
All wholesale products - If you’re building a WooCommerce wholesale store, then a product list view will nearly always be better than the standard layout. That’s because by definition, wholesale users are regular customers and are already familiar with your products. They don’t need a grid of large pictures to help them make buying decisions. Instead, they need factual information and a fast buying process. A WooCommerce wholesale order form listing your products is exactly what trade users need.
What products aren't suited to a WooCommerce grid/list view plugin?
I would say that clothes and furniture are examples of products that aren't suited to a WooCommerce grid/list plugin. For something like clothes or furniture, customers need to see big images of each product. After all, they’re buying based on what the product looks like!
Are your products similar to the examples listed above, where space and factual information are the priority. Or are they more like clothes or furniture, where large images are what matters?
Perhaps you have some products that you’d like to list in a tabular grid layout, and others where you’d prefer the built-in store layouts. Maybe you want to let customers choose between a grid/list view of your products. That’s absolutely fine, as you can use both in different parts of your store - or on the same page, with an option to toggle between the grid/list.
Keep reading to learn how to set up either option.
How to create a WooCommerce list view
By now, you should have decided whether your products will sell well in a table-based list view - either as the only way to present your products, or with a toggle to switch between the grid/list layout. Next, I’ll tell you how to use the WooCommerce Product Table plugin to create a list view for some or all of your products. After that, you'll learn how to let customers choose between both layouts.
Next, go to Products → Product Tables. Add your license key (you’ll find this in your confirmation email).
Go through all the options and choose how to set up the table:
The first page of the table builder will let you choose where to display the product table. Either choose for it to appear on your main shop, category pages, or choose to insert it manually onto another page.
You can either list all products in the table, or select specific products/categories/etc.
You can also choose which columns of data to include in the product grid view, add filters above the table, etc.
The final step of the table builder will provide a shortcode for inserting it. Ignore this if you're using the Gutenberg block editor.
Next, create a new page where you want to display products in a WooCommerce list view.
Either paste the shortcode that you copied above, or insert a 'Product Table' Gutenberg block and select your table.
Finally, publish and view the page.
You’ll see your products beautifully displayed in a WooCommerce product list view with the options you selected on the plugin settings page. Read through the full list of product table options and tweak them until you’re completely happy.
Can I import products to the list view?
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to list your existing WooCommerce products in a grid/list view. The neat thing is that WooCommerce Product Table takes the products already in the WordPress database and instantly lists them in a table layout. No extra data entry required.
This means that if you haven’t already added your products, you can import them using the built-in WordPress/WooCommerce importer or any CSV import plugin. This is a handy way to bulk import products to your site.
Let customers toggle between the grid/list view
So far, we've looked at how to replace the standard grid layout with a product list view.
If you'd rather let customers toggle between the product grid/list view, then that's fine. Simply follow the instructions in this knowledge base article to add these links to your shop and category pages.
Add quick view to the grid/list of WooCommerce products
Sometimes, you'll find that you want to show extra information about each product but don't want to take shoppers away from the grid/list view. You might also have too many variations to list directly in the grid of products. This is a valid concern, because customers will buy more from you if they remain on the list of products and don't get lost on individual product pages.
The solution is to use WooCommerce Product Table with WooCommerce Quick View Pro. This adds user-friendly 'quick view' buttons to the list of products, or to the default product grid. Customers can click on these to view extra product images, more information and even choose variations and add to the cart from a quick view lightbox.
It's the perfect compromise because you can show information that wouldn't fit in the product table; without taking customers to a separate page.
Where to get the plugin
A WooCommerce grid/list view plugin like WooCommerce Product Table isn’t for everyone. Consider the type of products in your store, and whether displaying them in this layout will improve customer experience.
For less visual products, listing items in a compact table layout with extra information can make a huge difference to sales. Get the plugin, follow the instructions to set it up, and improve your store layouts today.
Looking for a WooCommerce private category plugin to make one or more categories at your WooCommerce store private?
While WooCommerce includes built-in functionality to make a single product private, it's not really suited for making an entire category of products private because:
It's time-consuming.
It greatly complicates managing your private products later on.
To save a lot of time and give you more flexibility, you can use a WooCommerce private category plugin like WooCommerce Protected Categories.
With this plugin, only users with certain user roles (that you can choose) will be able to see the product categories that you mark as private - or the products within them.
How does this WooCommerce private category plugin work?
Only logged in users with a certain role can see the private WooCommerce category or its products.
The private category and its products will be hidden from everyone else - including on your shop page, category pages, archive pages, search results, navigation menus, and widgets. (There's also a setting to show protected categories and products in public areas, if you prefer.)
You can choose which user roles have access to the private category. For example, you might want to make the private categories available to all logged in users, or a specific role such as 'wholesale'.
All the products in that category are also private.
Any subcategories are also private.
Below, you'll learn how to use this WooCommerce private category plugin.
To do that, go to Products → Categories to view a list of all your WooCommerce product categories.
Edit an existing category or create a new category that you want to make private.
Whether you're creating a new category or editing an existing one, you should see a new Visibility option near the bottom of the page.
There are a few options here:
Protected - Tick this to see a choice of 3 options below:
Password protected - Make the category private so that only people with a correct password can unlock it. Enter 1 or more passwords.
User roles - Make the category private so that only certain logged in WordPress user roles can see it. Select the user roles here. You can easily create extra user roles (e.g. 'Wholesale') with the free User Role Editor plugin.
Users - You can also make WooCommerce categories private to individual users, and hidden from everyone else.
Private - This is another way to create a private WooCommerce category. It uses the 'Private' posts feature built into WordPress itself, which restricts content to specific user roles (normally administrators and store managers). Use the private categories option if you already use private posts/pages/products elsewhere on your site. But for most people, the various 'Protected' options are best because they give you more fine-grained control.
At this point, your category and all its products are private. But you still will likely want to perform a few additional steps to configure how that privacy actually functions.
To configure the plugin's general settings, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Protected categories.
There are lots of options here for how your private WooCommerce categories will behave. For example, this is where you customize the login page and choose what happens when a logged out user tries to access a protected category. You should also use these options to choose whether or not to show private content in the public parts of your store.
You can also choose whether not to add a 'Protected' or 'Private' prefix to the category page. Here's an example of the WooCommerce private category prefix setting:
Can I put a product in a public category and a private category?
Each product can only be in a private WooCommerce category OR a public category - not both.
If you want to put the same product in a public and private category (for example, to charge different prices to different users role) then you can easily clone WooCommerce products using the free Duplicate Post plugin. Just bear in mind that when someone accesses a private category, they can still see all your public products.
(If you're cloning products and want to manage inventory across each version of the product then we recommend the Group Stock Manager plugin. This lets you share stock levels across multiple products.)
Can I create different private categories for different users?
Yes! You can either do this by creating a separate WooCommerce password protected category for each person; a separate category for each user role; or a unique category for each user. You can create as many protected WooCommerce categories as you like, each with different protection options. You can then give a password to everyone who needs access to them. This is a good way to create customer-specific products.
Please note that the 'Private' categories option doesn't let you create user-specific products, as they're visible all logged in users with access to private content. Use one of the three 'Protected' options instead.
Save time with a WooCommerce private category plugin
By using a WooCommerce private category plugin, you can easily make multiple products private and control exactly who has access to them.
Have any other questions about how this WooCommerce private category plugin works? Just leave a comment and we'll try to help you make your decision!
WooCommerce is a fantastic plugin for selling any type of product online. There are also lots of great WordPress pricing table plugins, ideal for creating tables listing your prices.
Unfortunately, there aren't many WooCommerce Pricing Table plugins that automatically create price tables for your products or variations. Most WooCommerce stores end up installing a generic WordPress pricing table plugin and manually entering the prices. That's crazy because your product prices are already stored in the WordPress database!
Today, I'm going to tell you about two different types of WooCommerce pricing table plugin. They both work by creating automatic pricing tables for your products or variations. No more manual data entry!
Plugin 1: WooCommerce Product TableWooCommerce Product Table creates a pricing table of several or all of your products. You can show as many columns of information as you like, including a price column, product images, and optional add to cart column.
Plugin 2: Bulk VariationsWooCommerce Bulk Variations creates a pricing table of the variations for a specific plugin. You can display the variations as a price matrix with prices and no add to cart buttons; or you can include quantity fields and add to cart buttons.
Plugin 3: WooCommerce Discount Manager/list_heading]Discount Manager lets you create a wide range of discounts, including bulk discounts with tiered pricing tables which you can display on product pages.
Plugin 1: WooCommerce Product Table
2 - Price matrix
3 - Tiered pricing table
As you can see, all three plugins create similar-looking pricing tables. The main differences are that WooCommerce Product Table can list products or variations for multiple products together, whereas WooCommerce Bulk Variations creates a price matrix showing the variations for one product only. In contrast, WooCommerce Discount Manager displays quantity-based discounts to encourage customers to spend more.
Keep reading to learn more about each option and how to set it up.
Plugin 1: WooCommerce Product Table
Instead of creating a product list view, as many people do, we'll be using the WooCommerce Product Table plugin to create a WooCommerce price table. It's perfect for displaying the prices of multiple products at once.
Case study - Print Station's WooCommerce pricing table
Print Station specialize in printing short runs of digitally printed business cards and flyers. They created a WooCommerce pricing table powered by our WooCommerce Product Table plugin.
They’ve used our plugin to create a table of variations and prices because the total price can depend on up to five variables including quantity and paper quality. As a customer makes their selections using the dropdowns embedded into the product table, the price changes with each click.
And since changing any dropdown sees the total price change, the customer can easily play around with their order preferences and quickly find out what everything's going to cost.
Read on to find out how you can add a pricing table powered by the WooCommerce Product Table plugin.
Example: WooCommerce pricing table for an online print shop
To show you how to do it, I'm going to create a WooCommerce pricing table for an imaginary online print shop.
Since digital printing became a thing, lots of companies have sprung up selling online printing services. Nearly all digital printing websites provide price lists showing the pricing for each quantity option. For example, an e-commerce site that prints flyers will have a fixed price for print quantities of 100, 250, 500, and so on. You might have different prices for multiple combinations of options - such as size options as well as quantity.
A print shop will add their products and any variations so that people can buy online. They also need a pricing table listing the price options, with buy buttons so that people can order the printed materials.
3 ways to create a WooCommerce price table with product tables
Option 1 - Display each product on its own row in the table, with a single price for the entire product
The standard usage of WooCommerce Product Table is to list each product as a separate row, with a price column. This is a good way to create a WooCommerce price list of simple products, without variations.
The benefit of this option is that as well as the price and add to cart button, you can include extra information about each product. The prices in the 'Price' column are generated automatically based on the main WooCommerce price for each product.
Option 2 - List each price option as a separate row in the table
If you're using variable products, then you might want to list all the variation options to be visible in the WooCommerce pricing table at the same time. To do this, you can use the plugin to create a table of variations and prices.
With this option, the prices shown in the 'Price' column are displayed automatically. It shows the correct price for each variation in the product pricing table.
With this type of WooCommerce product pricing table, each variation is listed individually. The correct price for that variation appears in the add to cart column.
As with Option 1, you have full control over what data to include in the pricing table. You can show or hide columns as needed. In the above screenshot, I've removed the image column because each variation option looks the same. However, you can include an image column with individual variations if you like.
Option 3 - List each product on a single row in the pricing table, with WooCommerce variation dropdowns for each price option
Finally, you can list product variations as WooCommerce variation dropdowns in the pricing table. Each product has its own row, and the variations appear as options in the add to cart column.
As with the other options mentioned above, you can choose whether or not to include a quantity picker so that customers can choose the quantity before adding to the cart. You can also choose which columns to include in the pricing table.
How to add prices with this option
Unlike options 1 and 2, this option has a bit of manual data entry if you want to display it like the above screenshot. For this example, I added the columns showing the price for each quantity as custom fields. I then displayed each price option as a separate pricing table column.
I like this method because you can list all the prices directly in the table, while still having variation dropdowns. The downside is that you have to add the prices to the custom fields manually - you'd need to do some extra coding to automatically populate these based on the variation values. All the other data in the WooCommerce pricing table - i.e. the product image, name, variation dropdowns, quantity picker and add to cart button - are added dynamically.
If you don't want to do ANY data entry, then is an alternative way to display prices with this option. Simply include a 'price' column in the product table, and this will show the price range for all the product's variations. For example, if the cheapest variation costs $10 and the most expensive costs $100 then the Price column will say '$10 - $100' for that product. When a customer chooses a variation from the pricing table dropdown, the actual price will appear underneath. Like this:
As you can see, setting up the product pricing table like this leaves more room for extra columns, too.
Can I create a WooCommerce pricing table without add to cart buttons?
Yes. The plugin can dynamically list product prices in a pricing table without providing the ability to buy now. Simply remove the add to cart column from the price table.
This will work with Options 1 and 2. It won't work for Option 3 because the variation dropdowns can only appear within the add to cart column.
Plugin 2: WooCommerce Bulk Variations
Unlike WooCommerce Product Table, the Bulk Variations plugin creates a pricing table for one product at a time. It's super-simple to use, and you can enable it for any or all of your variable products. If you don't want to show pricing tables on the single product page, then you can use a shortcode to add WooCommerce pricing tables anywhere you like.
Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Bulk variations and activate your license key. (You'll receive this in the order confirmation email.)
Also on the settings page, choose the global options for your WooCommerce pricing tables. This includes whether to show product images, and whether to include quantity boxes and add to cart buttons or just display the product pricing without purchase options.
If you haven't enabled the pricing tables globally, then you can enable them for individual variable products on the Edit Product screen. Alternatively, you can use the shortcode to add them elsewhere.
Simple!
Plugin 3: WooCommerce Discount Manager
Our final plugin is very different because unlike the others, it actually changes the prices in your WooCommerce store. Use WooCommerce Discount Manager to created a tiered pricing structure which gives a percentage or fixed discount amount based on the quantity purchased.
Once you've set up your bulk pricing, you can tick a box to dynamically display it on the front end for qualifying products.
Buy WooCommerce Discount Manager and install it in your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Marketing → Discounts and click 'Add New'.
Choose 'Bulk pricing' from the different types of discounts.
Now fill in all the information for the bulk pricing deal. This includes:
Discount name (for internal purposes only).
Which products? - Leave this set to 'All products' to apply the quantity pricing rules storewide. Alternatively, select specific products or categories for the discounts to apply to.
Calculated based on total cart contents, or individual products? - This option controls whether customers can mix and match multiple products to get the deal, or whether the qualifying quantity must be used on the same product only.
Rangetype - Choose whether to give a % or fixed amount discount in the WooCommerce pricing table.
Bulk pricing tiers - Now enter all the discount tiers that you wish to create.
Lower down the page, fill in the remaining fields:
Tick the 'Display table of pricing tiers on product page' box to display the WooCommerce pricing table on the front end of your website.
Choose whether to restrict which users and dates the discount will be active for.
You can also add some extra static content to display on the product page. This helps to promote the deal, alongside the pricing table.
Content location lets you choose where to display the pricing table and additional content.
You can also add a cart notice which will appear on the cart page, reminding customers that they have qualified for the deal.
Save your discount, visit a product page, and you'll see the WooCommerce pricing table beautifully displayed 🔥
And WooCommerce Discount Manager - Create quantity discounts and display them in a tiered pricing table to encourage customers to spend more.
Whichever plugin you choose, you can stop creating manual pricing tables listing product prices. Choose whichever plugin is best for you and set it up today.
It only takes a few minutes because the pricing tables are created automatically, using information that is already stored in the database for your WooCommerce products.
And even better? All three plugins come with full support, documentation and a 30-day money back guarantee. This means there's absolutely no risk and no way to get it wrong!
It's well documented that if you want to build a successful e-commerce business, then a recurring revenue model is the way forward. Selling WooCommerce subscription products can be much more profitable than charging for each purchase as a one-off.
After all, your marketing costs are the same whether the customer makes a one-off purchase or a regular subscription. But with an ongoing subscription, that same customer is paying you every week, month or year (depending on your billing schedule and business model) on top of sign-up fees – for no extra customer acquisition or marketing costs.
WooCommerce Subscriptions is the official extension for taking recurring payments in your WooCommerce store. It provides an easy way to create subscription products and sell them on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis. It comes with all the subscription management features you'll ever need, such as the option to add a free trial period and one-off sign-up fees on top of the regular subscription payment and subscription renewals. Your customers will be billed automatically for their regular subscription fees using your chosen payment method - whether this is PayPal, Stripe, or another payment gateway. This means you can enable automatic payments.
WooCommerce Subscriptions integrates nicely with our top selling WooCommerce Product Table and Quick View Pro WordPress plugins. Used together, your subscriptions are listed in a searchable, sortable table view with filters and quick view lightboxes
I'm going to tell you more about the benefits of using WooCommerce Product Table and Quick View to list subscription products. I'll also explain exactly how the two plugins work together and where to get them.
The downside of WooCommerce Subscriptions
I think that WooCommerce Subscriptions is a fantastic WP plugin. We've used it on lots of our clients' websites and helped them to build recurring revenue for their business. However, it does have one major problem.
The problem: You can only buy subscriptions on the single product page
The Subscriptions recurring payments plugin just lists subscription products or downloadable product in the same layout as any other WC product. The only difference is that the 'Add to Cart' button is replaced with some other text. Customers have to click through to the single product page to see information such as the product description and other useful data. That's fine for some types of subscription, but others will sell better with a different type of layout.
For example, what if you want subscribers to be able to view your subscription products alongside one another and make comparisons? Well, that's not possible with the default layouts because you have to click through to the single product page for full details.
What if you want customers to subscribe without having to visit a separate page for each product?
Solution 1: List WooCommerce subscription products with the WooCommerce Product Table plugin
WooCommerce Product Table lists each subscription product on a separate row in the table layout. Subscribers can easily view the subscription pricing, make comparisons, and add to the cart without having to click elsewhere. Every time you add a new subscription or new product, it'll automatically appear in the product table.
It's an ideal way to increase the recurring revenue from your online store.
WooCommerce Product Table has over 50 options for choosing how to list your subscription products. Here are some of the most important ones to use with WooCommerce Subscriptions:
Display add to cart buttons directly in the subscription product list. Customers can choose a quantity and buy directly from the product table view.
You can choose your columns to show extra data about each subscription directly in the table. This means that customers can choose a subscription without having to click elsewhere.
Add filter dropdown lists above the table or filter widgets in the sidebar. This lets customers quickly find a subscription product based on category, tag, attribute, and other data.
Solution 2: Sell subscriptions in a WooCommerce Quick View lightbox
Alternatively, you can sell subscriptions outside of the single product page by adding the WooCommerce Quick View Pro plugin. This adds quick view buttons for each product. Customers can use these to view extra information in a lightbox window. They use the lightbox to choose variations and add subscriptions to the cart, without having to visit a separate page.
Can I use solutions 1 and 2 together?
Absolutely!
You can use WooCommerce Product Table and Quick View Pro together. Your subscription products will be listed in a table layout, with or without add to cart buttons. The tables can also contain quick view buttons or links so that customers can also purchase subscriptions from the lightbox. It'll look just like this on the front-end:
How to list WooCommerce subscriptions in a product table
WooCommerce Subscriptions and WooCommerce Product Table work together automatically. You don't have to do any extra setup to use them together.
Simply install the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin and set up your subscription products. This is really easy - just choose 'Simple subscription' from the dropdown in the 'Product data' section when you create a product. You can then choose your subscription amount, frequency and add a free trial period and setup free if required.
Once you've done that, install WooCommerce Product Table and go to Products → Product Table to create your first product table. Make sure you include a 'Price' and 'Buy' column. This is where the subscription product information and pricing will appear.
Now view the product table page. You'll see the subscription information listed in the 'Price' column. The plugin has replaced the text in the add to cart button with the wording that you can configure on the WooCommerce Subscription plugin settings page. When a customer adds a subscription product to the cart, the recurring payment (made through PayPal, Stripe, credit card, or a different payment gateway) will be correctly passed through. The subscription information will appear in the cart, checkout and in order confirmation email notifications. Perfect!
How to use WooCommerce Subscriptions with Quick View Pro
WooCommerce Subscriptions is fully compatible with WooCommerce Quick View Pro. As a result, you can use the two plugins together and let customers buy subscriptions from the quick view lightbox.
The plugins work together with no special configuration. This means that you simply set them both up in the usual way, and the subscription options will automatically appear in the lightbox. Just make sure you enable the Add to Cart buttons on the quick view plugin settings page.
Both of these WordPress memberships plugins let you restrict access to an exclusive members-only area on your website. They work in slightly different ways, so check out this comparison to help you choose. In a nutshell, both plugins work by creating a WooCommerce product for each type of membership or subscription plan that you wish to sell. For example, if you want to sell access to 3 different areas on your website, then you would create a membership product for each one and list them individually using WooCommerce Product Table. Customers can choose the membership options they require and add them all to the cart, directly from the product table view.
Used without WooCommerce Subscriptions, WooCommerce memberships lets you take one-off payment for access to hidden content on your website. You can use it with the Subscriptions plugin to get ongoing revenue from your membership site, e.g. to take recurring annual subscription payments. This is obviously a better business model than one-off access!
Variable subscriptions
WooCommerce Product Table works perfectly with standard subscription products. It does not integrate with variable subscription products.
If you'd like to offer different options for your WooCommerce subscription products, then there are two simple workarounds:
Workaround #1 - Use WooCommerce Quick View Pro
If you're selling variable subscriptions, then you can list these successfully in a product table without an add to cart column. Instead, install the WooCommerce Quick View Pro plugin and add a quick_view column to the product table.
Customers can click on the button to select variations and buy variable subscriptions from the quick view lightbox. This makes the subscribing process incredibly easy.
Workaround #2 - Use All Products for WooCommerce Subscriptions
Alternatively, you can use the All Products for WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin to sell variations for your simple subscriptions. This allows you to sell variations directly in the add to cart column of the product table, without the problems that you get with variable subscriptions:
Set up the product as a 'Variable product', NOT a 'Variable subscription'. Add your attributes and variations in the usual way.
Install the All Products for WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on for WooCommerce Subscriptions. This handy plugin lets you add subscriptions options to normal variable products, instead of having to use the 'Variable subscriptions' product type.
Click the 'Subscriptions' tab near the bottom of the Product Data section. Set up your subscription options as required.
Your variable simple subscription product will appear in the product table. If you just offer one subscription option then this will automatically be passed to the cart when the customer selects a variation. If you offer a choice of subscription options (e.g. weekly and monthly subscriptions) then these will appear as radio buttons when the customer chooses a variation:
Where to get the subscription plugins
As you can see, WooCommerce Product Table is the perfect way to display your subscription products. Customers can quickly look through the list of subscription options and add their subscriptions straight to the cart. No need to visit the single product page!
You can get the plugins by clicking on these links:
Our WooCommerce Product Table plugin is one of the most popular order form plugins out there. Since the publication of our tutorial on how to create a WooCommerce order form, lots of people have asked us how to create a printable WooCommerce order form that their customers can fill in offline.
I was surprised when I first heard that people wanted to use the plugin in this way. After all, most WooCommerce websites take orders online! However, I fully understand that everyone uses WooCommerce differently. There are many valid reasons why you might want to list products on your website, while letting customers print the order form and fill it in with good old fashioned pen and paper. They can send it to you by post, fax - however they like.
The good news is that WooCommerce Product Table functions equally as an offline order form for printing. Keep reading to learn how to set it up in this way.
How a printable order form works in WooCommerce
With a printable order form, you set up a WordPress website and install WooCommerce as usual. Add all your products in WooCommerce.
If you're only planning to take orders offline, then you don't need to set up any shipping options, tax settings or payment gateways. You simply add the products and prices.
The WooCommerce Product Table plugin takes your products and displays them in a beautiful order form layout. Each product appears in a table view, with 1 product per row - just like a traditional order form. You can choose what data to include in the order form, such as the product image, name, short description, price, weight, dimensions, etc. You can also use custom fields and taxonomies to display extra data in the printable order form.
Customers view the order form on your website, and click a button to print it. This prints the entire web page, including all the products in the table and any other fields you've added to the page such as their name, address and payment details. Next, they simply fill in the order form on paper, and send it to you. You receive the printed order form and process is manually.
Keep reading to learn how to create a WooCommerce printable order form for your own website.
1. Install WooCommerce Product Table
To create a printable WooCommerce order form, first get WooCommerce Product Table and install it on your WordPress site.
2. Create a printable WooCommerce order form
You can launch the order form builder at Products → Product Tables. This takes you through the setup process step-by-step.
I recommend choosing the following settings to create an offline order form for printing.
Add columns to the printable order form
Add the columns that you wish to include in the order form. This might include things like the product name, short description, price, and add to cart/buy column.
Do you need a blank column for writing notes about each product? To do this, add a blank column to your product table which customers can fill in when they print it out.
To do this, simply select 'Custom field' from the list of columns and then type 'Notes' as the custom field name. This tells WooCommerce Product Table to display a custom field called 'notes' - but since this custom field doesn't exist, the column will remain blank. Simple!
If you don't want to call the column 'Notes' then replace 'notes' with anything you like - so long as it doesn't exist, then it will appear as a blank column.
Replace the add to cart buttons with checkboxes
By default, the WooCommerce order form plugin comes with an add to cart button next to each product in the table. That's fine for online ordering, but doesn't work if you're using the order form offline.
Instead, choose the 'Checkbox' box option for the add to cart buttons.
This will change the add to cart buttons to checkboxes. Each button will have a small tick box next to it. After printing the WooCommerce offline order form, customers can write a tick in the box for each product they wish to order.
Add a quantity field to the offline order form
WooCommerce Product Table comes with a quantity field that you can include in the printed order form. However, this isn't ideal because it has up/down arrows (which obviously don't function offline) and has a '1' in the box by default.
Here are some suggestions on how to add a quantity field to the WooCommerce offline order form:
You could write some CSS to hide the up/down arrows and remove the default quantity from the box.
Alternatively, you could use the WooCommerce Product Options plugin to add a text field next to the add to cart checkbox for each product. This plugin is fully integrated with WooCommerce Product Table and will automatically appear in the add to cart column. Label this field 'Quantity' and customers will write the required quantity in the box. (Tip: If you want to make the quantity box smaller, click the pencil icon for the buy column in the table and use the 'widths' option to reduce the size of the column.)
A printable order form with the quantity field added using the WooCommerce Product Options plugin
3. Hide the 'Add Selected to Cart' buttons
This is the only part of the tutorial that's slightly technical. If you're using add to cart checkboxes, then an 'Add Selected to Cart' button will appear above the table. This is ideal for online ordering, but isn't needed for a printable offline order form.
If you don't want the 'Add Selected to Cart' button, then you can hide it by adding some custom CSS to the Customizer. To get you started, here's a link to the CSS selectors in the WooCommerce Product Table developer documentation. This is a developer task and if you don't know how to do this, then we recommend posting a job on Codeable. Codeable is perfect for finding suitable people for small customizations like this.
4. Show all your products as a one-page order form
By default, the WooCommerce order form plugin shows up to 25 products per page. If you have more than 25 products, then pagination links will appear at the bottom. Customers can use these links to see the remaining products.
This arrangement doesn't make sense for a printed WooCommerce order form, because only the visible products will appear in the print-out. Instead, go to the plugin settings page (Products → Product tables → Settings). Change the 'rows per page' option to ensure that all your products are shown on a single screen.
5. Hide the order form controls
WooCommerce Product Table adds various controls above and below the WooCommerce order form. Above the product list, you'll see a search box and a dropdown where customers can choose the number of products per page. Below, the order form, you'll see pagination buttons and the total number of products. None of this makes sense for an offline order form!
Use the plugin settings page at Products → Product Tables → Settings to disable each of these options. Your printable WooCommerce order form should contain the column headers and the list of products, but nothing else.
For the same reason, make sure your page is full-width - your theme probably has a template for this. There's no need to clutter up your printed order form with extras such as filter widgets that don't work offline.
6. Add other fields to the printable WooCommerce order form
Order forms in traditional printed catalogs have fields for the customer to write their name, address and payment details. You can easily add these fields above or below the product table on your printable order form. Simply install any WordPress contact form plugin (e.g. Contact Form 7), create a form with the required fields, and add it to the order form page.
Remember to remove the Submit button, since people won't be submitting the form online.
7. Make the order form printable
People can easily print the order form by using the 'Print' option that comes with their browser. However, you can help your less technically savvy customers by adding a user-friendly 'Print' button to the printable order form page.
You can easily do this by installing the free Print, PDF, Email by PrintFriendly plugin. This simple plugin adds customizable buttons to your order form, which let your customers click to print the page in a print-friendly layout.
You can use your printable WooCommerce order form as a multi-functional form where people can order online, or print it and post it to you. If you're just using it as an offline order form, then it's worth making sure this is clear to your users.
When people see your products listed online, it needs to be clear to them that you only accept orders offline. You can easily achieve this by adding a notice to the top of the page. This should instruct customers to print the order form page, with details of how they can submit the order (e.g. by posting it to you).
Where to get the plugin
As you can see, WooCommerce Product Table is ideal for creating a printable WooCommerce order form to be used offline. Customers can see the products listed on your website and print the page. They can then tick the products they require and write the required quantity for each one. Finally, they can fill in their details, and post the order to you.
This is a brilliant way of taking manual orders with WooCommerce. I'd love to add some example use cases and case studies of how people are using WooCommerce to provide offline order forms. Please get in touch or add a comment below.
A WooCommerce variations table makes it easier for your customers to view and select variations. Discover 2 easy ways to list variations in a table or matrix layout - no coding needed!
Typically, WooCommerce stores offer limited variation dropdowns which only appear on the single product page. This is fine for many startups and basic online stores. However, listing variations as dropdowns can make you lose sales:
It's a pain for customers to have to select each variation individually and add them to the cart one at a time.
Customers can't see the price for each variation if they're hidden within dropdown lists.
Only allowing customers to add variations from the single product page adds an extra step to the journey. And everyone knows that a faster e-commerce user experience leads to better conversions.
Fortunately, there's an easy solution. Simply install a WooCommerce variations table plugin and instantly solve all of these problems.
Why a WooCommerce variations table plugin can improve your conversions
As you can see, the default WooCommerce variation dropdowns aren't ideal - especially if you sell the type of products where customers buy several variations at once.
The best WooCommerce variations table plugins make it much easier to view variations and add them to the cart. They list variations as products in a table or grid layout. Customers can see all the variations at once, and enter the quantity they require of each one. Then, they simply click 'Add to cart' to add all the selected variations together.
Customers can see all the variations and prices at once.
Each variation has its own quantity box, making it easy to enter a quantity for each one.
And even better, they can do this from the shop and category pages (or even from any page or post). There's no need to visit a separate page for each product!
Letting customers select variations on the WooCommerce shop page or category pages can really speed up the buying process. By using a WooCommerce variations table plugin to list product variations, customers can easily compare them alongside one another.
2 ways to list WooCommerce variations as products in a table
In this tutorial, I'm going to give you a choice of 2 ways to create a product variation table for WooCommerce. First, I'll tell you about them both so that you can make a decision. Then, you can skip to the setup instructions and start setting it up!
This is what the 2 types of WooCommerce variations table look like:
Vertical images
2. WooCommerce Product Table
As you can see, WooCommerce Bulk Variations lists the variations for a specific product in a grid or matrix. In contrast, WooCommerce Product Table creates a variations table of multiple products.
Here's a comparison of the WooCommerce variation table plugins so that you can decide which one is best for your store:
WooCommerce Bulk Variations
WooCommerce Product Table
Number of products
1 product per variations table
Unlimited products per table
Number of attributes
1 or 2 (e.g. color and size)
Unlimited
Layout
Each attribute is listed as either rows or columns of the WooCommerce variation table, with a box for each variation
Each variation takes up 1 row of the table
Data displayed
Enable or disable the image, price, quantity box, and stock information for each variation
Choose which columns to include including image, name, product description, stock, price, quantity box, and buy button and/or checkbox
Location
Enable the variations grid on the single product page, or use a shortcode to list variations for a specific product on any page or post. You can also use it with a quick view plugin to list variations in a lightbox on the WooCommerce shop/category pages.
Enable the table layout on shop/category pages, or use a shortcode to insert variable product tables into any page or post
Bulk editing
Edit variations in bulk
Not included, but you can achieve this by using both plugins together
What type of WooCommerce variable products table will you choose?
Made a decision? Now it's time to skip to the setup instructions for your chosen WooCommerce variations table plugin:
Bulk Variations creates a WooCommerce product variations table listing variations for a specific product. For example, it's perfect for displaying the price of all the variations in a WooCommerce variable product price table. Customers don't need to click on a variation to see the price! They can also add multiple products to the cart directly from the pricing table.
Head to WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Bulk variations and enter the license key from your order confirmation email.
Use one (or all!) of the following options to set up your WooCommerce product variation tables:
Configure everything centrally on the plugin settings page, which will automatically enable it on the single product page for all eligible products.
Enable the WooCommerce variation table for each product individually on the 'Edit Product' screen.
Use a shortcode to manually insert product variation table for WooCommerce into other pages and posts.
Install the WooCommerce Quick View plugin so that customers can open a lightbox containing the product variations table from the shop and category pages. This is important if you want to truly speed up the buying process, as customers don't need to visit a separate page to choose their variations.
An example of a WooCommerce variations table in a quick view lightbox
Option 2: WooCommerce Product Table
This variable Product Table plugin provides a different way to create a WooCommerce variations table. While you can use it to list variations on the single product page, that's not its main purpose. Instead, it actually changes how your products are listed on the main shop and category pages.
WooCommerce Product Table lets you list WooCommerce variations as a table on any page of your website. Conveniently, this can be used for either specific products or for multiple products, whole categories, and more. You might:
Enable it on the shop and category pages so that customers can select variations without leaving the page.
WooCommerce display variations as list of products in a table on the product detail page, replacing the default dropdown lists.
Add WooCommerce variation tables listing specific products on normal pages, or even within blog posts.
How does it work?
The plugin lists variations as products, with each one having its own row in the table. That way, you can list the variations for multiple products in the same table, alongside other types of products.
The table has multiple columns of information about each product or variation. Customers can instantly see all the information about each option and make quick buying decisions. They can then choose quantities and use the buy buttons or checkboxes. This is a great way to change the variation dropdown to a checkbox so that customers can select multiple variations and add them to the cart in a single click.
You can use the product table variations plugin to list variations anywhere on your site. This gives e-commerce stores an excellent way to list variations as products and make shopping easier for their customers.
Find variations more easily
WooCommerce Product Table comes with extra features to help customers to find what they want. As well as an instant search box, you can display filter dropdowns above the table. For example, if you've created a WooCommerce variation table with different options for color and size then you can add them as filters. Customers select their size and color, and the table updates to show variations with these product attributes. Neat!
WooCommerce Product Table can display product variations as a table or dropdowns
Before we start setting it up, it's worth mentioning that the plugin provides two ways to create WooCommerce variable product tables. These are:
Separate variations - list variations as products on their own row of the table.
Variation dropdowns - list products in a table (1 product per row), with variation dropdowns next to the buy buttons.
The benefit of WooCommerce variation dropdowns is that they're compact. You can list large numbers of product options in a small amount of space. As I mentioned earlier, it's a shame that WooCommerce only lets you display variation dropdowns on a single product page. With WooCommerce Product Table, you can add WooCommerce variation dropdowns as part of a product table anywhere on your site.
Which should I use?
For some stores, there are downsides to listing variations as a dropdown - even within a variable product table:
Customers can only see 1 variation at a time. They have to select each variation option individually to see the variation price, description, stock, and image. This makes it hard to compare variations and make buying decisions.
The buying process is slower, as customers have to select a variation (often from multiple options), then click add to cart. They must repeat the process to buy multiple variations. There's no way to select multiple variations in one go.
This is fine for many stores but causes problems for others. If you have large ranges of product sizes, different colors, weights, or other options, then a WooCommerce variations table with each option on its own row can massively benefit your store. Displaying variations in a table makes it easier for your customers to find and understand the necessary information. They can see all the available variations at once instead of having to select from dropdowns.
How to create a WooCommerce product variations table
Watch this video to discover how to create a WooCommerce variations table with the WooCommerce Product Table plugin:
The table builder will open, or you can open it at Products → Product Tables → Add New.
First, choose where to display the product variation table for WooCommerce. The options are:
Add tables to any page using a Gutenberg block or shortcode. (E.g. do this if you want to add variations table to a normal page or the single product page.) You will then be able to either list all products, or select specific products whose variations you wish to list.
Shop pages - Alternatively, you can enable the variations table layout on your main shop pages such as the Shop page or category templates.
Choose all the settings for your WooCommerce variation tables. In particular, pay attention to:
Columns - this controls what information is displayed about your product variations. The plugin supports individual variation descriptions, product images, prices, and stock statuses. If this data is available, then it will display in the relevant columns of the table. If you haven't added this data for each variation, then the information for the overall product will be used instead. (This avoids any gaps in your variations table.)
Variations - choose 'Dropdown' or 'Separate', as we discussed above.
Add to cart button - choose 'Button' or 'Button and Checkbox' to allow customers to add multiple variations to the cart at once. Customers can tick the options they require and click a single 'Add Selected to Cart' button above or below the table of variations as products.
Filters - Add all the filters that you wish to display above the WooCommerce product variations table. For example, you might add attribute filters to let customers filter by color and size.
Check out the full list of features that come with the Product Table plugin. You can then start planning which ones to use for your WooCommerce variations tables.
Can I automatically add a table of variations to the product page?
The variable product table shortcode lets you list variations anywhere on your site, including in the short or long description on the single product page. However, this won't hide the default variation dropdown menus. This is a bit more technical so we've provided code snippets that developers can use to achieve this.
Alternatively, use the WooCommerce Bulk Variations plugin (see Option 1, above) to automatically replace the dropdowns with a variations table.
Case studies - WooCommerce variations table in action
Before we finish, let's look at some real-life WooCommerce stores that use variations tables instead of dropdowns.
Many store owners use the plugin to list WooCommerce product variations on individual product pages. They do this as an alternative to built-in variations, to make purchasing technical or bulk items more straightforward.
A WooCommerce variation table layout is particularly suited to e-commerce sites that sell equipment and custom machinery, tools, or supplies. It's also ideal for bespoke kitchens, bathrooms, or furniture online stores. This is because customers can configure products to suit their needs, combining multiple choices as needed.
For example, First Kitchens use WooCommerce Product Table on the single product page for this purpose:
Similarly, Mechanical Air Supplies uses the code snippets in the plugin knowledge base to automatically add WooCommerce variations tables to the single product pages:
Edit multiple variations more easily
Have you ever noticed how long it takes to edit your variations? For example, if you want to add the same image to multiple variations at once, or set the same price for all variations with particular attribute values?
In WooCommerce itself, you have to do this manually. You can save yourself a lot of time by installing WooCommerce Bulk Variations. As well as displaying variations in a grid (which we discussed earlier), it lets you filter variations on the 'Edit Product' screen and edit the selected variations in bulk. Even if you're using WooCommerce Product Table to list variations in the front end, you can still use WooCommerce Bulk Variations for the bulk management features in the back end.
Alternatively, if you want to edit variations across multiple products at once then you might also like the Setary bulk editing app. Setary lets you bulk edit variations from a central spreadsheet-style interface and can save a lot of time:
Final thoughts on listing WooCommerce variations
Both the Bulk Variations and Product Table plugins are ideal for creating a WooCommerce variations table. Choose whichever plugin best meets your requirements.
By giving customers extra choice and flexibility in how WooCommerce display variations as list, you can encourage multiple or bulk sales for your WooCommerce variable product table. Customers are no longer limited to a single page for choosing product variations. Instead, they can add different variations to the checkout cart directly from other areas such as product category pages, your main shop, and also any other page on your WordPress site. This reduces the number of clicks - vital for improving your WooCommerce store's conversion rate.
This can have a hugely positive impact on purchasing behavior and increase your sales. The best WooCommerce variations plugin makes it easy to list variations as a table, which isn't normally possible with WooCommerce.
Before we switched to selling plugins, clients often asked us to build a WordPress e-commerce website with a WooCommerce online shop AND bookings for courses or other events.
There are lots of reasons for wanting this sort of WooCommerce events website. Your company may organise events and also sell products or equipment relating to these events. You may be a training company who sells courses directly as well as gift vouchers which can be redeemed against your courses. You may be a membership website for a specific industry, selling WooCommerce products and events to support your members.
With millions of websites using WooCommerce according to the latest usage stats, plenty of websites fall into all these categories.
I'm going to tell you about three of the best WooCommerce event and booking products, with advice on how to choose the best one for your specific requirements.
How to use WooCommerce for course & event bookings
A lot of WordPress web designers meet the above requirements by installing two standalone plugins - WooCommerce for selling products, and an events management or booking plugin for selling courses/events. We've had lots of clients whose WordPress events websites work in this way.
The downside is that your users have to buy products and pay for them in a completely separate process from booking events. For example, we saw one website used WooCommerce to sell products and Events Manager Pro to sell events. Customers would use the WooCommerce shopping cart and checkout to buy products. They would then have to book each event individually by completing a booking form and clicking a PayPal button. This created a disjointed experience for customers. It also missed out on opportunities for increasing sales by cross-promoting products and events.
I will show you three ways to design a WordPress e-commerce website that sells products and courses/events using WooCommerce. Both methods use the standard WooCommerce cart and checkout, allowing customers to add products AND book a course/event at the same time. Your customers can pay for products and events in a single transaction. This creates a seamless experience that maximizes your sales.
Each of these methods use WooCommerce, as this is the best WordPress e-commerce plugin and has all the features that most websites need. It also has plenty of extensions and other plugins to meet more unusual requirements. And surprisingly it's free, too!
WooCommerce is clearly the best option for the e-commerce side of your website. This means that your main decision is how to extend WooCommerce to take bookings for courses or events in a single checkout process. Which option to choose depends on how you organize your events.
Method 1 - A WooCommerce product with a date picker (the easy option)
Let's start with the simplest option which will only take you a minute to set up.
The plugins that I'm going to feature in Methods 2 and 3 are designed specifically for selling events in WooCommerce. In contrast the plugin in Method 1 is something different - a product add-ons plugin!
The WooCommerce Product Options plugin lets you add a wide range of extra options to any product. You can add a date picker field to any product, and optionally enable a time picker. It also lets you add a range of additional options to your WooCommerce events, such as choosing a ticket type or lunch options.
If you have simple requirements (and limited time) then WooCommerce Product Options is an excellent way to set up WooCommerce events. That's because purpose-built events plugins tend to be very complex. They can be difficult to set up and customize. With WooCommerce Product Options, you simply add a date picker field to your existing products.
Your customers can easily choose a date and time slot for the event they want to book. You can even disable past dates in the calendar, specific dates or days of the week, and block dates when the event isn't running. That way, you can ensure that customers only book for available dates and times.
If you're looking for a simple and easy way to take event bookings in WooCommerce, then the Product Options plugin with a date picker field is the perfect solution.
Method 2 - WooCommerce with Events Calendar and WooCommerce Event Tickets Plus
The Events Calendar (free), Event Tickets (free) and Event Tickets (paid-for) are designed to work together alongside WooCommerce. The Events Calendar allows you to add events to your website. Event Tickets lets people register for your free events. By combining them with Event Tickets Plus and WooCommerce, you can sell places on your events using the WooCommerce shopping cart. This lets you create a fully functional WooCommerce online store with event bookings.
If you need a more fully-featured events management system then upgrade to Events Calendar Pro, the paid version. This has various extra features, for example calendars that you can display in the sidebar throughout the website to promote your events.
Pros - The Events Calendar/Event Tickets/Event Tickets Plus are created by StellarWP, a reputable WordPress company. The events plugins provide a wide range of features. It lists upcoming events (which can be filtered by category etc.). There are calendars showing the dates of your upcoming events. It really is a complete event management system. They are designed to work with WooCommerce and are fully tested with it.
Cons - To create a course or event using this method, you have to add each date as a separate event. This creates some extra work for you. For example, if you run the same event on multiple dates then you have to add it separately for each date. If you take our online course on how to create a website using these plugins then I'll provide some tips on how to create your events more quickly.
Method 3 - WooCommerce with WooCommerce Bookings
WooCommerce Bookings is a paid plugin that works alongside WooCommerce. It lets you add each event as a bookable WooCommerce product. You can add multiple dates for each event. Customers can add products or events (i.e. bookable products) to their cart and pay for everything in a single transaction.
Pros - This method makes it easier to create and maintain events because you only have to create each course once, and can assign multiple dates to each event. Both plugins are owned by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. This means that the plugins are fully tested together and you're not taking on the risks that come from combining plugins by third parties.
Cons - There's no built-in option to display all your upcoming events on a single calendar. Each individual event has a calendar showing the available dates, but there is no overarching calendar showing all your events together. Instead, you can list the course names and customers have to click on a course to view the available dates.
Can I create a calendar of all my events with WooCommerce Bookings?
As I said, the plugin doesn't have a built-in option for this. If you need a central calendar then there are options for you:
Use method 1 instead (i.e. WooCommerce with Events Calendar plugin), or;
Use Google Calendar integration to show all your bookable events on a Google Calendar, embedded on your website. This won't look as integrated/professional as the Events Calendar plugin's central calendar, but it is a way to show all events with WooCommerce Bookings.
The exact features of your event bookings will depend on whether you use method 1 or 2. Both can be implemented in a way that allows your customers to choose a date, book a course and pay via PayPal or another payment method such as Stripe. (Or you can continue taking manual payments, if you prefer). Customers will be able to purchase gift vouchers and courses in a single checkout process, creating a seamless user experience.
Expert tip #1 - Sell membership at the same time!
A lot of WordPress membership websites sell products and/or events. If you want your customers to be able to purchase membership at the same time as products and events then this is possible too!
To achieve this, there are 2 great options:
Combine the free Groups plugin with Groups for WooCommerce. This allows you to create a 'Membership' product (or more than one, if you want different membership levels). Customers can buy membership in the same way as other products and events.
Use the WooCommerce Memberships plugin. This is very similar to Groups with some subtle differences. Check out this comparison table from WooCommerce to decide which is best for your WooCommerce membership site.
Once a customer has purchased your 'membership' product, you can create members-only pages on your site. You can restrict these to the relevant membership group or membership level.
And if you're being really clever, you can use the Dynamic Pricing plugin to give discounts to your members! Create different discounts for products in each category, discounts for individual products - the sky's the limit!
Note: These membership plugins are compatible with either of the above methods for creating a WooCommerce event bookings site.
Expert tip #2 - Create a table of events with WooCommerce Product Table
Whichever WooCommerce events plugin you use, you can improve how your events are displayed by listing them in a product table. To do this, just install the WooCommerce Product Table plugin and use it to list your event products.
This is particularly useful if you have large numbers of events and want to provide a more detailed database of upcoming events. It's great for sites with lots of events as customers can use the search box, sortable columns and filtering options to find events by category, tag, etc.
Choosing the right theme for your WooCommerce events website
For a professional website, it's important to make sure WooCommerce and the event plugins match the rest of your website.
You can achieve this by choosing a WooCommerce-ready WordPress theme. Its shop pages will be pre-styled to match the theme, helping to reduce your costs.
It's harder to find a theme that contains styling for events plugins. These tips will help you find a theme that looks great with The Events Calendar plugins:
Storefront is the official WooCommerce theme. It's lightweight, easy to set up and will work with events and booking plugins. The main Storefront theme is free and if you don't like the design, you can use it with a free or paid child theme.
Avada and Enfold are popular themes designed to work with WooCommerce and The Events Calendar plugins. They're hugely flexible and can adapt to work with most brands and colour schemes, without needing to write any code - so check these out first.
To find other themes designed to work with WooCommerce and The Events Calendar plugins, go to the WordPress section of ThemeForest. Scroll down and find the 'Compatible with' section in the left column. Select 'WooCommerce' and 'Events Calendar' to find themes that work with your plugins.
If your theme hasn't been tested with these plugins, you might need to do some custom styling to make the WooCommerce and event pages look good.
Take our online course on WooCommerce Course & Event Booking Plugins!
This article is one of the most popular on our site. It has helped many people to create a course or event booking website with WooCommerce.
The course focusses on using The Events Calendar suite of plugins with WooCommerce. You'll learn how to create a fully functional events site.
In the course, I'll talk you through the different plugins to help you choose the right combination for your site. I'll teach you how to set up each plugin and get the most from them. Along the way, I'll provide lots of advice and tips on how to maximise the income from your WooCommerce events site. And finally, I'll show you how to test your website, fix any problems and where to get support. I'll even share the famous Barn2 Media go-live checklist with you.
What is the best WooCommerce events plugin?
In conclusion, WooCommerce provides several options for taking bookings for events, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
If you want a simple and easy-to-use solution, the WooCommerce Product Options plugin with a date picker field is an excellent choice. This plugin allows you to add a date picker field to any WooCommerce product, and you can customize the field with various options to suit your needs. It's an ideal solution for businesses that want to take bookings for events without the need for advanced features.
On the other hand, if you need a dedicated event calendar with advanced features, the Events Calendar plugin is a great option. It provides a complete calendar system for your website, allowing you to create and manage events with ease. This plugin is perfect for businesses that want to create a comprehensive event calendar with ticketing and registration features.
Finally, if you need a powerful booking system with advanced features like resource management, scheduling, and appointment reminders, the WooCommerce Bookings plugin is the way to go. It provides a robust and reliable solution for businesses that need a complete booking system.
In summary, here are the three plugins discussed in this article and when to use them:
Events Calendar: For businesses that need a comprehensive event calendar with ticketing and registration features.
WooCommerce Bookings: For businesses that need a powerful booking system with advanced features.
Customers love their favorite brands. That's why you need the best WooCommerce brand plugins to display product by brand, allow them to filter by brand, and more.
In the world of e-commerce, product branding is a critical element in building a strong online presence. For businesses using WooCommerce, showcasing your product brands effectively can make a significant difference in attracting and retaining customers.
WooCommerce comes with a built-in 'Brands' taxonomy which lets you display the brand of each product in your store. In this article, I'll tell you about 2 awesome plugins which will help your customers to find and view customers by brand more easily:
WooCommerce Product Table - Display products in a quick order form complete with information about their brand. Customers can view products by brand, sort by brand, and more.
Product Filters - Allow customers to filter products by their favorite brand.
By the end, you will have a solid understanding of how to use these tools to showcase your product brands effectively and improve your online store's performance.
How to use the built-in WooCommerce Brands taxonomy
This is how to add brands to your WooCommerce products:
Go to Products → Brands.
Set up your brands.
Find the 'Brands' section on the right hand side of the Add/Edit Product screen. Select a brand for each product as needed.
As you can see, working with WooCommerce brands is really easy.
Limitation of WooCommerce Brands
While the built-in WooCommerce brands are everything you need to tag each product with brand information, it's not ideal for displaying products by brand. For example, it can't:
Keep reading to discover two plugins that work alongside WooCommerce brands to fill these gaps.
List and sort products by brand
WooCommerce Product Table is our flagship plugin here at Barn2. It works by listing your WooCommerce products in an interactive table or one-page order form. It comes with extra features such as customizable columns, search box, product variations support and more. The table plugin also provides more sophisticated ways to allow WooCommerce users to filter by brand.
Product table views are a popular way to increase conversion rates. They can boost your sales because it makes the buying process quicker and easier. Customer can quickly view all your products on a single page. They can see all the information they need (including brand, if you're using the WooCommerce Brands plugin). This lets them add to the cart without having to click elsewhere.
One of WooCommerce Product Table's biggest selling points is its ability to show extra data directly on the product listing page. It supports all the standard WooCommerce product data such as name, price, add to cart, description, short description, attributes, variations - the list goes on. However, the WooCommerce core doesn't come with a brands field. That's why you need to use it with the WooCommerce Brands plugin to display product brands in a table.
Once you have created a product table with a brand column, customers can click on the column header to instantly sort products by brand.
How to Use WooCommerce Brands with WooCommerce Product Table
Tag your products with their brand, as described earlier in this WooCommerce brands tutorial.
Next, use the plugin documentation to create brands and assign them to your products. This is really easy - just look for the 'Brands' section on the right of the Add/Edit Product screen.
The table builder will open when you activate the plugin, or you can create a table later via Products → Product Tables.
Use the table builder to choose set up your product table. Specifically:
On the first page, choose whether you want to list products on a page manually or use the table layout on your main shop page templates.
On the 'Columns page', select the 'Brand' column. If you have already installed a brand plugin then this will appear automatically in the list of columns.
On the search page, click to add filters and add a 'Brand' filter. This will allow customers to filter by brand.
If you selected to add the table manually then the final page of the table builder will give you a shortcode which you can use to do this. Either use this or the 'Product Table' Gutenberg block to insert the table onto any page.
When you view your product table with WooCommerce brands, you will see a list of products with your chosen settings. You'll also see a 'Brands' column in the table. Clicking on a brand in the WooCommerce table will filter the list of products by that brand. A 'Brand' filter dropdown will also appear above the table. However, I'll show you how to add more user-friendly brand filters in a minute.
How to list products with a specific brand
You can also use WooCommerce Product Table to list products by brand. To do this:
Go to edit your table at Products → Product Tables.
In the 'Select products' section, select 'Brand' and then enter the slug of the brand you wish to display. You can get this from the page where you added all the brands.
Insert the table onto a page, and it will only list products with the selected brand.
Let customers filter by brand
While the WooCommerce Product Table plugin includes simple filter dropdowns, you probably want more visual ways to let customers filter by brand. After all, customers love buying products by their favorite brand and want a quick way to find and view them.
The best way to do add sophisticated and eye-catching brand filters to WooCommerce is to install the Product Filters plugin. This comes with a wide range of styles which you can use to filter by brand, including:
There are several ways to choose where the filters will appear on the page. You can use either of these options separately, or combine them to add filters to multiple locations:
To display filters above the list of products on all your shop pages, select the name of the relevant filter group in the plugin setup wizard. You can also do this on the plugin settings page at Products → Filters → Settings.
Go to Appearance → Widgets and add a 'Product Filters' widget. This will display it in the sidebar area on the pages where you list products.
You can also display filters in other locations such as via shortcodes and Gutenberg blocks, or in your page builder plugin such as Elementor. Learn how in the plugin documentation.
Go to Products → Filters and add or edit a filter group.
Add a filter in your chosen style (e.g. image buttons).
Select 'Custom Taxonomy' as the source of the data to be used in the filter. Select 'Brand' as the taxonomy name.
Take your WooCommerce brands to the next level
Enhancing the display of product brands on your WooCommerce store can improve the best branding plugins for WooCommerce, you can effectively showcase your product brands and make it easy for customers to find and filter products based on their preferences.
With the WooCommerce Product Table plugin, you can display your products in a streamlined order form that includes brand information, and enable customers to view products by brand, sort by brand, and more.
The WooCommerce Product Filters plugin empowers customers to filter products by their favorite brands, making it easier for them to find and purchase the products they desire.
With the tips and strategies outlined in this article, you can take your product branding to the next level and create a strong online presence for your business. So, don't hesitate to start implementing these plugins on your WooCommerce store and see the positive impact it has on your sales and customer engagement.
WordPress calendar plugins such as The Events Calendar are fantastic. But what if you're not happy with the built-in event layouts? This tutorial will show you a straightforward way of creating a searchable events table to list your upcoming events.
In this guide, we will be focusing on the Events Calendar plugins suite. This includes Event Calendar Pro, Event Tickets Plus, and other related plugins. However, the method we'll be discussing here can be used to create a table of events for any WordPress events plugin available. Using the WordPress plugin for event management is a great way to efficiently organize and promote various types of events.
Having all event information in one place makes it easy for event planners to manage registrations, and monitor ticket sales. This can lead to increased attendance and revenues. As well as improved brand image and customer satisfaction.
Watch the video to learn how. You can also keep reading for full written instructions on how to create a table of events in WordPress.
Why use the Events Calendar plugin for WordPress?
The Events Calendar plugin is a popular choice for managing events on a WordPress website for several reasons. The Events Calendar plugin has a user-friendly interface that allows users to create and manage events with ease. Additionally, it offers various customization options, enabling users to customize the appearance and functionality of the calendar to meet their specific needs.
Additionally, the plugin offers advanced features such as ticketing, RSVP tracking, and recurring events in WordPress. The plugin is well-supported and regularly updated. Making sure that it remains compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and other plugins.
The importance of event management for businesses and organizations
Event management plays a critical role in the success of businesses and organizations. Events provide a platform for your business to showcase your products or services and create brand awareness. For organizations, events are a great way to raise awareness about your cause and raise funds.
Effective event management can help businesses and organizations achieve their goals. It also increases visibility and credibility. It also builds lasting relationships with your target audience.
Using event management tools such as The Events Calendar plugin for WordPress can help your business streamline event planning. As well as improve your overall event experience.
Different options for creating a new event
The Event Calendar plug offers several options for creating a new event on your WordPress website. These options allow you to customize your event to meet the needs of your audience. Here are some of the different ways you can create a new event using The Events Calendar plugin:
Add Event button: The most basic way to create a new event is to click on the "Add Event" button. This will take you to a new page where you can enter the details of your event.
Quick event creation: You can use the "Quick Event" feature to create an event in just a few seconds. This feature is especially useful if you need to create an event on the go.
Recurring events: Use the recurring event feature to set it up once and have it repeat automatically.
Importing events: You can also import events listed in another application into The Events Calendar plugin. This saves you time and effort by allowing you to bring all of your events into one place.
Front-end event submission: You can allow visitors to submit events to your website by enabling front-end submission. They can fill out a form and submit their event directly to your site.
How to add event details such as title, date, time, location, and description
To add event details using The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
Install and activate The Events Calendar plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
Go to the WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Events → Add New Event page.
In the event editor screen, you will see fields to add the event details, including:
Title: Enter the title of the event in the "Event Title" field.
Date and Time: Select the date and time of the event from the "Start" and "End" fields.
Location: Enter the location of the event in the "Venue" and "Address" fields. You can also use the "Google Maps" field to add a map to the event.
Description: Enter the description of the event in the editor field.
You can also add additional event details, such as event categories, tags, and featured images. As well as organizer details, and ticket details using the options available in the event editor screen.
Click on the "Publish" button to publish the event on your website.
You can view the event on your website by navigating to the Events page. You can also view it by adding a shortcode to a page or post. To add a shortcode, use the [tribe_events] shortcode and customize it with the necessary options.
That's it! You have successfully added an event using The Events Calendar plugin with all the necessary details.
How to add images, videos, and other media to events using The Events Calendar plugin
To add images, videos, and other media to events, using The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
In the event editor screen, scroll down to the "Event Image" section.
Click on the "Set event image" button to upload an image from your computer, or choose an image from the media library.
Once you have selected an image, you can customize the image settings, such as the image size and alignment.
To add a video to the vent, you can use the "Embed video" field in the event editor screen. Paste the video embed code from a supported video hosting platform (such as YouTube or Vimeo) into the field and click the "save" button.
You can also add other media to the event description by clicking on the"Add media" button in the editor field. From here, you can upload and insert images, audio files, and other media.
You can use the "gallery" block in the editor field to display a gallery of images. Add the images you want to display and customize the gallery settings as needed.
Publish the event on your website by clicking the "Publish" button after adding all the required media.
How to add event categories and tags
To add event categories and tags using The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
In the event editor screen, scroll down to the "Event Categories" section.
Click on the "Add New Category" button to create a new category, or select an existing category from the dropdown menu.
Enter a name for the category and a description if desired, and click the "Add New Category" button to save.
To add tags to the event, scroll down to the "Event Tags" section.
Click on the "Add New Tag" button to create a new tag, or select an existing tag from the dropdown menu.
Enter a name for the tag and click the "Add New Tag" button to save.
You can also assign multiple categories and tags to the event by selecting them from the dropdown menus. You can also do this by entering them manually in the respective fields.
Publish the event on your website by clicking on the "Publish" button after adding all the required categories and tags.
How to set up recurring events and multi-day events using The Events Calendar plugin
If you're using The Events Calendar plugin for your WordPress site, you can easily set up recurring events and multi-day events to save time and effort. However, this useful feature is only available as part of the premium Events Calendar Pro add-on. With this add-on, you can create a wide range of events, from daily or weekly meetings to conferences or festivals that span multiple days.
To set up recurring events and multi-day events using The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
In the event editor screen, navigate to the "Event Schedule" section.
To set up a recurring event, click on the "Add New Schedule" button.
Select the "Custom Schedule" option and choose the start and end dates for the recurring event.
Choose the recurrence pattern for the event, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can also set the event to recur on specific days of the week, or on certain dates of the month.
Set the start and end times for each occurrence of the event. You can also choose to have the times be the same for every occurrence.
You can also set an end date for the recurring event, or choose to have it recur indefinitely.
To set up a multi-day event, enter the start and end dates in the "Start" and "End" fields in the "Event Details" section.
You can also add a schedule for the event by clicking on the "Add New Schedule" button in the "Event Schedule" section. Enter the start and end times for each day of the event, or choose to have the times be the same for every day.
Once you have set up the recurring or multi-day event, add all the necessary event details, such as title, location, and description, as well as any images or media.
Finally, click on the "Publish" button to publish the event on your website.
How to view, edit, and delete existing events in The Events Calendar plugin
To view, edit, and delete existing events in The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
Click on "Events" in the left-hand menu to view the list of all events created using The Events Calendar plugin.
To view an event, click on its title in the list.
To edit an event, hover over its title in the list and click on "Edit."
Make the necessary changes to the event details, such as title, date, time, location, and description.
To delete an event, hover over its title in the list and click on "Trash."
To permanently delete an event, click on the "Trash" link at the top of the events list. Then click on "Empty Trash."
You can also restore a deleted event by clicking on the "Trash" link. Hover over the event's title, and click on "Restore."
How to manage event attendees and RSVPs in The Events Calendar plugin
The Events Calendar plugin offers several options for managing event attendees and RSVPs. Here are the steps to manage event attendees and RSVPs in The Events Calendar plugin:
Make sure that you have enabled the RSVP feature for your events. Go to "Events" > "Settings" > "Tickets" and check the "Enable RSVPs" checkbox.
To view the list of attendees for an event, go to the event editor screen and click on the "Attendees" tab. Here, you can see a list of all the people who have RSVP'd to the event.
You can add a new attendee to the event by clicking on the "Add Attendee" button.
To edit an attendee's details, click on their name in the list and make the necessary changes.
You can delete an attendee from the list by clicking on their name and then clicking on the "Remove Attendee" button.
You can also export the attendee list to a CSV file by clicking on the "Export CSV" button.
To manage RSVPs for the event, go to the event editor screen and click on the "RSVPs" tab. Here, you can see a list of all the people who have RSVP'd to the event and their RSVP status.
To change an attendee's RSVP status, click on their name in the list and select the new status from the dropdown menu.
You can also send email reminders to attendees who have RSVP'd to the event by clicking on the "Email" button.
Can you export events to other calendars or platforms in The Events Calendar plugin?
The Events Calendar plugin provides a convenient way to export your events to other platforms like Google calendar. This is done through the use of the iCalendar format. This is also known as .ics. This standard format enables the easy sharing of calendar data across various platforms.
To export events to other calendars or platforms using The Events Calendar plugin, follow these steps:
Go to the WordPress dashboard and click on "Events" in the left-hand menu.
Select the event you want to export.
Click on the "Export Event" button.
Choose the iCalendar format (.ics) from the dropdown menu.
Click on the "Export" button.
The file will be downloaded to your computer as an .ics file.
Import the .ics file into your desired calendar or platform. The process for importing varies depending on the platform you're using. But typically involves navigating to the import function and selecting the .ics file from your computer.
How to use add-ons to extend the functionality of the plugin
Here are the steps to use add-ons in The Events Calendar plugin:
Go to the WordPress dashboard and click on "Plugins" in the left-hand menu.
Click on the "Add New" button at the top of the page.
Search for "The Events Calendar" in the search bar.
Click on "Install Now" next to The Events Calendar plugin.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, go to "Events" in the left-hand menu.
Click on "Add-Ons" to see a list of available add-ons.
Click on "Install" next to the add-on you want to use.
Once the add-on is installed and activated, you can start using its features in The Events Calendar plugin.
Depending on the add-on, you may need to configure its settings. This can usually be done in the plugin's settings or in the event editor screen.
Some add-ons may require a separate purchase or subscription to use. Make sure to check the details of the add-on before installing it.
Repeat these steps to install and activate any additional add-ons you want to use. Each add-on will add new features and functionality to the plugin. This will allow you to customize it to your specific event management needs.
Advanced features of The Events Calendar plugin, such as ticketing, ticket sales, and seating charts
The Events Calendar plugin is a powerful tool for managing events in WordPress that offer many advanced features. These features can help you streamline your workflows. As well as create a seamless experience for attendees.
One of the most useful advanced features of The Events Calendar plugin is ticketing. The plugin allows event organizers to sell tickets to their events using the Ticketing add-on. This feature enables event organizers to set different ticket types and pricing. As well as availability dates, as well as limit the number of tickets sold, and track sales data in real-time. The plugin also offers various ticket sales options, including PayPal, Stripe, and WooCommerce. Also, there's the ability to create discount codes and coupons to incentivize ticket sales.
Other advanced features of The Events Calendar plugin
Seating charts: The Events Calendar plugin offers a Seating Chart add-on that allows you to create custom seating charts for your events. You can set different seating sections, seat types, and pricing. Attendees can select their seats during the ticket purchase process.
Event submissions: The Events Calendar plugin offers a Community Events add-on that allows users to submit their own events to your calendar. You can review and approve these events before they are published.
RSVP tracking: The Events Calendar plugin allows you to track RSVPs and manage attendee lists for your events. You can set attendance limits, and collect attendee information. Also, send email reminders.
Tips and best practices for effectively managing events using The Events Calendar plugin
Start planning your events well in advance: Set up the events in The Events Calendar plugin. This will give you plenty of time to promote the event and sell tickets.
Use clear and concise event titles: This will help attendees quickly understand what the event is about.
Use categories and tags: Tags and categories help organize your events and make it easier for attendees to find events they are interested in.
Add all event details: Include the date, time, location, description, and any other important information.
Use images and videos: Use high-quality images and videos to promote your event and give attendees a better idea of what to expect.
Set up RSVPs and ticketing: The RSVP and ticketing features help manage attendance and sell tickets to your event.
Utilize add-ons: Add other features like ticket sales, seating charts, and event submissions.
Test the event page: Make sure to test the event page to ensure that everything is working correctly.
Promote the event: Use social media, email marketing, and other promotional channels to promote your event and drive attendance.
Monitor attendance and make adjustments: Keep an eye on attendance and make adjustments as needed to ensure that your event is successful.
How to optimize events for search engines and social media
Here are some tips for optimizing events for search engines and social media:
Use descriptive and keyword-rich event titles: Use descriptive and keyword-rich event titles that accurately describe the event and include relevant keywords. This will help search engines and social media platforms understand what the event is about and make it more discoverable.
Use clear and concise event descriptions: Use clear and concise event descriptions that provide all the necessary information about the event. This includes the date, time, location, and any other important details. This will make it easier for search engines and social media platforms to understand the event and display it in search results or on social media feeds.
Add images and videos: Add high-quality images and videos to your event page to make it more engaging and shareable on social media.
Use structured data markup: Use structured data markup to provide search engines with more information about your event, including the date, time, location, and other important details. This will help search engines display rich snippets of your event in search results.
Optimize event URLs: Optimize event URLs by using descriptive and keyword-rich URLs that accurately reflect the event title and content.
Share the event on social media: Share your event on social media and encourage others to share it as well. This will help increase visibility and drive traffic to your event page.
Use hashtags: Use relevant hashtags when sharing your event on social media to make it more discoverable and increase engagement.
Monitor analytics: Monitor analytics to see how your event page is performing in search results and on social media. Use this information to make adjustments and optimize your event page for better performance.
The limitations of default event layouts
Default event layouts on a WordPress website can be limited in terms of design and functionality. However, by using The Events Calendar or Events Calendar Pro plugins, users can easily enhance the look and functionality of their event displays. These plugins are popular among WordPress users and allow for the display of basic events as well as online bookings with the use of additional plugins.
The Events Calendar offers a range of views for existing and new events, as well as event management. Users can choose from basic list views to a simple calendar view. Events Calendar Pro takes things a step further by providing additional views such as a map view, giving users even more options to display their events in a visually appealing and informative way.
By using The Events Calendar or Events Calendar Pro plugins, you can elevate the functionality and appearance of the event displays on your WordPress website.
What if you have many events and want a more concise display? Or need more search options and filters for attendees to find your events easily?
By default, event calendars in WordPress can take up a lot of space and may not be suitable for displaying a comprehensive directory or database of events. While it's possible to create a custom template or modify one of the default views, this requires coding skills that may not be feasible for everyone.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this issue: displaying events in a table view. This provides a compact and organized way to showcase multiple events on a single page while allowing users to quickly browse and search through the information. Additionally, a table view allows for greater customization options, such as sorting and filtering based on event categories, tags, dates, and more.
By using a plugin with this functionality, users can easily display their events in a clear and concise format that is both functional and visually appealing.
The easy way to list events in a table view
In this tutorial, we will also explore how to display events using the Posts Table Pro plugin, a versatile tool that allows for an interactive list or table view of your events. This approach complements the functionalities offered by the Events Calendar Pro plugin, which provides a range of features to manage your events effectively.
By implementing Posts Table Pro, you can showcase your events in a more comprehensive and organized manner, providing visitors with an intuitive interface to search, filter and sort through the listings. Furthermore, the plugin is highly customizable and can be tailored to match the overall aesthetics and design of your website.
It is essential to note that this tutorial will focus solely on events created with Events Calendar or Events Calendar Pro, and the techniques might not apply to other event management plugins such as Event Espresso or Events Manager. However, we will also offer tips on creating a table using these plugins, ensuring that you can use this tutorial as a comprehensive guide to optimizing your events listings.
Dianna uses Posts Table Pro to display her events in a customized table:
Posts Table Pro was the perfect solution in displaying our events in table view. Our previous table view display did not allow much customization when it came to our columns and filters. With Posts Table Pro, we've been able to fully customize our columns and filters and can now provide our customer base a better experience when they're searching for their events.
Another highlight about the plugin is the company that created it. Barn 2 Media was always quick to respond if I ever had a question or needed to better understand how to set something up.
If you're considering this plugin, I highly recommend it!
Why display events in a table?
For websites with a large number of events, the default event views provided by the Events Calendar plugin may not be enough. In such cases, it is better to display events in a more tabular, grid-based format. By listing events in a table, users can view a large number of events on a single screen, making it easier for them to find the events they are interested in.
Using a table format, users can sort events by clicking on a column header or category. They can also perform a keyword search using the search box, which is not possible using the default Events Calendar views. This feature is particularly useful for websites with a large number of events.
Plugins that list events in a calendar or date-based layout can be limiting. That's why displaying events in a table format using plugins such as Posts Table Pro can be a better option. This allows users to see a comprehensive list of events, sort and filter them, and search for specific events using keywords.
Exploring the single event page in The Events Calendar plugin
After finding an event you are interested in, you can easily navigate to the single event page provided by the Events Calendar plugin through the table. This page offers a comprehensive overview of the event, including its date, time, location, and any other relevant details. It also provides an opportunity for users to book the event or perform other actions such as adding it to their calendar or sharing it on social media.
By clicking on the event in the table, users are taken to the single event page, which is optimized for conversion. This page can be customized to include additional information or features such as a call-to-action button or related events.
What types of events can I list in a table?
The good news is that you can use this method to list absolutely any type of event. It might be:
In-person events: These are admissions tickets, live events, charity auctions, concerts, conferences, festivals and carnivals, live performances, meet-ups, presentations, and speed dating events.
Online events: These include conference calls, live coaching, and webinars.
Training courses: Examples are boot camps, classes, crash courses or in-depth training, formal training, and certified courses.
Keep reading to discover a real-life website that lists events in a table. Then learn how to do the same on your own site!
See The Events Calendar plugin in action: Two case studies
Looking for inspiration on how to use The Events Calendar plugin for WordPress? Check out these two case studies that showcase how the plugin can be used for different purposes and in different industries. From cooking events to training courses, these examples demonstrate how the plugin's versatility can help you create a tailored event management system
Case study #1 - Cooking events calendar plugin on The Kitchen
The Kitchen at Middleground Farms hosts cooking events in Oregon, USA. Each event is added to WordPress with the Events Calendar plugin. As the default layouts available weren’t quite right for the site, they decided to combine the WordPress events plugins with Posts Table Pro. Customers can now quickly find an event and book themselves on it using the interactive table.
The Kitchen’s list of events includes a short description, prices, and dates. Users can sort the list by date, price, or course name, or use the search function. Clicking on a course name takes customers to a new page (provided by Events Calendar and Event Tickets Plus), where they can book and make their payments.
Case study #2 - Listing training courses for AgileSparks
AgileSparks are a technology training company. They followed the steps in this tutorial to list training courses using Posts Table Pro with Events Calendar, WooCommerce, and Event Tickets Plus.
It's easy to find a course using the instant AJAX search box and the multiple filters above the table. You can then click through to learn more about each course and make a booking with a straightforward booking form.
I've been struggling with an effective way to list our upcoming agile training classes - we have dozens of them scheduled worldwide at any point of time. I found Posts Table Pro and it was exactly what I was looking for. I feel the view it provides and the ability to filter/search for specific events according to your needs is great.
I had some questions and issues while integrating it to my instance of Tribe Events Calendar and Katie and the team were very helpful, including on the weekend. We were up and running with full functionality within a day or two. Impressive, especially considering the type of support you get used to in the WordPress plugin world. I also appreciate the depth of their blog content btw. That's how I found them in the first place.
How to list WordPress events in a table
Once you've got all your events set up, it's time to add a list view for them in a table.
You'll need the Posts Table Pro plugin for this, which you can buy here.
You can add your event calendar plugin table on any page on your website. You might also even want to create multiple tables. For example, one for each of your event categories. Or use Posts Table Pro to provide an events database on top of viewing options already provided by the WordPress Events Calendar plugin. You might even want to use it to replace those default views. Think about the best structure for your website as it is highly flexible.
1. Create a table listing all your upcoming events
Upon completing your purchase of Posts Table Pro, you'll be sent a confirmation email that includes both a download link and a license key. If you don't receive the email, you can submit a support request. To download the plugin, simply follow the link provided in the email and save the zip file to your computer.
Next, go to your WordPress admin and select Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Choose the zip file you just downloaded, upload it, and activate the plugin. From there, the setup wizard will guide you through the process of creating your first table, providing step-by-step instructions.
2. Customize your table
Follow these steps to create a customized table for your events.
Begin by giving your table a name and selecting the post type you wish to display.
Select the posts or pages you would like to include in the table. You can select from posts, pages, and custom post types.
Customize your table to suit your preferences. You can determine which columns to display and in what order. For your table, you can add a column for the event name, description, start and end date, category, website, and event price. To add a new column, choose the column type from the dropdown menu and click "Add".
You can add as many filters as you like. For your table, you can add categories and tags as filters.
Customize the sorting options for your table by choosing the default sorting option and the sort direction. This allows you to control the order in which the table is displayed to your users.
Enable lazy loading to improve the table's performance, even when containing hundreds or thousands of items.
Lastly, choose how to sort your database. You can set the default sorting option and the sort direction
This is how your table will look like:
3. Display your table
After completing the creation of your table with the Post Table Pro plugin, the setup wizard will confirm your progress and guide you on how to display the table on your WordPress website. You can choose between two options for displaying the table:
Using the 'Post Table' block in the Gutenberg editor, or
Copy the shortcode generated by the plugin and paste it into any page of your website. This allows you to place the table on any page, regardless of its content and gives you the flexibility to design your website according to your preferences.
By default, Posts Table Pro will list all published events in the table, regardless of their date. We have provided a code snippet which you can use to only list upcoming events and hide past events.
Can I include the 'Book' or 'Buy' buttons in the table of events?
The Events Calendar plugin has 2 sister plugins that let you extend it to take bookings for events. The Event Tickets and Event Tickets Plus add-ons work together to allow people to buy tickets for your events using WooCommerce and pay online. WooCommerce is the no. 1 e-commerce plugin and provides the e-commerce features such as a cart, checkout, and payment gateways.
Used together, these plugins create 'tickets' for each event, which people can buy in order to book a place. Each ticket is linked to the Events Calendar event and is basically a WooCommerce product.
The difficulty in including the 'Buy' to 'Add to Cart' buttons in your events table is that the table lists events, but you don't buy an event - you buy a ticket! The two are linked behind the scenes, but not in a way that lets you display add-to-cart buttons in the table of events. Here are two workarounds to get around this:
Option 1 - List tickets using WooCommerce Product Table instead
If you want to include add-to-cart buttons in the table, then the only option is to use our WooCommerce Product Table plugin instead of Posts Table Pro. The two plugins are very similar, but the dedicated WooCommerce version supports more WooCommerce features such as add-to-cart buttons.
Instead of using our Posts Table Pro plugin to list events in a table (as described in the rest of this tutorial), you would do something similar using WooCommerce Product Table to create a table of event tickets. This can include add-to-cart buttons, as you can see in the screenshot:
The tickets can be listed in the table with the product name, price, and add to cart button.
You can also include the number of available places by adding a 'stock' column to the table. However, the table won't display other fields from the event such as the event date. To get around this, you can add the date to the ticket name when you create the ticket. You can see this in action in the screenshot above.
Note: The Events Tickets Plus plugin sets ticket products to 'hidden' by default. This will also hide them from the product table. If you want to list tickets directly in the product table, then you must go to the 'Edit Product' screen for the ticket and change the visibility so that it appears in the table. You'll find the visibility option in the 'Publish' section at the top right of the page.
Option 2 - Workaround for showing Buy buttons using Posts Table Pro
If you really want to use Posts Table Pro to list events, instead of switching to WooCommerce Product Table, then there is a workaround.
Because your events can't be purchased directly in The Events Calendar - you need tickets for this - there's no way to dynamically list the 'Add to cart' buttons in the events table. However, you can achieve this with a bit of extra work.
You can add the Buy buttons to the table of events by manually adding these directly to your events. You would still use the Event Tickets Plus extension to create your tickets, but you would need to create a custom field to add the Buy button directly to each event.
How to do it
Set up your WordPress events website with The Events Calendar, Event Tickets, Events Tickets Plus, and WooCommerce (as described above). Add some events with tickets.
Use the Advanced Custom Fields plugin to create custom fields for any fields from your tickets that you want to include in the table. For example, you might need custom fields for event price and add to cart button.
Go to the Events section in the WP admin, edit each event, and add data to the custom fields you just created. Adding the price is self-explanatory. There are 2 options for adding the 'Book Now' or 'Add to Cart' buttons:
You can use the WooCommerce add-to-cart shortcode to insert the 'Add to Cart' buttons for the ticket that corresponds to each event. (To learn how to do this, go to docs.woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-shortcodes and go to the 'Add to Cart' section.)
You can also add the ticket's "add to cart" link URL to the event or product. You need to manually enter the link for each event or product. The link should be in this format: https://yourdomain.com/cart/?add-to-cart=ID. Replace the domain name with your own and the ID with the ticket's ID. To find the ticket's ID, go to the main Products page in WooCommerce and click on the ticket. Look for the ID in the URL.
Now, you can create a table of events that includes these extra fields.
How to use Posts Table Pro as an event directory WordPress plugin
If you'd like to create an event directory for WordPress, rather than a table that simply lists your events, you can make use of Post Table Pro's built-in options to add filters powered by custom taxonomies and turn Posts Table Pro into an event directory WordPress plugin.
That is, you can add categories or tags using The Events Calendar's built-in functionality. Then, you can create a filterable event directory for WordPress powered by those tags.
Here's how to do it...
Step 1: Apply categories and tags in The Events Calendar
First, you'll need to use The Events Calendar plugin's built-in tags or event categories taxonomies to organize your events:
If you want more options, you could add additional taxonomies with the free Pods plugin. In fact, if you want to use tags in your directory, we'd definitely recommend this because The Events Calendar doesn't create its own tags taxonomy (instead, it relies on the same tags you use for regular blog posts).
Go further with an A-Z event index or other options
Posts Table Pro lets you add filters for categories and tags, but not venues and organizers.
If you'd like to divide your event directory by those options, you could use a tabbed A-Z index if you only have a few venues/organizers.
Or, if you have a lot of venues/organizers, you could:
Use Posts Table Pro to create separate event directories for each venue on different pages.
Create a table/directory of venues by querying the tribe_venue post type using Posts Table Pro.
Add a custom field to the tribe_venue post type that links to the directory page for that venue.
Display that custom field as a column in your overall venue directory to link to the page with that venue's event directory.
You could do the same thing for organizers by using the tribe_organizer post type.
Use an event directory WordPress theme
For additional functionality, you can also consider an event directory WordPress theme that's built to integrate with The Events Calendar. The Events Calendar collected a list of such themes here.
Can I list recurring events from Events Calendar Pro?
Recurring events can be a challenge for WordPress event plugins, including The Events Calendar Pro. Unfortunately, the plugin doesn't allow you to list each individual event in a series because they are not stored as separate posts in the WordPress database. However, there are several alternatives to consider.
One option is to create the series of events manually without using the recurring events feature. This involves creating one event and then cloning it to create the others in the series using a plugin like Duplicate Post.
Another alternative is to use a different event plugin that supports recurring events, such as Event Espresso or All-in-One Event Calendar. These plugins have their own unique features and layouts, which may better suit your needs.
Alternatively, you can use a custom-coded solution to list recurring events, although this option requires some coding knowledge.
There are several options available to list recurring events in WordPress, even if The Events Calendar Pro does not support it. By exploring the alternatives, you can find the best solution for your website and ensure that your visitors can easily find and engage with your recurring events.
Creating tables using other events calendar plugins
The above instructions explain how to create a table of upcoming events using The Events Calendar plugins by Modern Tribe. If you're using a different plugin such as Event Espresso or Events Manager, you can still use the Posts Table Plugin to display events in a table. However, the syntax for the shortcode will be different.
You'll need to send a support request to the events plugin author to ask for the correct terminology. Specifically, you need to know the name of the events' custom post type, plus the custom fields and taxonomies used to store the event data. To help you with this, here's some wording to send them:
"Hi, I'm using the Posts Table Pro plugin to display a list of upcoming events on my website. I need some information about the data that your plugin stores for my events so that I can display it in the table. Please could you tell me:
- The slug of the custom post type used for the events
- The slug for the following pieces of data and whether each one is a custom field/meta field or taxonomy (now add a list of all the columns you want to display in the table - e.g. event date, date, category, price)
Thank you very much"
Armed with this information about your chosen WordPress event plugin, you can use the instructions in this article to set up your shortcode.
If it's not possible to display a particular piece of information about your event (i.e. because it's stored in the wrong format), don't worry. You can still use the Posts Table Pro plugin to list events in a table. You just need to create your own custom field or taxonomy, add it to the events post type, and manually add the data there. This gives you full control so you can show the event data as a column in the events table or list.
How can I set up the WordPress calendar plugin if I don't already have it?
Before you can start using The Events Calendar plugin, you need to ensure that your website meets the system requirements. The plugin is compatible with WordPress 5.0 or higher and requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Make sure your website is running on the latest version of WordPress and PHP to avoid any compatibility issues.
How to download and install The Events Calendar plugin
To download the plugin, follow these steps:
Go to the WordPress plugin repository or the Modern Tribe website.
Search for "The Events Calendar" plugin.
Click on the "Download" button and save the plugin zip file to your computer.
Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to the "Plugin" section.
Click on the "Add New" button.
Click on the "Upload Plugin" button.
Choose the plugin zip file you downloaded in step 3 and click "Install Now."
Once the plugin has been installed. click "Activate" to enable the plugin on your website.
Learn how to create a professional events website with the Events Calendar plugin
The online course contains 36 lectures and over 3.5 hours of video tutorials. In this course, you will learn how to set up professional events website step-by-step. This also includes how to use The Events Calendar plugin to create an events table or list. The course covers everything from choosing a hosting provider to customizing your events page.
The e-book is available on Kindle. This provides a more basic introduction to setting up The Events Calendar. This resource is ideal as a written companion to the online course or as a standalone training book. The e-book covers the essentials of creating an events website, including how to install and configure The Events Calendar plugin.
Using these resources can help you maximize the benefits of The Events Calendar plugin. You may not have been utilizing all of its features and functionalities, which can enhance your event management process.
Hiring a WordPress developer to create your events website
Consider outsourcing your WordPress website development to a web design agency or posting a job on Codeable. It's a marketplace for experienced WordPress developers. The platform ensures high-quality work and allows you to review each person's credentials before choosing the right person.
When you post a job on Codeable, it will be seen by people with experience with The Events Calendar plugin. After you receive quotes, you can check each person's reviews to choose the right person.
Common issues and errors with Events Calendar
The Events Calendar plugin is a powerful tool that allows users to create, manage, and promote events on WordPress. The plugin is generally reliable and easy to use. But there are some common issues and errors that you may encounter.
One of the most common issues is conflicts with other plugins or themes. The Events Calendar plugin relies on a specific set of code and functionality. As well as conflicts with other plugins or themes can cause errors or prevent the plugin from working correctly.
Another common issue is missing or incorrect event data. You may experience issues if you don't enter all the required information. Also, face data synchronization problems between the plugin and other tools. You may also encounter slow loading times or performance problems. This is true for a large number of events or high-traffic volumes.
How to troubleshoot and resolve these issues
There are steps you can take to troubleshoot and solve the problem.
First, you should check for conflicts with other plugins or themes. This can be done by disabling other plugins and switching to a default theme. Try enabling each plugin and theme one by one to find the source of the conflict if the issue disappears.
To fix missing or incorrect event data, check entries to ensure all necessary details are entered. If the problem persists, disable other plugins and themes to rule out conflicts.
Troubleshooting and resolving issues with The Events Calendar plugin requires a combination of attention to detail, patience, and technical know-how. They provide excellent support, so you can always reach out to them with any issues.
What theme is used on the video and screenshots for this post?
The website used in the video tutorial and screenshots is designed using the Avada theme, which is the most popular and bestselling WordPress theme of all time. If you're interested in replicating the design of this website on your own site, it's effortless to do so.
All you need to do is purchase and install the Avada theme on your WordPress site. Avada provides a vast range of customization options. This allows you to tweak your website's layout, colors, fonts, and other design elements. With the help of Avada's drag-and-drop page builder, you can easily create complex page layouts without any coding knowledge.
Apart from its customizable features, the Avada theme is also renowned for its speed, security, and SEO capabilities. These are crucial for ensuring that your website ranks high in search results and loads quickly.
How do I style an event calendar in WordPress?
Styling an event calendar in WordPress can be achieved in different ways. This depends on the plugin used to create the calendar. However, most WordPress event calendar plugins come with pre-built styles. As well as settings that allow users to customize the appearance of the calendar. Here are some general steps you can follow to style an event calendar in WordPress:
Choose a WordPress event calendar plugin that suits your needs and preferences.
Install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site.
Navigate to the settings or customization options of the plugin to access the style settings.
Adjust the settings to customize the colors, fonts, and other design elements of the calendar. Some plugins may offer more advanced options such as custom CSS. This allows you to add your own styles to the calendar.
Preview the changes to see how they affect the appearance of the calendar. Make further adjustments as needed until you achieve the desired look.
Save the settings and publish the calendar on your site.
In addition to the plugin settings, you can also use custom CSS to style the event calendar further. This can be done by adding CSS code to the "Additional CSS" section of your WordPress theme customization settings.
Alternative WordPress Event Calendar Plugins
There are several other WordPress event calendar plugins that you can use besides The Events Calendar plugin. Here are some of the best ones:
WP Event Manager: This plugin is an excellent choice for those who want a lightweight and easy-to-use event calendar solution. It allows you to create events, manage attendees, and sell tickets directly on your website.
All-in-One Event Calendar: This plugin offers a comprehensive set of features. This includes recurring events, custom event attributes, and social sharing options. It also provides a sleek and modern design that's fully responsive and mobile-friendly.
EventOn: This plugin is known for its customizable and stylish design options. It comes with a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to create event calendars with ease. It also offers several add-ons, including ticketing and RSVP management.
Modern Events Calendar: This plugin provides a modern and intuitive user interface. This includes powerful features such as recurring events, countdown timers, and Google Maps integration. It also offers various add-ons, including ticketing and social sharing options.
My Calendar: This plugin is an excellent choice for those who want a simple and lightweight event calendar solution. It provides a range of features, including recurring events in WordPress, custom event attributes, and widget support. It's also highly customizable, allowing you to tweak the design and layout to your liking.
Selecting the right plugin for your website is crucial. It can greatly impact the functionality and overall user experience.
What else can I use the Posts Table Pro plugin for?
After using the WordPress table plugin to list your events in a table, the possibilities for displaying content are endless. The plugin provides you with a flexible way to organize your website's content. It makes it easy for visitors to find and engage with the information they need.
For instance, if you have a knowledge hub with various publications, you can use the table plugin to create a WordPress document library with filters that allow users to sort and search for the specific document they need. YOu can list them in a knowledge hub. You can also use the plugin to showcase audio and video content on your site, creating a video or audio gallery that is easy to navigate and search.
If you have a membership site, you can use the plugin to display a member directory, complete with member profiles and search functionality. This can be a valuable tool for building community and promoting networking among members.
Mastering event creation and management in WordPress
Event creation and management in WordPress can be a breeze if you have the right tools and knowledge. With the tips and tricks mentioned in this article, you can streamline your event creation process and ensure your events are successfully managed. Whether you're using a plugin or custom code, it's important to stay organized and keep track of all your events.
By following the best practices for event creation and management, you can save time and increase engagement with your target audience. So, start mastering your event creation and management skills in WordPress today and take your events to the next level!
When you create a fresh WordPress/WooCommerce install and add a theme, your store will come with some fairly standard built-in layouts. Your products will be listed in a default grid layout with approx. 3 products on each row, large product images, and some basic data such as name and price. There will be an add to cart button but no extras such as quantity arrows or variation dropdowns. Each product will take up quite a bit of the page because of the large images and extra space between each row.
The solution is to use WooCommerce Product Table with WooCommerce Quick View Pro. This adds user-friendly 'quick view' buttons to the list of products, or to the default product grid. Customers can click on these to view extra product images, more information and even choose variations and add to the cart from a quick view lightbox.
The standard usage of 
