WooCommerce: “Bulk Edit” > Remove Categories @ Admin Products List

Go to WordPress Dashboard > Products, select more than one product, and then go to the Bulk Actions dropdown and choose “Edit“.

You’re now presented with a simple yet effective bulk edit window, where you can do basic product fields editing such as changing the price in bulk, assign the same tag in bulk, set a sale price percentage in bulk, and so on. You can even assign one or more categories to the selected products.

But wait – it seems you cannot remove product categories from all selected products, which is a bummer! Well, I’m not sure if this is a WooCommerce choice, but honestly it’s such a basic thing that I’m surprised there is no bulk edit option for that.

So, let’s fix this. Let’s add a custom select dropdown with a list of product categories – whenever a category is selected, this will be removed from all checked products. Enjoy!

Here’s a brand new “DELETE CAT” option in the WooCommerce Products > Bulk Edit window. Select a product category from the dropdown, click on “Update”, and this product category will be removed from all selected products!

PHP Snippet: Add “Remove Product Category” To The Bulk Edit Options @ Admin Products Table

Note: WooCommerce products are required to belong to at least one product category by design. If you bulk remove the only category from a list of products, they will be reassigned to your “default” product category.

Which means the “Bulk Remove Product Category” functionality you find below will only work if either (a) products belong to 2 or more product categories or (b) in the bulk edit window you ADD at least one category and REMOVE the current category at the same time. Hope I’ve explained it clearly.

/**
 * @snippet       Bulk Remove Product Categories @ WooCommerce Products Admin
 * @how-to        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 8
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'woocommerce_product_bulk_edit_start', 'bbloomer_bulk_edit_remove_product_category' );

function bbloomer_bulk_edit_remove_product_category() {
	?>		
	<div class="inline-edit-group">
		<label class="alignleft">
			<span class="title">Delete Cat</span>
			<span class="input-text-wrap">
				<?php wc_product_dropdown_categories( [ 'class' => 'remove_product_cat', 'name' => 'remove_product_cat', 'show_option_none' => 'Select product category to be removed', 'value_field' => 'term_id' ] ); ?>
			</span>
		</label>
	</div>			
	<?php
}

add_action( 'woocommerce_product_bulk_edit_save', 'bbloomer_bulk_edit_remove_product_category_save', 9999 );
 
function bbloomer_bulk_edit_remove_product_category_save( $product ) {
	$post_id = $product->get_id();    
	if ( isset( $_REQUEST['remove_product_cat'] ) ) {
		$cat_to_remove = $_REQUEST['remove_product_cat'];
		$categories = $product->get_category_ids();
		if ( ! in_array( $cat_to_remove, $categories ) ) return;
		if ( ( $key = array_search( $cat_to_remove, $categories ) ) !== false ) {
			unset( $categories[$key] );
		}
		$product->set_category_ids( $categories );
		$product->save();
	}
}

Where to add custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

Related content

Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza. Follow @rmelogli

6 thoughts on “WooCommerce: “Bulk Edit” > Remove Categories @ Admin Products List

  1. Just wanted to say thank you for this one, really helped me on my webshop!
    Why doesnt WC have something like this standard anyway?

    Thanks again!

  2. Doesn’t seem to work anymore.

    1. Worked perfectly for me! (Woo 9.3.3)

  3. I like this one. It’s easier than exporting a bunch of items, removing the category in the spreadsheet, then uploading the updated items. It works perfectly on my system

Questions? Feedback? Customization? Leave your comment now!
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