WooCommerce: Do Something When Product is Published

A client needed to add “something” upon product publishing. For example, product meta key “total_sales” with value = 0 gets added automatically once a WooCommerce product is created.

So, how do we run (“hook”) our function when a new product is published?

woocommerce-hook-action-on-product-publish
WooCommerce: add_post_meta on product creation

PHP Snippet: Add Custom Meta When a Product is Published

In here we trigger our function when a product goes from a non-published status (‘draft’, ‘pending’, ‘private’, ‘future’) to ‘publish’ status.

/**
 * @snippet       Hook into product publishing
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 6
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_action( 'transition_post_status', 'bbloomer_add_custom_meta_on_publish_product', 9999, 3 );

function bbloomer_add_custom_meta_on_publish_product( $new_status, $old_status, $post ) {
   if ( 'product' === $post->post_type && 'publish' === $new_status && 'publish' !== $old_status ) {
      update_post_meta( $post->ID, 'total_amount', '0' );
   }
}

Related posts:

Where to add custom code?

You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide "Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?" and my video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!

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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.

8 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Do Something When Product is Published”

  1. odysseas

    I tried your code and i had a problem. It runs only when i go to products and click add new and as a result $post returns an object with empty properties. When i publish my product it doesn’t do anything. Am i doing something wrong?

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Hi there, try this new version and let me know

      Reply
  2. Arun Kumar

    after publish, if we turn product published to draft for some time & publish again

    function re run.

    can we limit it to run once only.

    not everytime for same product that got published in past.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Hi Arun thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

      Reply
  3. Joshua Flowers

    Good snippet, however you’ll probably want to add a quick check for the post type:

    if ($post->post_type != ‘product’) return;

    Otherwise you’ll end up adding extra meta data for all posts, including non-products.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Brilliant, thank you Joshua:)

      Reply
  4. Ronel

    Hi Rodolfo,

    Is there any way to utilise this code snippet to notify authors when their products have been published? I am using woocommerce to sell books, and the books are uploaded by authors. I have set that Woocommerce products allow for authors on the product page, but I am struggling to notify them once their product has been published.

    I would love any help you can offer.

    Thank you so much.

    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli

      Ronel, thanks for your comment!

      The answer to your question is: YES, of course. Everything is possible – it’s just a matter of understanding what’s the most time- and cost-effective way to do it 🙂 I can develop this for you if you’re interested – simply contact me at infoATbusinessbloomer.com

      Reply
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