WooCommerce: Product Description in a Shortcode!

It may be helpful to show the long product description of a given product in a custom WordPress page or post, so that you can use it as a teaser or anyway as a way to save some time instead of rewriting the whole thing.

The solution is easy: let’s code a simple shortcode that accepts a product ID as a shortcode attribute, and that returns its long description, properly formatted.

You can see this in action on this same website. Here’s one of my downloadable products’ long description: https://www.businessbloomer.com/shop/plugins/woocommerce-disable-payments-by-category/#tab-description – and here’s the same exact description printed in a blog post, thanks to the shortcode snippet you find below: https://www.businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-disable-payment-method-for-specific-category/#mini-plugin-business-bloomer-woocommerce-toggle-payments-by-category

Enjoy!

PHP Snippet: Custom Shortcode to Display a Product’s Long Description

/**
 * @snippet       Display Long Description Via Shortcode
 * @usage         [pid_desc id="123"]
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 7
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_shortcode( 'pid_desc', 'bbloomer_long_desc_by_product_id' );
 
function bbloomer_long_desc_by_product_id( $atts ) {
   $product_id = $atts['id'] ? $atts['id'] : 0;
   $product = wc_get_product( $product_id );
   if ( ! $product ) return;
   return wpautop( wptexturize( $product->get_description() ) );
}

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

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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. Follow @rmelogli