WooCommerce: Show Empty Product Categories

By default, empty WooCommerce product categories (i.e. categories which have no published products) will not display on your Shop page.

This makes a lot of sense and avoids that customers land on empty pages… BUT sometimes you might have different needs and require that users still see these categories when the shop display is set to “Show Categories”.

Thankfully there is a quick one-line fix that you can copy / paste in your functions.php to show empty categories… enjoy!

PHP Snippet: Show Empty WooCommerce Product Categories

/**
 * @snippet       Show Empty Categories @ Shop Page
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 5
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_subcategories_hide_empty', '__return_false' );

PHP Snippet (Storefront Theme): Show Empty WooCommerce Product Categories @ Homepage

/**
 * @snippet       Show Empty Categories @ Homepage
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 5
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */

add_filter( 'storefront_product_categories_shortcode_args', 'bblomer_storefront_homepage_show_empty_cats' );

function bblomer_storefront_homepage_show_empty_cats( $args ) {
  $args['hide_empty'] = 0;
  return $args;
}

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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?

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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