If your store has a lot of product categories, you may not want every one of them to appear in your WooCommerce Wholesale Order Form. You can restrict an order form to only load products from specific categories, or the opposite: load every category except a select few.
The Included Category and Excluded Category settings control this. Below covers how they interact with each other and with the Category Filter element if you use one on your form.
Requirements
- WooCommerce
- WooCommerce Wholesale Order Form installed and activated.
- An active order form already created. If you have not set one up yet, read Set up Wholesale Order Form first.
Restrict categories in the Form Editor
The Form Editor gives you two settings for this: Included Category restricts the form to only the categories you choose, and Excluded Category loads every category except the ones you choose. Only one of the two can be active at a time on a given order form.
- Go to Wholesale → Order Forms.
- Click the order form you want to edit to open the Form Editor.
- In the sidebar, click the Settings tab.
- Scroll down to the Included Category and Excluded Category fields.
- To show only specific categories, select them in Included Category. To hide specific categories while loading everything else, select them in Excluded Category instead.
- Click Save Draft or Publish to apply the change.
Included Category takes priority over Excluded Category. As soon as you add at least one category to Included Category, the Excluded Category field is cleared and becomes disabled, since the two settings cannot be combined on the same order form. Remove every category from Included Category to use Excluded Category again.
Default Category and the Category Filter element
If your order form’s header or footer includes a Category Filter element, customers can filter the product list themselves. The same Settings tab includes a Default Category field, which selects the category that is preselected when a customer first loads the form.
The Category Filter element’s dropdown automatically follows your Included Category and Excluded Category settings. Customers can only filter within the categories you have allowed. You do not need to configure the element separately.
Restricting individual products instead of whole categories
If you need to restrict the form by product rather than by category, use the separate Include Products and Exclude Products fields, also found on the Settings tab. These work independently of the category settings above and let you specify individual products rather than entire categories.
This setting only restricts which products appear on the order form itself. To restrict products by wholesale role across your entire store, use the Adjust Visibility features included in WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium.
Read more about that feature in Wholesale Products Visibility.
Troubleshooting
Why is the Excluded Category field disabled or grayed out?
Included Category takes priority over Excluded Category. Once one or more categories are added to Included Category, Excluded Category is cleared and disabled because the two settings cannot be active at the same time on one order form. Remove all categories from Included Category to re-enable Excluded Category.
I saved my category restriction, but the order form still shows the old products.
Confirm that you clicked Publish rather than only Save Draft, since a draft change will not appear on the live form. If the setting is published and the form still looks unchanged, clear any page or server-side cache, then reload the order form page.
Why doesn’t the Category Filter dropdown on my order form show all my categories?
The Category Filter element’s dropdown automatically follows your Included Category and Excluded Category settings. If a category is missing from the dropdown, check whether it has been excluded, or whether Included Category is set to a different set of categories.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I leave both Included Category and Excluded Category empty?
The order form loads products from every product category with no restriction. This is the default behavior for a new order form.
Can I select more than one category in Included Category or Excluded Category?
Yes. Both fields accept multiple categories, and you can search for a category by name if your store has a long list.
Can I restrict the order form to specific individual products instead of whole categories?
Yes. Use the separate Include Products or Exclude Products fields on the Settings tab. These apply at the individual product level and work alongside the category settings rather than replacing them.
Does restricting categories on the order form also hide those products from my shop page?
No. This setting only affects what loads into that specific order form. Your shop page and other parts of your store are unaffected. To restrict product visibility by wholesale role across your entire store, use the Adjust Visibility features in WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium instead.
Do these settings apply to every order form on my site?
No. Each order form has its own independent Settings tab, so you can apply a different category restriction to each order form you create.
If I set a Default Category for the Category Filter element, does that also restrict what loads into the table?
No. Default Category only controls which category is preselected in the Category Filter dropdown when the form first loads. It does not add any extra restriction beyond whatever you have set in Included Category or Excluded Category.
Can I select a subcategory without affecting its parent category?
Yes. The Included Category and Excluded Category fields list every product category, including subcategories, as individual options, so you can select or exclude a subcategory on its own without changing the setting for its parent category.
Help & support
We have a dedicated support team for Wholesale Suite who knows our products, WooCommerce, and the industry very well. You’re welcome to make use of their expertise at any time, worldwide.
If you are an existing customer please go to the support ticket request form and send us a message.
If you are a free plugin user, please send us a support request on the forum. We actively monitor the WordPress.org support forums for the free plugin and help our users there as best as we can.
