WooCommerce 3.0 – Major Update

Say hello to WooCommerce 3.0 “Bionic Butterfly”

Yesterday, WooCommerce 3.0 was released (you can read the official development notes here). It’s been almost 24 hours, and I really hope you haven’t clicked that “Update Automatically” button yet.

This warning is from WooCommerce’s own blog
3.0 is a major update. As always, please ensure extensions and themes are compatible before upgrading, test on a staging site if you can, and make a backup for peace of mind.

If you have already done this, Then it is very certain that something in your site may be now broken. My advice to this is to immediately “downgrade” your WooCommerce by removing the plugin entirely and download and upload the older (2.6) version. (Take a backup before, during and after!) You may need to check the database too.

Then, read below.

If you have not done it yet, that’s great! Do wait a little longer before you upgrade! If you had a developer to build your website, please call them back, or ask others for help, to check that if everything (themes and plugins – and WooPlugins!) is compatible with Woo 3.0. It is very very likely that they will release an update in the next few days. So at least, TEST the new Woo 3.0 on a dev/clone/staging install, to make sure that your live site is not affected by this huge change.

It is almost guaranteed that you will see a WooCommerce 3.0.1+ very soon (note that last “.1”), to fix the first reported bugs. So, please follow my recommendation and WAIT until 3.0.1 (or 3.0.2/3/4 even), so at least the major bugs would have been found and fixed by then.

If you do want test Woo 3.0 you will notice many changes and improvements. E.g. they have revamped the product gallery (better UX), improved performance/speed, and released many other edits – you can find out more via the official link above.

Thanks, and happy Woo 3.0!