WooCommerce now ships a new version roughly every month, and a major one several times a year. When the update notice shows up, you’re probably wondering what to do: update right away, or wait for it to settle and for your plugins to catch up?
What can go wrong with a WooCommerce update
There are hundreds of WooCommerce extensions out there. If you’re like most store owners, you’re already running a handful of them, not to mention a theme.
Problem 1: Issues in WooCommerce itself
Each major WooCommerce release goes through a lot of testing. But it hasn’t been tested on your site. A new version can have issues that break your store, and sometimes the whole WordPress admin becomes inaccessible right after the update. You don’t want that on your live site.
Problem 2: Compatibility with extensions and themes
The bigger problem is that not every theme and extension is ready for a major WooCommerce update. Most developers keep working to stay compatible. Some extensions work without any change, while others need a lot of work, and every one of them has to go through a review and test cycle. The same goes for themes.
Since most stores run several WooCommerce extensions and a theme built for WooCommerce, confirm that your theme and extensions are compatible with the new version before you upgrade. If they aren’t, your site could break.
Problem 3: Upgrading on a live site
Even if your theme and extensions are compatible, upgrading directly on a live site can cause problems. Your hosting environment or existing data can trip it up, and you don’t want your store going blank or showing error messages to customers.
The right way to update WooCommerce
Step 1: Wait
If your store is running well, you don’t need to upgrade the day a new version lands, even if you want those new features right now.
First, make sure your theme and all your WooCommerce extensions are fully compatible with the new version. Check each plugin’s changelog, or ask its developer. WooCommerce also warns you on the update screen when an active extension hasn’t declared that it’s been tested with the new version.
Step 2: Upgrade on a staging site
Create a copy of your live site. If you already have a staging or test site, even better. Bring over the latest database backup, update your theme and all extensions on that staging site, and then update WooCommerce. Check that everything works, and contact the extension developers if something doesn’t.
Resolve every issue you find before going further.
Step 3: Upgrade the live site
Once everything works on staging, take a fresh backup and repeat the update on your live site. Do it at a low-traffic time. If your store is busy, consider putting up a notice that you’re doing maintenance.
Step 4: Celebrate
And invite us to the party!
For WooCommerce’s own checklist, see their guide on how to update WooCommerce. And for why skipping updates altogether is just as risky, read our own plugin update nightmare.
What about StoreApps plugins?
We keep an eye on every WooCommerce release and start making our plugins compatible while the new version is still in beta. Each plugin’s changelog in our documentation lists its compatibility releases.
If you notice an issue with one of our plugins after a WooCommerce update, contact us and let us know.