classic-woocommerce-template-overrides

Classic WooCommerce Template Overrides

Use this when a classic theme needs to change WooCommerce markup. Prefer hooks and filters first. Use template overrides only when the required markup change cannot be done safely through hooks.

When to Use This Skill

• Creating yourtheme/woocommerce/*.php files.
• Reviewing outdated Woo templates after a Woo update.
• Deciding whether to override archive-product.php, content-product.php, single-product.php, cart, checkout, account, or email templates.
• Debugging why a Woo template override is ignored.
• Migrating copied templates to hook/filter customizations.

Override Lookup

Woo looks for theme overrides in the active theme using WC()->template_path(), which defaults to woocommerce/.

Typical paths:

yourtheme/
|-- woocommerce/
|   |-- archive-product.php
|   |-- content-product.php
|   |-- single-product.php
|   |-- content-single-product.php
|   |-- loop/
|   |   `-- add-to-cart.php
|   `-- single-product/
|       `-- product-image.php

Rules:

• Copy from wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/templates/.
• Preserve the relative path under woocommerce/.
• Keep the template header and @version line.
• Preserve defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;.
• Preserve core hooks unless the change explicitly replaces that behavior.

Hook/Filter First

Most Woo frontend templates are hook skeletons. Customize with hooks before copying templates.

Example: move single product price after excerpt.

add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'mytheme_single_product_summary_order' );

function mytheme_single_product_summary_order() {
	remove_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'woocommerce_template_single_price', 10 );
	add_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'woocommerce_template_single_price', 25 );
}

Rules:

• Use remove_action() with the exact callback and priority from wc-template-hooks.php.
• Add custom output on Woo hooks with a prefixed function.
• Use filters such as woocommerce_loop_add_to_cart_args, woocommerce_product_tabs, or woocommerce_output_related_products_args when they fit.
• Do not override a whole template to change one class, priority, label, or count.