How to Bulk Edit the Published Date for WooCommerce Products

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to bulk edit the published date for WooCommerce products.

Updating product dates can be really useful to improve WooCommerce store visibility and SEO rankings on Google or other search engines.

However, it can be difficult to change the product dates manually, especially if you want to update many products.

That is why we have created this guide, to show you how to bulk modify product published dates using the WP Sheet Editor plugin.

It allows you to bulk edit thousands of WooCommerce products with a few clicks, using an intuitive spreadsheet inside WordPress.

Install the WP Sheet Editor Plugin

You can skip this step if you already have the plugin installed and activated.

To open the WooCommerce products spreadsheet, go to WP Sheet Editor > Edit Products.

You’ll see the spreadsheet containing all your WooCommerce products and their complete data.

1. Search for products by published date

WP Sheet Editor allows you to use any product field as a search filter. In this case, it will allow us to search for WooCommerce products by publish date.

a) Filter products by specific date

Open the Search tool to filter the products by specific date.

Now select these values in the Search tool:

• Tick the Enable advanced filters checkbox
• Note – The “Date” field may require you to enter the date using a specific format and the exact time. So, if you want to search for all posts published on a specific date, but without having to enter the exact time, you can use the date range fields. You only need to enter the same date on both the start date and the end date.
• Date range from: Enter the date here.
• To: Enter the date here.
• Click on Run search.

After running the search, you will see the products that were published on the date you entered displayed on the spreadsheet.

b) Search for products by date range

If you want to filter products by date range, you need to do the same, but you have to select a different date in both date range fields.

For example, if you want to find all products published between January 1, 2023 and January 21, 2023, you need to select these values:

• Tick the Enable advanced filters checkbox.
• Date range from: Enter the start date.
• To: Enter the end date.
• Click on the Run search button.

Once filtered, you will be able to see the products on the spreadsheet.

2. Bulk edit product published dates in the spreadsheet

In cases where you need to set specific and different dates for each product, you can use the spreadsheet:

• Go to the “Date” column in the spreadsheet
• Select the dates you want for all the products you want to edit
• Click on the Save button to apply the changes

This is a great way to bulk edit product dates by adding specific dates to different products.

3. Bulk change time from existing product dates

Adding or reducing time from the actual publication date of the products can be beneficial to show that the content was published in different dates.

In the following sections, you will see how to achieve this in bulk.

a) Deduct time from existing dates

Deducting time from existing dates means that we are going to dynamically edit them so that they will change at X hours, days, weeks, months or years before.

Open the Bulk Edit tool.

Once in the Bulk Edit tool, you will need to enter these values:

• Select the rows that you want to update: Edit all the rows from my current search (Even non-visible rows).
• What field do you want to update: Date
• Select type of edit: Deduct time from existing dates
• Number: Add the number of hours, days, weeks, months, or years you want to deduct from the existing date.
• Time unit: Deduct hours, days, weeks, months, or years to the existing dates. If the existing date is empty, we will use the current date as a base.
• Click on Execute now.

Now that you have run the bulk edit, you will be able to see the changes from the spreadsheet.

b) Add time to existing dates

Adding time to existing dates means that we are going to dynamically edit them to change them to X hours, days, weeks, months or years forward.

This feature can be used for scheduling product launches, planning promotional events or managing product visibility based on inventory levels.

Adding time to release dates allows store owners to control when certain products appear as new or updated, creating a sense of freshness and encouraging customer purchase.

To start, open the Bulk Edit tool.

In the Bulk Edit tool, enter these data to add time to existing dates:

• Select the rows that you want to update: Edit all the rows from my current search (Even non-visible rows).
• What field do you want to update: Date
• Select type of edit: Add time to existing dates
• Number: Add the number of hours, days, weeks, months, or years you want
• Time unit: Add hours, days, weeks, months, or years to the existing dates. If the existing date is empty, we will use the current date as a base.
• Click on Execute now.

Once the editing is finished, you will be able to see the changes in the spreadsheet.

4. Copy the modified date to the publish date

When you make major modifications to a product’s information, such as adding new features or fixing errors, pasting the modified date to the publication date can help draw attention to the updated content and increase customer interaction.

To make this happen, use the Bulk Edit tool.

Once in the Bulk edit tool, enter these values to set the modification date as publish date.

• Select the rows that you want to update: Edit all the rows from my current search (Even non-visible rows).
• What field do you want to update: Date
• Select type of edit: Copy from other columns
• Copy from this column: Modified Date
• Click on Execute now.

Note: The time will not be the same, since the time of the last product modification will be modified with the edit we are currently running.

Finally, you will see that the dates have been changed successfully.

5. Bulk edit the published date for WooCommerce products

By having products in our store for many months or even years, it gives the feeling that nobody wants to buy them or that they are going to be much longer and there is no hurry to buy them.

Therefore, it is better to modify the date of publication, give the feeling of novelty and create a sense of urgency for customers who are interested in them.

Before you can edit, you have to filter our oldest products.

For example, you can filter products published two years ago or more using the Search tool.

Enter these fields to search for products published two years ago:

• Use the Enable advanced filters checkbox
• Date range from: Enter the start date using the MM-DD-YYYY format
• To: Enter the end date
• Run search

Once the products have been filtered, open the Bulk Edit tool.

Now you can enter these values into the Bulk Edit tool:

• Select the rows that you want to update: Edit all the rows from my current search (Even non-visible rows).
• What field do you want to update: Date
• Select type of edit: Set value
• Copy from this column: Enter the new published date
• Click on Execute now.

Once the changes have been made, they will be displayed in the spreadsheet.

6. Bulk randomize dates for all products

There may be times when you need to bulk randomize dates for all products in your WooCommerce store in order to maintain a sense of freshness, boost SEO, and promote customer engagement.

This strategy can also help to distribute products more evenly across different time periods, preventing them from appearing outdated.

Here you have the tutorial on How to Set Random Dates.

This is how you can use WP Sheet Editor to bulk edit the published date for WooCommerec products and keep your WooCommerce store fresh and updated.