How to Export All WooCommerce Product Categories to a CSV File

If you manage a WooCommerce store with a large number of product categories, there are situations where you need that data outside of WordPress. Whether you’re migrating to a new site, making bulk updates in a spreadsheet, or creating a backup of your taxonomy structure, having your categories in a portable format is essential.

The problem is that WooCommerce does not include a built-in export option for product categories. In this guide, you’ll learn how to export WooCommerce categories to a CSV file using the WP Sheet Editor – Taxonomy Terms plugin, with full control over which columns and rows get exported.

Video Guide

What You Need: WP Sheet Editor – Taxonomy Terms

To export WooCommerce product categories to CSV, we’ll use the WP Sheet Editor – Taxonomy Terms plugin. This plugin loads your WooCommerce taxonomy terms, including product categories, tags, and attributes, into an interactive spreadsheet inside your WordPress dashboard.

From that spreadsheet, you can view, edit, and export your taxonomy data without touching any code or navigating through individual category screens.

Key reasons to use this plugin for category exports:

• Column control: Choose exactly which fields to include in the export, such as name, slug, description, parent, count, and any custom fields.
• Row control: Export all categories, a filtered subset, or a manually selected group.
• Saved export configurations: Name your export settings and reuse them for future exports without reconfiguring each time.
• Compatibility: Export files formatted for Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or any other CSV editor.

After installing and activating the plugin, go to Sheet Editor > Edit Product Categories. All your WooCommerce product categories will be loaded into the spreadsheet view.

How to Export WooCommerce Product Categories to a CSV File

Once you can see your categories in the spreadsheet, open the Export tool from the plugin’s top toolbar.

Inside the Export tool, configure the following settings:

• What columns do you want to export: Select which fields to include in the CSV file. You have three options:
  • Type specific column names to export only those fields.
  • Click Select active columns to export only the columns currently visible in the spreadsheet.
  • Click Select all to export every available field for your categories.
• Which rows do you want to export: Select which categories to include in the export:
  • All the rows from my current search: Use this option when exporting all categories, or when you have already applied a search filter to narrow down to specific categories.
  • Rows that I selected manually with the checkbox: Use the checkbox column next to the ID column to hand-pick individual categories before opening the Export tool.
• What app will you use to edit this file (optional): Choose the application where you’ll open the exported file. Available options:
  • Microsoft Excel (Office 365)
  • Older versions of Microsoft Excel
  • Google Sheets
  • Other
• Name of this export (optional): Enter a name to save this export configuration. Once saved, you can reuse the same settings for future exports by hovering over the Export tool button. Your saved exports will appear as quick-access options, so you don’t need to reconfigure the settings each time.
• Click Start new export.

The plugin will generate the CSV file and prompt you to download it. Once downloaded, you can open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or any other spreadsheet application.

Here’s what the exported WooCommerce categories CSV looks like when opened in Google Sheets.

Each row in the file represents one product category, with columns for each field you selected during the export configuration.

What You Can Do After Exporting

Once you have your categories in a CSV file, you can use that data for several purposes:

• Site migration: Import the category structure into a new WooCommerce store using the same plugin’s import tool.
• Bulk editing: Update slugs, descriptions, parent categories, or custom fields in Excel or Google Sheets, then reimport the updated file.
• Backup: Keep a versioned record of your category structure before making major changes to your store.
• Auditing: Review your full category list in a spreadsheet to identify duplicates, missing descriptions, or inconsistent naming.

The same Export tool works for other taxonomy types as well. If you need to export WooCommerce tags, shipping classes, or custom taxonomies, you can access them under the corresponding spreadsheet from the Sheet Editor menu.