Products | Statuses & Visibility
Draft, active, scheduled and unpublished — what each product status does and how to control exactly when products appear on your storefront.
A product's status decides whether customers can find and buy it. You change status from the product editor's header.
The statuses
Draft — a work in progress. Invisible on the storefront, safe to leave half-finished.
Active — live and buyable. A product needs at least a title and a price before it can become active; saving an unpriced product as active keeps it a draft and tells you why.
Scheduled — active from a future date and time you choose (the … menu → Schedule publish). Hidden until the moment arrives.
Unpublished — was live, now off sale. The product and its data stay intact; re-publish any time.
Other visibility controls
Status is the big switch, but two smaller ones matter:
Exclude from search — an active product that customers can open by direct link (and buy) but that never appears in storefront search results. Useful for secret-sale or add-on items.
Advanced Search plugin rules — hide products from search for specific audiences (guests vs logged-in trade, for example). See Plugins | Advanced Search.
Tips
Prepare a launch as drafts, then schedule them all for the same minute — no midnight login required.
Out of season? Unpublish rather than delete. Reviews, media and settings survive the winter.
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