Server Requirements

The first step in setting up your WooCommerce powered online store is of course installing the plugin itself. But before you do so, please check the minimum server requirements:

• An install of WordPress 3.3 or greater
• PHP 5.2.4 or greater
• MySQL 5.0 or greater
• The mod_rewrite Apache module (for permalinks)
• fsockopen support (for payment gateway IPN access)
• (optional) An SSL certificate if you choose to install any direct payment gateways

Installation

Upon activation, WooCommerce will install several things that it requires to function correctly:

1. Several new pages (for handling things like the checkout)
2. Custom post types and taxonomies for orders and products
3. Several new widgets and shortcodes
4. User roles for shop managers and customers

There are two WooCommerce installation options; Automatic or Manual.

Automatic installation

Automatic installation is the easiest option as WordPress handles the file transfers itself and you don’t even need to leave your web browser. To do an automatic install of WooCommerce log in to your WordPress admin panel, navigate to the Plugins menu and click Add New.

In the search field type “WooCommerce” and click Search Plugins. Once you’ve found the plugin you can view details about it such as the the point release, rating and description. Most importantly of course, you can install it by simply clicking Install Now. After clicking that link you will be asked if you’re sure you want to install the plugin. Click yes and WordPress will automatically complete the installation.

It’s possible at this stage that you will be taken to a page requesting the FTP details of your webserver. This will be the case if you’ve not installed a plugin on this particular installation of WordPress before. If so, simply fill in your details to complete the installation.

Manual installation

The manual installation involves downloading the plugin and uploading it to your webserver via your favourite FTP application.

1. Download the plugin to your computer and unzip it
2. Using an FTP program, or your hosting control panel, upload the unzipped plugin folder to your WordPress installation’s wp-content/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate the plugin from the Plugins menu within the WordPress admin.

Database tables

WooCommerce installs a few custom tables during installation to store data.

Attribute taxonomies

Stores user defined attributes which are used to create taxonomies.

Table name: woocommerce_attribute_taxonomies

Product permissions

Stores which users have permission to download products.

Table name: woocommerce_downloadable_product_permissions

Term-meta

Stores termmeta and is used for the custom ordering of categories.

Table name: woocommerce_termmeta