[FIXED] How do I manually set WooCommerce product sorting to "Popularity"?

Issue

In WooCommerce, I'm using the following code to set the default sorting to order by date for a specific product category archive page:

add_filter('woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby', 'custom_catalog_ordering_args', 20, 1);
function custom_catalog_ordering_args($sortby)
{
    $product_category = 'specials'; // <== HERE define your product category slug 

    // Only for defined product category archive page
    if (! is_product_category($product_category)) {
        return;
    }
    return 'date';
}

However, this is affecting my overall default sorting settings "by popularity", as when I look on my shop page it is sorted incorrectly but if I manually change it to sort by something else and then back it sorts it correctly.

How do I fix this issue or how do I manually set the rest of the shop to order by Popularity with php as this may fix the issue?

Solution

Updated: With a filter hook you need always to return the first function argument variable, and not just return alone without a value or a the default function variable argument… So in your code:

add_filter('woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby', 'custom_catalog_ordering_args', 10, 1);
function custom_catalog_ordering_args( $orderby )
{
    $product_category = 'specials'; // <== HERE define your product category slug 

    // For all other archives pages
    if ( ! is_product_category($product_category)) {
        return $orderby; // <====  <====  <====  <====  <====  HERE
    }
    // For the defined product category archive page
    return 'date'; 
}

OR better this way:

add_filter('woocommerce_default_catalog_orderby', 'custom_catalog_ordering_args', 10, 1);
function custom_catalog_ordering_args( $orderby ) {
    // HERE define your product category slug
    $product_category = 'specials';  

    // Only for the defined product category archive page
    if ( is_product_category($product_category)) {
        $orderby = 'date'; 
    }
    return $orderby; 
}

It should work now.

Related:

• Override Avada Catalog sorting hook back to default in Woocommerce
• Change default sorting for specific Woocommerce product category archive pages

Answered By - LoicTheAztec

Answer Checked By - Gilberto Lyons (PHPFixing Admin)