=== Hide or Show Out-of-Stock Products for WooCommerce ===
Contributors: charliemac24
Tags: woocommerce, out of stock, stock visibility, product visibility, inventory
Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 6.8
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 2.0.4
License: GPLv3
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

Control which out-of-stock WooCommerce products stay visible and which ones stay hidden.

== Description ==

WooCommerce gives store owners a global setting to hide out-of-stock products, but sometimes that all-or-nothing approach is too limiting.

**Hide or Show Out-of-Stock Products for WooCommerce** gives you more control by letting you keep specific sold-out products visible while others remain hidden.

This is useful when you want to:

- keep important out-of-stock products visible for SEO
- show popular or seasonal products even when temporarily unavailable
- keep product pages accessible for reference or future restocks
- avoid hiding every sold-out item across your whole store

Instead of relying only on WooCommerce’s default out-of-stock visibility behavior, this plugin helps you manage product visibility more intentionally.

### How it works

The plugin disables WooCommerce’s global “Hide out of stock items from the catalog” behavior and lets you decide which out-of-stock products should remain visible.

This gives you more flexibility when managing sold-out products in your shop.

### Use cases

- A product is temporarily out of stock, but you still want customers to find it
- A product has SEO value and should remain visible even when unavailable
- Some sold-out items should stay visible, but low-priority items should stay hidden
- You want more control than WooCommerce’s default stock visibility option

### Who this plugin is for

This plugin is helpful for WooCommerce store owners who want more control over how out-of-stock products appear in their catalog.

It may be especially useful for stores that sell:

- seasonal items
- popular products that are frequently restocked
- products with search traffic or strong SEO value
- products that customers may still want to browse even when unavailable

== Installation ==

1. Upload the plugin files to the `/wp-content/plugins/hide-or-show-out-of-stock-products-for-woocommerce/` directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen.
2. Activate the plugin through the **Plugins** screen in WordPress.
3. Make sure WooCommerce is installed and activated.
4. Go to **Products → Out-of-Stock Visibility** and configure how you want out-of-stock products to behave.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does this plugin require WooCommerce? =

Yes. WooCommerce must be installed and activated for this plugin to work.

= What problem does this plugin solve? =

WooCommerce’s default setting hides all out-of-stock products globally. This plugin gives you more control by allowing specific out-of-stock products to remain visible.

= Does this plugin replace WooCommerce stock management? =

No. This plugin does not replace WooCommerce inventory management. It only helps manage the visibility of out-of-stock products.

= Will this plugin affect in-stock products? =

No. The plugin is designed specifically for out-of-stock product visibility behavior.

= Why would I keep an out-of-stock product visible? =

Some store owners prefer to keep sold-out products visible for SEO, customer reference, future restocks, or because the product is still important to their catalog.

= Can I still use WooCommerce’s built-in stock settings? =

Yes, but this plugin is designed to override WooCommerce’s global all-or-nothing out-of-stock catalog visibility behavior so you can manage visibility more selectively.

= Is this plugin beginner-friendly? =

Yes. The goal of the plugin is to make sold-out product visibility easier to manage without requiring custom code.

== Screenshots ==

1. Out of stock product list with visibility controls
2. Bulk visibility update functionality
3. Individual product visibility functionality

== Changelog ==

= 2.0.4 =
* Minor adjustment on search behavior

= 2.0.3 =
* Improved plugin behavior and compatibility
* General maintenance and fixes

= 2.0.2 =
* Minor fixes and improvements

= 2.0.1 =
* Minor fixes and improvements

= 2.0.0 =
* Major plugin update
* Improved control over out-of-stock product visibility

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 2.0.3 =
Recommended update for improved stability and compatibility.