Drafting specific category products in WooCommerce involves changing the status of all products within a particular category to “draft.”

Step 1: Create a Custom Function

Add a custom function to your theme’s functions.php file or a custom plugin that drafts all products in a specific category.

function draft_products_in_category($category_slug) {
    // Get the category by slug
    $category = get_term_by('slug', $category_slug, 'product_cat');
    if (!$category) {
        return 'Category not found.';
    }

    // Get all products in the category
    $args = array(
        'post_type' => 'product',
        'posts_per_page' => -1,
        'tax_query' => array(
            array(
                'taxonomy' => 'product_cat',
                'field' => 'slug',
                'terms' => $category_slug,
            ),
        ),
    );

    $products = new WP_Query($args);

    // Loop through products and set them to draft
    if ($products->have_posts()) {
        while ($products->have_posts()) {
            $products->the_post();
            $product_id = get_the_ID();
            $product = wc_get_product($product_id);
            $product->set_status('draft');
            $product->save();
        }
        wp_reset_postdata();
    }

    return 'All products in the category have been set to draft.';
}

Step 2: Create a Custom Admin Page (Optional)

For a user-friendly approach, create a custom admin page where you can run this function by selecting a category from a dropdown.

// Add menu item
function add_custom_admin_menu() {
    add_submenu_page(
        'woocommerce',
        'Draft Products by Category',
        'Draft Products',
        'manage_options',
        'draft-products-category',
        'draft_products_category_page'
    );
}
add_action('admin_menu', 'add_custom_admin_menu');

// Display the admin page
function draft_products_category_page() {
    ?>
    <div class="wrap">
        <h1>Draft Products by Category</h1>
        <form method="post" action="">
            <label for="category">Select Category:</label>
            <select name="category" id="category">
                <?php
                $categories = get_terms(array('taxonomy' => 'product_cat', 'hide_empty' => false));
                foreach ($categories as $category) {
                    echo '<option value="' . esc_attr($category->slug) . '">' . esc_html($category->name) . '</option>';
                }
                ?>
            </select>
            <input type="submit" name="draft_products" value="Draft Products" class="button button-primary">
        </form>
        <?php
        if (isset($_POST['draft_products'])) {
            $category_slug = sanitize_text_field($_POST['category']);
            $result = draft_products_in_category($category_slug);
            echo '<p>' . esc_html($result) . '</p>';
        }
        ?>
    </div>
    <?php
}