Features
Product preview
Editors see an unpublished product on the real storefront product page, straight from the WordPress Preview button, through a secure one-time link.
WordPress’s own Preview shows a product on the WordPress theme, which a headless store never uses. Product preview closes that gap: an editor clicks Preview in wp-admin and sees the draft exactly as Shoppers will, on the storefront’s own product page, before it goes live.
- Where it shows
- The storefront's product page, at
/preview/product/plus the product id, opened from wp-admin - Configure in
- Automatic once StoreFront › Settings › General › Storefront URL is set
- Requires
- WooCommerce mode and the Companion plugin; a user who can edit the product
- Try it in Demo Mode
- Open
/api/preview/enter?token=demo-preview-d1to preview a seeded draft
What editors get
Section titled “What editors get”- The real page. The draft is rendered by the same product page code as a live product: gallery, variations, trust badges, videos and all.
- A clear preview bar. A fixed bar names the product’s status (Draft, Pending review, Scheduled, or Private) and, for a scheduled product, when it goes live in the store’s timezone. It offers Edit in admin and Exit preview, with the reminder “Shoppers can’t see this product yet.”
- Nothing written. Add to cart, buy now, wishlist, compare and reviews are shown but disabled, with a line saying why. No “Notify me” and no recently-viewed tracking.
- No sign-in step. The editor never signs in to the storefront. WordPress vouches for them in the link.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”- With a Storefront URL set, every wp-admin link to an unpublished product points at the storefront: the editor’s Preview button, the Preview row action in the Products list, and the admin bar.
- WordPress mints a signed, one-time link for the person looking at the screen, and only if they can edit that product. The link is valid for 12 hours.
- The storefront exchanges the link for a one-hour preview session for that single product, kept in a private cookie.
- Every page load re-checks with WordPress that the editor can still edit the product. Removing their role ends an open preview straight away.
- If the product is published in the meantime, the preview redirects to its live page.
Links to published products open the public storefront page instead, so View always lands on the storefront too.
Set it up
Section titled “Set it up”There is nothing to switch on. Once the Companion plugin knows where the storefront lives, the Preview buttons start pointing there. Set the address under StoreFront › Settings › General › Storefront URL; see Connect the storefront. Editors then need nothing more than permission to edit the product.
Good to know
Section titled “Good to know”- Unpublished products only. Drafts, pending, scheduled and private products can be previewed as last saved. Unsaved edits to a published product can’t be, because WooCommerce keeps no revisions of product data. Click Update first, then view the live page.
- Links are single-use. A link opens one session and then stops working. If a preview has expired, the storefront shows “This preview isn’t available”; go back to the product in wp-admin and click Preview again. Reloading the edit screen draws a fresh link.
- Private by design. Preview pages are never cached, are marked
noindex, are blocked inrobots.txt, and never appear in listings or search. A refusal never says which check failed. - Products only. Posts, pages and other content keep WordPress’s own preview.
- The mobile tab bar steps aside on preview pages, so the preview bar stays clear.