Disabling Persistent Cart in WooCommerce while using the Global Cart
WooCommerce’s persistent cart feature is designed to save cart contents for logged-in users, enabling them to pick up where they left off. However, when using the WooCommerce Global Cart plugin, this functionality may not always be desirable. Specifically, persistent cart behavior can cause the user’s saved cart to merge with their existing global cart upon login.
If your store relies on WooCommerce Global Cart to synchronize carts across multiple sites or sessions, disabling the persistent cart ensures a cleaner, more predictable shopping experience.
Why Disable the Persistent Cart?
When a logged-in user has a saved cart (stored by WooCommerce) and an active cart (managed by WooCommerce Global Cart), WooCommerce attempts to merge these carts on login. While this behavior is intentional and doesn’t conflict with WooCommerce Global Cart, it may result in:
- Unexpected Cart Merging: Items from the saved persistent cart can combine with the active cart managed by Global Cart. This might confuse users who expect the global cart to remain as-is.
- Improved Consistency: By disabling persistent carts, users interact solely with the global cart, ensuring a consistent and predictable cart state.
How to Disable the Persistent Cart
You can easily disable WooCommerce’s persistent cart by adding this snippet to your theme’s functions.php file:
add_filter('woocommerce_persistent_cart_enabled', '__return_false');
This prevents WooCommerce from saving cart contents in the database, ensuring that users see only the active global cart during their session.
Benefits of Disabling Persistent Cart
- No Cart Merging: The global cart remains untouched when users log in, maintaining its integrity.
- Streamlined Cart Management: Users interact with a single cart managed by Global Cart without interference from WooCommerce’s persistent cart system.
By disabling persistent carts, your store ensures a seamless experience, fully leveraging WooCommerce Global Cart’s capabilities.