WooCommerce bulk editor free version limitations, field by field
Before you plan a big catalogue job with the free build of BEAR, it is worth knowing exactly where it stops. The WooCommerce bulk editor free version limitations are not a missing set of tools: the free and the premium version are the same plugin, and the free one changes many products at once only in a defined set of fields, shows ten products per page and keeps a short history. Below is the complete picture as gated in the code of version 2.2.4, field by field, including taxonomies and attributes, which older answers on the forum describe differently.
How the free version is limited
Every product field in BEAR is either open to bulk editing in the free version or reserved for the premium version. The split matters where many products change at once:
- Bulk Edit tab. Premium-only fields sit in red containers without the select it to use checkbox, and the tab notes that the fields in red containers cannot be modified in bulk in the free version.
- Binded editing. Editing one ticked product and letting all ticked products follow works only for the free fields. For any other field BEAR stops with This field is deactivated in FREE version for bulk edit! The tooltip of the binded editing switch lists the fields it accepts.
- The editor table. All columns can be switched on in the Settings tab, and a value can be changed product by product in its cell, whichever field it is.
- Rows per page. The table shows 10 products per page (5 or 10 can be chosen). The Default products count per page setting is read-only in the free version.
Fields you can bulk edit in the free version
The names below are the column titles of the editor.
| Area | Bulk editing in the free version | Premium version only |
|---|---|---|
| Main data | Thumbnail, Title, Description, Status, Date Published, Menu order, Parent (of a variation) | Gallery, Short Desc., Slug, Type, Author, Catalog Visibility, Featured, Reviews allowed, Purchase note |
| Prices and tax | Regular price, Sale price | Sale time from, Sale time to, Tax status, Tax class |
| Inventory | SKU, Manage stock, Stock quantity, Stock status | Allow backorders, Sold individually |
| Shipping | Weight, Length, Width | Height, Shipping class |
| Linked products | Upsells, Grouped products | Cross-sells |
| Downloads and product flags | Down.Files | Downloadable, Virtual, Download limit, Download expiry |
| External products | none | Product url, Aff.Button text |
| Statistics | none | Total sales, Review count, Average rating |
| Taxonomies | Categories | Tags, brands and every other product taxonomy |
| Attributes | One global attribute | All other attributes, Attribute visibility |
| Meta fields | Two attached meta fields | Any number |
A few lines of this table surprise people. Height is premium while weight, length and width are free. Upsells are free, cross-sells are not. The sale price can be bulk edited, but scheduling it with Sale time from and Sale time to cannot, so scheduled sales in bulk need the premium version. The same goes for the short description, as the article on bulk editing descriptions notes. The text behaviours, variables and number operations of the Bulk Edit tab work the same on every field that is open.
Taxonomies and attributes in the free version
Older forum answers say that the free version edits two taxonomies, categories and tags. In version 2.2.4 the rule is different:
- Taxonomies: only Categories is open to bulk editing. Tags, WooCommerce brands and custom taxonomies registered by other plugins are listed as columns but sit in red containers in the Bulk Edit tab. Moving products between categories in bulk is fully available; bulk editing categories shows how.
- Attributes: only the first global attribute is open, and "first" means the first in WooCommerce's list of attributes, which is sorted alphabetically by the attribute's slug. With the attributes brand, color and size, the free version bulk edits brand only. Attribute visibility is premium.
- Variations: the Variations Advanced Bulk Operations tools, which add attribute values to variable products, generate and delete variations and set their order, are not limited in the free version. What is limited is the attribute column of simple and variable products in the Bulk Edit tab, so adding attributes to many products beyond the first attribute needs the premium version.
History, meta fields, permissions and the AI assistant
- History. The free version keeps the last two single edits and the last two bulk operations of each user and deletes older records, so only those can be rolled back. Revert a wrong operation before you run two more. The premium version keeps everything; see the History documentation.
- Meta fields. The Meta Fields tab works with two meta fields. If more are attached, only the first two become columns. This covers fields of other plugins too, such as a GTIN or a cost price; Meta Fields explains how they are attached.
- Shop manager permissions. In the free version every column is visible to shop managers, and the visible for the shop manager checkbox of each column cannot be changed. Hiding columns from managers per field is a premium feature; limiting the shop manager role shows it.
- AI assistant. Through the MCP server, an AI assistant connected to the free version can write to at most 100 products every 30 minutes, shared by the whole shop, and only in the fields that are open to bulk editing; other fields are closed to it even for a single product. The premium version has neither limit.
What works the same in both versions
The rest of the plugin is not limited in the free version: the Filters tab with all its filters, export to CSV and XML, the price calculator, duplicating and creating products, deleting products in bulk, Variations Advanced Bulk Operations, per-user column settings and the developer hooks. A test on the free version is therefore a fair test of how BEAR works on your catalogue and your server, as long as the fields you need are in the free column of the table above.
Which version is installed, and switching
In the free version, the Help tab says Current version of the plugin is FREE, the editor shows at most 10 rows, and the Bulk Edit tab shows red containers. Both versions use the same settings, so columns, filters, meta fields and History carry over when you replace the free build with the premium one. The order of steps matters, though: upgrading the bulk editor from free to pro explains how to switch without losing History or ending up with two copies installed.
If a field behaves differently from this list in your installation, check the version on the Plugins screen and ask on the BEAR support forum.