Product Notes Troubleshooting

Most problems with Product Notes Tab & Private Admin Notes for WooCommerce come from a disabled option, a visibility rule or a theme that skips WooCommerce hooks. Check the fixes below, then review your settings at WPFactory > Product Notes (also reachable at WooCommerce > Settings > Product Notes).

A “Private notes” tab shows on my product page #

Cause: the private Product tab option is on by default. The tab is shown only to logged-in users with the manage_woocommerce capability (administrators and shop managers), so you see it but customers do not.

Fix:

1. Open the product in a private browser window, logged out, to confirm customers do not see it.
2. If you do not want it even for your team, go to Private notes > Frontend Options, untick Product tab and save.

The Notes tab does not appear #

1. Check that the product has at least one non-empty note of that type. Products without notes get no tab.
2. Check that Enable section is on at the top of the Public notes (or Private notes) section.
3. Check that Frontend Options > Product tab is ticked.
4. If Logged users only is on in Public notes, guests see no public notes. Log in or untick it.
5. For private notes, make sure you are logged in as an administrator or shop manager.
6. If other tabs are also missing, your theme or page builder may replace the WooCommerce product tabs. Use the [alg_wc_product_notes] shortcode to place notes instead (see the developer reference).

Notes do not show at the single product or shop page positions #

1. Tick Single product page or Shop pages, choose at least one entry in Position(s) and click Save changes.
2. After saving, check the content box for each position still contains %product_notes%. Without the placeholder, only the wrapper is printed.
3. Your theme must run the standard WooCommerce hooks for the chosen position. If a theme or builder template does not, nothing attaches there. Try another position, or use the shortcode.

HTML in my notes shows as code #

Cause: Escape HTML is on by default for the product tab (and for admin orders, the admin products column, export and PDF documents).

Fix: go to Advanced > Formatting Options, untick Escape HTML for that position and save. The output is still filtered to safe post HTML.

Formatting Options for a position are missing #

The Advanced section only lists positions that are enabled. Enable the position in Private notes or Public notes first, save, then return to Advanced.

Variation notes do not show to customers #

1. In Public notes, tick both General Options > Note per variation and Frontend Options > Variation description.
2. Remember that the product tab shows the parent product’s notes. In the cart and checkout, a variation shows its own notes, not the parent’s.

See how to add notes to product variations.

Options are greyed out #

Admin products list column, admin orders, emails, search, export, import, quick edit, bulk edit, the Compatibility Options and the order tools are Pro features. Install and activate Pro (see Free vs Pro). If Pro is active and options are still greyed out, reload the settings page and confirm the plugin listed as active is the one ending in “Pro”.

Notes are missing from orders or emails (Pro) #

1. Enable Admin orders, Admin emails or Customer emails in the section that holds the notes. Each section has its own switches.
2. Customer emails sends public notes only. Private notes can only go to admin emails.
3. With Save in order items meta on, only orders created afterwards get a saved copy. Run Tools > Orders > Add to fill in older orders.
4. Variation notes are included only when Note per variation is on in the same section.

See how to show product notes in orders and emails.

Imported notes are not saved (Pro) #

1. Tick Import in the section you are importing into.
2. On the WooCommerce import mapping screen, map the column to Private note or Public note. An exported file’s “Private notes” column is not mapped automatically.

Translated products (WPML) show no notes #

Cause: each WPML translation is a separate product, and notes are saved on the product you edited.

Fix: go to Advanced, tick WPML: Use default language product ID and save. Storefront positions then read the notes from the default-language product.

Private notes are visible on a public page #

The [alg_wc_product_notes] shortcode does not check who is viewing. If it is set to private_or_public="private", anyone who can see that page sees the notes. Remove the shortcode from public pages, or wrap it in your own visibility check.

Notes were deleted by mistake #

Tools > Products > Delete and Orders > Delete cannot be undone. Restore from a database backup. Reset section settings does not delete notes; it only restores that section’s options.

Need a hand? Our team answers every ticket on the Product Notes support forum.