---
title: Manually Relate Categories per Product, Category, Tag or Taxonomy
description: "Hand-pick which categories appear as related in WooCommerce, per product, category, tag or taxonomy. Pro."
url: "https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-manually-relate-categories/"
updated: "2026-09-27"
category: Pro Features
---

# Manually Relate Categories per Product, Category, Tag or Taxonomy

To manually relate categories in Related Categories for WooCommerce Pro, go to WPFactory > Related Categories and enable the options under the Relate Manually heading on the Single or Archives sub-tab. Then pick the related categories in the Related categories field on each category, tag, custom taxonomy term, or product edit screen. This is a Pro feature.

### Before you start

- WooCommerce, active.
- [Related Categories for WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/) Pro (in the free version these fields are visible but disabled).
- The relevant section (**Single** or **Archives**) enabled first.

Enable the options at **WPFactory > Related Categories** (also reachable at **WooCommerce > Settings > Related Categories**), under the **Relate Manually** heading on the **Single** or **Archives** sub-tab.

![Relate Manually options for Related Categories for WooCommerce: Per category, Per tag, Per custom taxonomy](https://wpfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/Relate-Manually.png)

### The four manual sources

| Label | Option ID (array key) | Where you assign categories | Free/Pro |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Per category | `relate_per_category` | Products > Categories > Edit category | Pro |
| Per tag | `relate_per_tag` | Products > Tags > Edit tag | Pro |
| Per custom taxonomy | `relate_per_taxonomy` | Each custom taxonomy term edit page | Pro |
| Per product | `relate_per_product` | Products > Edit product (meta box) | Pro |

**Per product** appears on the **Single** sub-tab only. **Per category**, **Per tag** and **Per custom taxonomy** appear on both the Single and Archives sub-tabs.

### Per category

1. Enable **Per category** and save.
2. Go to **Products > Categories** and open a category for editing.
3. In the new **Related categories** field, select the categories you want related to that category, then update.

### Per tag

1. Enable **Per tag** and save.
2. Open a tag under **Products > Tags** and pick its related categories in the **Related categories** field.

### Per custom taxonomy

**Per custom taxonomy** is a text field, not a checkbox. Enter the taxonomy slugs you want to enable as a comma-separated list, for example `product_brand,product_color`. A **Related categories** field is then added to each term edit page of those taxonomies, so you can relate categories to a brand or any other custom taxonomy term.

### Per product and the Override sub-option

1. Enable **Per product** on the Single sub-tab and save.
2. Edit a product and find the **Related categories** meta box.
3. Set **Enabled/Disabled** to **Yes** and choose the categories. If you set it to Yes but pick no categories, the section is hidden for that product.

The **Override** sub-option (`relate_per_product_override`, default Yes) decides whether the per-product list **replaces** the automatically related categories, or is **merged** with them. Turn Override off to merge.

### Multi-language sites

If you run WPML or Polylang, set the **Multi-language** option on the **Advanced** sub-tab so manual relations resolve to the default-language product or term ID. This affects Per category, Per tag, Per custom taxonomy and Per product.

### Ready to set this up?

Relate Manually is a Pro feature of [Related Categories](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/). If you are still on the free version, upgrading unlocks hand-picked related categories along with the rest of the Pro toolkit. [Get Related Categories Pro](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/).

Related articles

- [Relate Options: How Related Categories Are Chosen](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-relate-options/)
- [Archives Options: Related Categories on Shop and Category Pages](https://wpfactory.com/docs/improving-shop-archives/)
- [Single Product Page Options for Related Categories](https://wpfactory.com/docs/single-product-settings/)
- [Display Related Categories with the Widget](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-widget/)
- [Related Categories Shortcodes](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-shortcodes/)