How to Add a Custom Currency and Symbol in Woocommerce?

Adding a custom currency and symbol in WooCommerce involves a few steps, and it’s essential to do it correctly to ensure accurate pricing and proper display on your online store. Custom currencies are often required when your store operates in a region or country that uses a currency not included in WooCommerce by default. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of adding a custom currency and symbol in WooCommerce.

Step 1: Prepare Your Store

Before you begin adding a custom currency, make sure your WooCommerce store is set up and running correctly. Ensure that you have the necessary access and permissions to modify your WordPress site.

Step 2: Backup Your Website

Whenever making significant changes to your website, including currency adjustments, it’s crucial to create a backup. This ensures that you can restore your site to its previous state if anything goes wrong during the customization process.

To create a backup:

1. Use a WordPress backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to back up your site.
2. Store the backup files in a secure location, such as a cloud storage service or an offline drive.

Step 3: Access Your Website’s Functions.php File

To add a custom currency and symbol in WooCommerce, you’ll need to edit your website’s functions.php file. This file contains custom code that can enhance your WordPress website’s functionality.

Here’s how to access it:

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to “Appearance” and select “Theme Editor.”
3. In the Theme Editor, find and select your active theme on the right-hand side.
4. Locate and click on the functions.php file on the list of theme files. It’s usually found under the “Theme Functions” heading.

Step 4: Add Custom Code

Once you’ve accessed the functions.php file, you can add the custom code needed to introduce your custom currency and symbol. You’ll need to add a function to your theme’s functions.php file to register the new currency.

Here’s an example of the custom code to add a custom currency and symbol. Replace 'YOUR_CURRENCY_CODE' with your desired currency code (e.g., ‘XYZ’) and 'YOUR_CURRENCY_SYMBOL' with the currency symbol you want to use (e.g., ‘₹’):

// Add custom currency and symbol to WooCommerce
add_filter(‘woocommerce_currencies’, ‘add_custom_currency’);

function add_custom_currency($currencies) {
$currencies[‘YOUR_CURRENCY_CODE’] = __(‘Custom Currency’, ‘woocommerce’);
return $currencies;
}

add_filter(‘woocommerce_currency_symbol’, ‘add_custom_currency_symbol’, 10, 2);

function add_custom_currency_symbol($currency_symbol, $currency) {
switch ($currency) {
case ‘YOUR_CURRENCY_CODE’:
return ‘YOUR_CURRENCY_SYMBOL’;
default:
return $currency_symbol;
}
}

Here’s a breakdown of what each part of the code does:

• add_filter('woocommerce_currencies', 'add_custom_currency'): This line adds a filter to WooCommerce’s currency list and calls the add_custom_currency function when the filter is applied.
• function add_custom_currency($currencies) { ... }: This function adds your custom currency to WooCommerce’s list of currencies. Replace 'YOUR_CURRENCY_CODE' with your desired currency code and 'Custom Currency' with the currency name.
• add_filter('woocommerce_currency_symbol', 'add_custom_currency_symbol', 10, 2): This line adds a filter to WooCommerce’s currency symbols and calls the add_custom_currency_symbol function when the filter is applied.
• function add_custom_currency_symbol($currency_symbol, $currency) { ... }: This function assigns your custom currency symbol to the corresponding currency code. Replace 'YOUR_CURRENCY_CODE' with your currency code and 'YOUR_CURRENCY_SYMBOL' with your currency symbol.

Step 5: Save Your Changes

After adding the custom code to your functions.php file, make sure to save the changes. Click the “Update File” button in the Theme Editor to save the modified functions.php file.

Step 6: Test Your Custom Currency and Symbol

To ensure that your custom currency and symbol are correctly added, you should test them on your WooCommerce store. Here’s how:

1. Go to your WooCommerce store’s front end (your website’s shop page).
2. Add a product to the cart and proceed to the checkout page.
3. On the checkout page, verify that the custom currency and symbol are displayed correctly.
4. If everything appears as expected, you’ve successfully added a custom currency and symbol to your WooCommerce store.

Step 7: Styling and Formatting

After successfully adding your custom currency and symbol, you may want to style and format the way they are displayed on your WooCommerce store to ensure a seamless user experience. You can achieve this through custom CSS and further code adjustments.

Custom CSS:

You can add custom CSS to your WordPress theme to control the appearance of your custom currency and symbol. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to “Appearance” > “Customize.”
2. Depending on your theme, you may find a “Additional CSS” or similar option in the customizer. Click on it.
3. Add your custom CSS code to style your custom currency and symbol. For example, you can adjust the font size, color, and positioning to match your store’s design.

/* Custom Currency Style */
.woocommerce-currency-symbol {
font-size: 20px;
color: #ff9900;
margin-right: 5px;
}

/* Custom Currency Code Style */
.woocommerce-Price-currencySymbol {
font-weight: bold;
text-transform: uppercase;
}

4. Click the “Publish” button to save your changes.

Advanced Formatting:

If you want to format the currency values themselves, such as decimal places and thousands of separators, you can use the WooCommerce built-in formatting options. Here’s how to adjust them:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “WooCommerce” > “Settings.”
2. Click on the “General” tab.
3. Under the “Currency options” section, you can configure settings such as the number of decimals, decimal separators, and thousands separators.
4. Make the necessary changes to format your custom currency as desired.
5. Save your settings.

Step 8: Localizing Your Custom Currency

Localizing your custom currency ensures that it appears correctly in different regions and languages. WooCommerce provides a way to do this through translation files or localization plugins.

Using Translation Files:

1. You can create a custom translation file for your custom currency. Tools like Poedit or the built-in WordPress translation tool are commonly used for this purpose.
2. Generate a .po and .mo file for your language.
3. In your translation file, define the translation for your custom currency and symbol.
4. Save the translation files with the correct language and region codes (e.g., en_US for US English) in the /wp-content/languages/woocommerce/ directory.
5. The custom currency and symbol should now be localized for your chosen language.

Using Localization Plugins:

Alternatively, you can use localization plugins like “Loco Translate” or “WPML” to simplify the localization process. These plugins allow you to manage translations from within your WordPress dashboard without dealing with translation files directly.

Step 9: Currency Exchange Rates

If your store deals with multiple currencies, you may need to set up currency exchange rates to allow customers to view prices in their preferred currency. WooCommerce offers currency switching options with the help of compatible plugins.

Here’s how you can set up currency exchange rates:

1. Install and activate a currency conversion plugin, such as “WooCommerce Currency Switcher” or “WooCommerce Multi-Currency.”
2. Configure the plugin settings to specify exchange rates for your custom currency and other supported currencies. You may need to define the exchange rates manually or use an automated service.
3. Add currency switcher widgets or buttons to your store so that customers can select their preferred currency.
4. Customers can now view product prices in their chosen currency, and WooCommerce will automatically convert prices based on the exchange rates you’ve set.

Step 10: Testing and Quality Assurance

After implementing your custom currency and symbol, it’s crucial to thoroughly test your WooCommerce store to ensure everything works correctly. Here are some key testing areas:

• Product Pricing: Check that product prices display your custom currency and symbol accurately throughout your store, including on product pages, cart, and checkout pages.
• Checkout Process: Test the entire checkout process with different payment methods to ensure the currency is correctly converted and processed.
• Currency Switching: If you have multiple currencies and a currency switcher, verify that it accurately changes the currency and updates product prices accordingly.
• Localization: If you’ve localized your custom currency, test it with different languages and regions to ensure proper translation.
• Compatibility: Ensure that your custom currency does not conflict with other WooCommerce plugins or functionalities.
• Performance: Monitor the performance of your store after implementing the custom currency to make sure it doesn’t impact site speed or user experience.

Step 11: Support and Maintenance

Once you’ve successfully added your custom currency and symbol, it’s essential to provide ongoing support and maintenance. This includes:

• Regularly checking for updates to WooCommerce and currency-related plugins.
• Monitoring for any issues related to your custom currency.
• Keep an eye on currency exchange rates if you have multiple currencies.
• Addressing customer inquiries or issues related to currency display.
• Staying informed about WooCommerce’s best practices and currency-related developments.

By following these steps and conducting thorough testing, you can ensure that your custom currency and symbol are seamlessly integrated into your WooCommerce store, providing a smooth shopping experience for your customers.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues during the process, here are some common troubleshooting steps:

• Syntax Errors: Ensure that there are no syntax errors in the code you added to your functions.php file. Even a small mistake can cause problems.
• Cache: Clear your website cache if you have a caching plugin installed. Cached pages may not immediately reflect your changes.
• Theme Compatibility: Ensure that your theme is compatible with WooCommerce and supports custom currencies and symbols.
• Plugin Conflicts: If you’re using WooCommerce-related plugins, conflicts may occur. Deactivate plugins one by one to identify any conflicts.
• WordPress and WooCommerce Versions: Make sure you’re using the latest versions of WordPress and WooCommerce, as older versions may not support certain features.

Conclusion

Adding a custom currency and symbol in WooCommerce can be a useful customization for stores operating in regions with unique currencies. By following the steps outlined in this guide and adding the custom code to your theme’s functions.php file, you can introduce your custom currency and symbol to your WooCommerce store. Remember to back up your site and thoroughly test the changes to ensure they display correctly during the checkout process.