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WPPoland Documentation

Getting started

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • WordPress 6.5 or newer.
  • WooCommerce 8.0 or newer, active.
  • PHP 8.1 or newer.

Gift Cards declares compatibility with WooCommerce HPOS (Custom Order Tables) and the Cart/Checkout Blocks. If WooCommerce is not active, the plugin stays inert and shows an admin notice instead of issuing or redeeming anything.

Install and activate

Section titled “Install and activate”
  1. Upload the plugin to /wp-content/plugins/giftcards, or install it from Plugins → Add New.
  2. Activate it. On activation the plugin creates its {prefix}giftcards database table and seeds the default settings.
  3. Open WooCommerce → Gift Cards and review the settings: the Enable toggle (on by default), the optional Code prefix, the Checkout discount label, the Show codes on order toggle, and the recipient email Subject and Body.

The settings page is available to anyone with the manage_woocommerce capability, so shop managers, not just administrators, can configure and save it.

Create a gift-card product

Section titled “Create a gift-card product”
  1. Create or edit a product and set its price to the gift-card value (a $50 card is a product priced $50).
  2. On the General tab, tick Gift card.
  3. Save.

The flag is stored as the _giftcards_is_gift_card product meta. There is no separate product type, a gift card is an ordinary simple product with this box ticked. Quantity is honoured: buying two units issues two separate codes, each worth the per-unit price.

Sell and deliver

Section titled “Sell and deliver”

A shopper buys the gift-card product like any other. When the order reaches Completed status, the plugin generates a unique code per unit and emails it to the recipient with wp_mail. By default the recipient is the order’s billing email, so a card is always deliverable; a per-line recipient email captured at add-to-cart time overrides it. The email uses your configured subject and body.

Codes are issued on completion, not on payment, an order sitting in Processing has not issued its codes yet. If you fulfil gift cards instantly, set those orders to Completed (WooCommerce can do this automatically for virtual/downloadable products).

Redeem a code

Section titled “Redeem a code”

At checkout the Have a gift card? field accepts a code. Its balance is applied as a discount on the order total and shown on its own line using your Checkout discount label. On completion the balance is reduced by the amount used, and any remainder stays on the code for a later order, partial redemption is automatic.

Free and Pro boundary

Section titled “Free and Pro boundary”

The free edition covers selling cards, the emailed code, redemption at checkout and a stored balance with partial redemption. Gift Cards Pro adds buyer-chosen custom amounts, scheduled delivery, a balance-check shortcode, admin redemption history, custom card email designs and bulk CSV generation.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”

Need help?

Section titled “Need help?”