How to Access and Report on Custom Checkout Field Data in WooCommerce

Many WooCommerce store owners use the 'Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce' plugin to add custom fields to their checkout process. A common and powerful use case is to collect additional information from customers, such as newsletter sign-up preferences, marketing source, or special instructions.

However, a frequent point of confusion arises after the data is collected: how do you actually view, search, and report on this information? Users often expect to find this custom data in WooCommerce's standard order reports or as a filterable column on the Orders screen, only to discover it's not readily available.

Why This Happens

The core functionality of the 'Checkout Field Editor' plugin is focused on the creation and display of fields during the checkout process. While it successfully saves the custom field data to each individual order, the plugin's Lite version does not include built-in tools for aggregating, searching, or reporting on that data across multiple orders. This is a limitation of the free version's scope. The data is stored, but accessing it in a bulk, useful way requires additional steps or tools.

Common Solutions and Workarounds

If you need to work with your custom field data, here are the most common approaches:

1. View Data on Individual Orders

The most straightforward method is to view the data on a per-order basis. The custom field information you collect is stored within each WooCommerce order. You can find it in two places in your WordPress admin:

• Order Admin Page: Navigate to WooCommerce > Orders and click on a specific order. The custom field data is typically displayed in the Order details section.
• Customer Email Notifications: The data is also usually included in the order confirmation emails sent to the admin and the customer.

This method is fine for checking a few orders but becomes impractical for analyzing trends or extracting data for many orders.

2. Export Orders and Use a Spreadsheet

For basic reporting, the best free method is to export all order data and filter it in a program like Excel or Google Sheets.

1. Install a plugin like WooCommerce Customer/Order/Coupon Export or a similar export tool.
2. Run an export of your orders, ensuring the configuration includes meta data or all possible fields.
3. Once exported, open the CSV file in your spreadsheet application. Your custom field data will likely be in its own column, which you can then sort, filter, and analyze.

This gives you a one-time snapshot of your data and is a powerful, free way to perform custom analysis.

3. Check for Premium Features

Based on community inquiries, the team behind 'Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce' has indicated that enhanced reporting and data access features are a focus of their premium offering. If built-in reporting is a critical requirement for your store, you may want to investigate whether the Pro version includes the specific reporting features you need, such as:

• Adding custom field columns to the Orders screen.
• Searching orders based on custom field values.
• Generating reports that segment data by custom field selections.

For specific questions regarding premium features, you would need to contact the plugin's support directly through their official website, as WordPress.org forum guidelines restrict support for paid products on their platform.

4. Custom Code Solution (For Developers)

For those with development skills, it's possible to add a column to the WooCommerce Orders admin screen to display a custom field's value. The following code snippet is an example of how to display a custom field named 'rewards_member' in the orders list. You would add this to your child theme's functions.php file.

// ADD COLUMN HEADER
add_filter( 'manage_edit-shop_order_columns', 'add_custom_field_order_admin_column' );
function add_custom_field_order_admin_column( $columns ) {
    $columns['rewards_member'] = 'Rewards Member'; // Replace with your column name
    return $columns;
}

// POPULATE THE COLUMN WITH DATA
add_action( 'manage_shop_order_posts_custom_column', 'populate_custom_field_order_admin_column' );
function populate_custom_field_order_admin_column( $column ) {
    global $post;
    if ( 'rewards_member' === $column ) { // Match the column ID from above
        $order = wc_get_order( $post->ID );
        echo $order->get_meta( 'rewards_member' ); // Replace 'rewards_member' with your field key
    }
}

Warning: Only attempt this if you are comfortable with code. Always back up your site before making changes.

Conclusion

While the Lite version of 'Checkout Field Editor' excels at collecting custom data, accessing that data for reporting requires using one of the methods above. For small-scale needs, checking individual orders or exporting to a spreadsheet are effective free solutions. For larger stores requiring automated, built-in reporting, exploring the plugin's premium capabilities or custom development may be the best path forward.