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How to Fix WooCommerce Product Image Hover Style Not Saving

46 threads Sep 7, 2025 Core → Everything else wordpress

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If you've recently tried to set your WooCommerce product images to swap on hover, only to find the setting reverts to 'None' every time you save, you're not alone. This is a common and frustrating issue that can break a key interactive feature of your online store. This guide will walk you through the most common causes and proven solutions to get your image hover effects working again.

Why Does This Happen?

The issue where the 'Swap images' hover option fails to save is typically not a core bug in WooCommerce itself. More often, it's the result of an external conflict. The most common culprits are:

  • Plugin Conflicts: Another plugin, particularly those for caching, optimization, or image handling, can interfere with how WooCommerce saves its settings.
  • Theme Conflicts: Your active WordPress theme may have outdated WooCommerce templates or custom code that overrides the hover functionality.
  • Cached Data: Aggressive caching—either on your server, in a plugin, or in your browser—can serve an old version of the page that doesn't reflect your new settings.

How to Troubleshoot and Fix the Issue

Follow these steps in order. After each step, check to see if you can now save the 'Swap images' setting.

1. Clear All Caches

This is the easiest first step and often resolves the issue.

  • Clear your browser cache or try accessing your site in a private/incognito window.
  • If you use a caching plugin (e.g., WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, LiteSpeed Cache), purge all its caches.
  • If you use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, purge its cache as well.

2. Check for Plugin Conflicts

A conflicting plugin is a very common cause. To test for this, you'll need to temporarily disable all other plugins except WooCommerce.

  1. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
  2. Deactivate all plugins except WooCommerce. (You can use a plugin like Health Check & Troubleshooting to do this safely without affecting site visitors).
  3. Go back to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Display and try to save the 'Swap images' option again.
  4. If it saves successfully, reactivate your plugins one-by-one, checking the setting after each activation. This will help you identify the problematic plugin.

3. Check for a Theme Conflict

Your theme controls the display of product pages and could be causing the problem.

  1. Temporarily switch your theme to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four or Storefront.
  2. Navigate back to the hover style setting and try to save it.
  3. If it works with the default theme, the issue lies with your original theme. You will need to contact your theme's support team for assistance, as they may need to update their WooCommerce template files.

4. Increase PHP Memory Limit

A lack of server memory can sometimes cause settings pages to malfunction.

  1. Edit your site's wp-config.php file via FTP or your hosting file manager.
  2. Find the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */.
  3. Just before it, add this line: define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
  4. Save the file and try saving the setting again.

What to Do If Nothing Works

If you have followed all the steps above and the problem persists, the issue may require deeper investigation by the WooCommerce development team. Since this is a specific functionality of the WooCommerce plugin, it is recommended to seek further help on the official WooCommerce support forums. Be sure to describe the steps you have already taken to troubleshoot, as this will help volunteers there provide a more targeted solution.

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