WooCommerce product pages typically include tabs like “Description,” “Additional Information,” and “Reviews.” While the default order of these tabs may work for many stores, there are instances where you might want to change the order to better suit your business needs. For example, you may want to prioritise customer reviews or move additional product information higher on the page.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily change the product tab order in WooCommerce without using a plugin. This gives you full control over how your product information is displayed, enhancing the shopping experience for your customers. As always, we recommend making these changes in a child theme to ensure your custom code isn’t lost during theme updates.
Why Change the Order of Product Tabs?
Rearranging the order of your WooCommerce product tabs can help you:
- Improve Customer Experience: Prioritise the information that matters most to your customers.
- Boost Conversion Rates: Move key information, like customer reviews, higher up on the page to encourage more sales.
- Customise Product Pages: Tailor the product page layout to better fit your store’s brand and design.
Custom Code to Change Product Tab Order
The following code allows you to modify the order of the default WooCommerce product tabs. Add this code to your theme’s functions.php file, or use a child theme.
/*
* Snippet: How to Change the Product Tabs Order in WooCommerce – 2026
* Author: John Cook
* URL: https://wcsuccessacademy.com/?p=1536
* Tested with WooCommerce 10.7.0
* "This function changes the order of WooCommerce product tabs on the product page"
*/
function wcsuccess_change_product_tabs_order( $tabs ) {
// Rearrange the product tabs by setting the 'priority'
$tabs['description']['priority'] = 5; // Moves the description tab to the first position
$tabs['reviews']['priority'] = 10; // Moves the reviews tab to the second position
$tabs['additional_information']['priority'] = 15; // Moves additional info to the third position
return $tabs;
}
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_tabs', 'wcsuccess_change_product_tabs_order' );
How the Code Works
- Description Tab: This code sets the priority of the description tab to
5, making it the first tab that appears. - Reviews Tab: The reviews tab is given a priority of
10, moving it to the second position. - Additional Information Tab: The additional information tab is placed third, with a priority of
15.
You can adjust the priorities as needed to reorder the tabs according to your preferences. Lower numbers appear first, so if you want the reviews tab to appear at the top, you could set its priority to 5.
Adding Custom Tabs and Reordering Them
If your WooCommerce product page has custom tabs added by your theme or additional plugins, you can reorder these custom tabs in a similar way. You just need to know the custom tab’s slug and then adjust its priority.
Here’s an example of how to reorder a custom tab along with the default ones:
/*
* Snippet: How to Change the Product Tabs Order in WooCommerce – 2026
* Author: John Cook
* URL: https://wcsuccessacademy.com/?p=1536
* Tested with WooCommerce 10.7.0
* "This function reorders WooCommerce tabs including a custom tab"
*/
function wcsuccess_reorder_custom_product_tabs( $tabs ) {
// Reorder default tabs
$tabs['description']['priority'] = 10;
$tabs['reviews']['priority'] = 15;
$tabs['additional_information']['priority'] = 20;
// Reorder a custom tab (replace 'custom_tab' with the actual slug of your custom tab)
if ( isset( $tabs['custom_tab'] ) ) {
$tabs['custom_tab']['priority'] = 5; // Moves the custom tab to the top
}
return $tabs;
}
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_tabs', 'wcsuccess_reorder_custom_product_tabs' );
Adding Shortcodes in Tabs
If you need to include dynamic content such as a form or special offer inside any of the tabs, you can use the do_shortcode() function within the tab content. For example, if you wanted to display a custom form in the “Description” tab, you could modify the description tab’s content like this:
$tabs['description']['callback'] = function() {
echo do_shortcode('[your_custom_shortcode]'); // Replace with your actual shortcode
};
This approach allows you to dynamically insert content inside any WooCommerce tab using shortcodes.
Best Use Cases for Customising Product Tab Order
- Prioritise Key Information: If reviews are important to your business, move them higher up the page to build trust with potential customers.
- Enhance Product Presentation: Lead with the product description if you want customers to engage with the features or benefits before seeing other details.
- Highlight Additional Info: If your products require more detailed specifications, make the “Additional Information” tab the most prominent.
Conclusion
Rearranging the order of WooCommerce product tabs is a simple yet effective way to improve the layout of your product pages. Whether you want to prioritise customer reviews, product descriptions, or additional information, this customisation can help you better control how content is presented on your site.
As always, test your changes on a staging site first, and use a child theme to ensure that your customisations remain intact after theme updates. If you’re looking for more ways to enhance your WooCommerce store, check out our WooCommerce Visual Hooks Guide and wp-config generator for further customisation options.
I have been working with WordPress and WooCommerce since 2012 and have developed a deep knowledge of the content management system. Since 2012, I have developed several plugins and designed dozens of websites utilising different frameworks, CMS’s and programming languages. I am proficient in PHP, Python, Java, C, C++, R and JavaScript with limited experience in Go, Kotlin and Swift.
Educationally, I have a Master’s degree in cyber security a Bachelor’s (Hons, First Class) in Applied Research and a Graduate Certificate in Data Science. I’m currently undertaking PhD studies investigating IoT cybersecurity. I recently graduated with First Class Honours and Masters of Information Technology, receiving the Executive Dean’s Award for studies undertaken in the 2021 and 2022 academic years. I have worked in the information technology industry for the past 11 years primarily as a software/web developer specific to design, optimisation, network management and security. My research interests are in the areas of Internet of Things (IoT), 5G and Beyond Networks, information security for wireless networks and software development.
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