How to Enable Custom Order Columns in WordPress

What Is the Enable Custom Order Columns feature?

The default WooCommerce admin orders table shows: order number, date, status, customer, total, items, actions. The Enable Custom Order Columns feature adds the ability to show 19 additional columns:

• Discount columns: Total Discount, Total Items
• Address columns: City, Postcode/ZIP, Country, State/County
• Customer columns: Username, Customer Email, Customer Type, Customer Since
• Payment columns: Payment Method
• Order notes: Order Notes
• Shipping columns: Shipping Method, Shipping Total
• Tax: Tax Total
• Status history: Status History
• Product categories: Product Categories
• Downloadable items: Downloadable Items
• Virtual items: Virtual Items

Each column is a sub-option that can be independently enabled. The master toggle controls whether ANY custom columns are shown.

Why You Need It

The default orders table is functional but minimal. For stores that process many orders, having the right columns visible at a glance saves time:

• Customer service: See customer details (email, since, type) without opening each order
• Fulfillment: See shipping method and address without opening each order
• Finance: See payment method and discount without opening each order
• Reporting: Quick visual scan of patterns (which payment method, which customer type, etc.)

For most stores, custom columns are a small but measurable efficiency improvement.

How to Enable Custom Order Columns in WordPress

Step 1: Navigate to Settings

Click into the Classic Monks plugin settings in your WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Go to the WooCommerce Tab

Click on the WooCommerce menu, then click the Orders subtab.

Step 3: Enable Custom Order Columns

Scroll to Enable Custom Order Columns. Toggle on to enable the column system. Nested options expand with the 19 column toggles.

Step 4: Select Columns

Toggle on the columns you want to display. Each column is independent.

Step 5: Save Changes

Click Save Changes.

Step 6: Test

Go to WooCommerce > Orders in the WordPress admin. The selected columns should appear in the orders table.

Available Columns

The 19 available columns are:

Column	Description
Total Discount	Total discount amount applied to each order.
Total Items	Total number of items in each order.
City	Customer’s billing city.
Postcode/ZIP	Customer’s billing postcode.
Country	Customer’s billing country.
State/County	Customer’s billing state.
Username	Customer’s WordPress username.
Payment Method	Payment method used (Stripe, PayPal, etc.).
Order Notes	Latest order note for each order.
Shipping Method	Shipping method selected.
Shipping Total	Shipping cost for the order.
Tax Total	Tax amount for the order.
Status History	Number of status changes (click for full history).
Customer Email	Customer’s email address.
Customer Type	New vs. returning customer.
Customer Since	Date the customer registered.
Product Categories	Comma-separated list of categories.
Downloadable Items	Whether the order contains downloadable products.
Virtual Items	Whether the order contains virtual products.

Configuration Options

Option	Description	Default
Enable Custom Order Columns	Master toggle.	Off
Total Discount	Toggle for this column.	Off
Total Items	Toggle for this column.	Off
City	Toggle for this column.	Off
Postcode/ZIP	Toggle for this column.	Off
Country	Toggle for this column.	Off
State/County	Toggle for this column.	Off
Username	Toggle for this column.	Off
Payment Method	Toggle for this column.	Off
Order Notes	Toggle for this column.	Off
Shipping Method	Toggle for this column.	Off
Shipping Total	Toggle for this column.	Off
Tax Total	Toggle for this column.	Off
Status History	Toggle for this column.	Off
Customer Email	Toggle for this column.	Off
Customer Type	Toggle for this column.	Off
Customer Since	Toggle for this column.	Off
Product Categories	Toggle for this column.	Off
Downloadable Items	Toggle for this column.	Off
Virtual Items	Toggle for this column.	Off

What Gets Affected

• The admin orders table: selected columns appear after the default columns
• The column sort order: follows the toggle order in the settings (you can rearrange by changing the toggle order)
• The export (CSV): selected columns are included

What Does NOT Get Affected

• The customer-facing order summary
• The order detail page in the admin
• The order emails
• The WooCommerce REST API for orders (returns the same data regardless of column toggles)

Advanced Options (Developers)

This feature registers 3 WordPress hooks in woo-orders.php:

Actions:

• manage_shop_order_posts_custom_column calls cm_custom_order_column_content() (Displays custom column content)

Filters:

• manage_edit-shop_order_columns calls cm_register_custom_order_columns() (Adds custom columns to order list)
• manage_edit-shop_order_sortable_columns calls cm_custom_order_column_sorting() (Makes custom columns sortable)

// Hooked in woo-orders.php
add_filter( 'manage_edit-shop_order_columns', 'cm_register_custom_order_columns' );

The feature modifies WooCommerce behavior by registering or removing hooks. Disabling it reverses those changes.

Troubleshooting

A column is not showing

Cause: The column toggle is off, or a caching plugin is serving the old page.
Fix: Verify the column toggle is on. Clear all caching layers (page cache, object cache, CDN).

The column is showing but with empty data

Cause: The order doesn’t have the relevant data (e.g., a guest order doesn’t have a username).
Fix: This is expected. The column is shown for all orders, but the data may be empty for orders that don’t have the relevant info.

The column is in the wrong position

Cause: The columns are shown in the order they appear in the settings (you toggle them on in a specific order).
Fix: Toggle the columns off and on again in the order you want them to appear. The order in the table reflects the order of the toggles.

The column is showing in the table but not in the CSV export

Cause: The CSV export uses a different column list (typically the default WooCommerce columns plus the custom ones, but the order may vary).
Fix: Configure in the plugin settings to customize the CSV export columns. The default export includes all visible columns.