FAQ

Quick answers to the most-asked questions about Bossy. For deeper detail, follow the chapter references.

11.1 General questions

Q: Is Bossy free or paid?

Both. There is a free version on WordPress.org with the Bulk Editor and core bulk actions. The Pro version, sold at bossyplugins.com, adds Media Manager, Settings, CSV Import, Danger Zone, Find & Replace, CSV Export, Bulk Clone, drag-and-drop variation images, storefront galleries, and customer personalization. See Chapter 1.4 for the full feature matrix.

Q: Will Bossy work with my theme?

Bossy works with any WooCommerce-compatible theme for its admin features (Bulk Editor, Media, Import, Variations). The storefront gallery (Pro Settings tab) has been tested cleanly against Blocksy, Kadence, Astra, Storefront, and Twenty Twenty-Five. Other themes generally work but may need CSS adjustments if they heavily override the WooCommerce product page template.

Q: Does Bossy phone home or send data anywhere?

Bossy uses Freemius for licensing, which can collect anonymous usage data IF the user opts in during plugin activation. Opting in is optional — you can skip it and Bossy works the same. No product data, customer data, or order data is sent anywhere by Bossy itself. Your store data stays in your database.

Q: Can I use Bossy on a multisite WordPress network?

Yes. Activate it per-site. Snapshots and settings are scoped per-site within the network — each site has its own undo history and settings.

Q: What happens if I deactivate Bossy?

All your product data stays in WooCommerce — Bossy does not own your products. The Bossy admin tabs disappear from the WooCommerce menu. The storefront gallery (if Pro and enabled) reverts to your theme's default gallery. Snapshots remain in the database but you cannot access them through the UI while Bossy is deactivated.

Q: What happens if I delete Bossy?

Same as deactivation, plus: the bossy_snapshots database table is dropped, and Bossy's settings options are removed from the WordPress database. Your product data is untouched — Bossy never modifies WooCommerce's own tables.

Q: Will Bossy work with WooCommerce HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage)?

Bossy operates on products, not orders. HPOS affects WooCommerce's order storage, which is outside Bossy's scope. Bossy is HPOS-compatible.

11.2 Migration and import questions

Q: I am migrating from Etsy. What is the best workflow?

See Chapter 5.7 for the complete walkthrough. Short version: export Etsy CSV → run through the free Etsy SKU Fixer at bossyplugins.com/tools → upload to Bossy → use Auto-map Etsy → Run Import → manually add images 11-20 for listings with more than 10 photos (Etsy CSV limit, see Chapter 5.7 warning). A dedicated Etsy API importer is in development to bypass these CSV limitations.

Q: I am migrating from Shopify. Will this work?

Yes, with caveats. Shopify CSVs have a different column structure than Etsy. Use the generic Auto-map button, then manually adjust mappings. Shopify variant SKUs translate cleanly. Shopify image URLs may require pre-processing if they include access tokens that expire. Pre-generating SKUs (Chapter 5.13.1) is highly recommended for Shopify migrations because Shopify SKUs are often inconsistent or missing.

Q: Can I import variations through CSV?

Yes. Chapter 5.13 covers the full variation import workflow including the four parent-child resolution methods (parent_id, parent_sku, listing_id, SKU pattern derivation), the auto-create-parent behavior, and the simple-to-variable coercion. Use a parent_sku column to make relationships explicit.

Q: Can I re-import the same CSV safely?

Yes, IF your SKUs are stable across runs. Bossy matches rows to existing products by SKU and other identifiers — with stable SKUs, re-import updates existing products without creating duplicates. With unstable SKUs (regenerated each run), you get duplicates. See Chapter 5.10 for the full breakdown.

Q: I edited my Etsy listings after my first import. Can I re-import?

Not without consequences. If SKUs stayed stable but other fields changed on Etsy, re-importing will OVERWRITE your WooCommerce edits with the new Etsy values. If SKUs changed, you get duplicates. The clean path: verify your first import, treat WooCommerce as the source of truth going forward, and only re-import a CULLED CSV containing just new products. See Chapter 5.10.5.

Q: Can I edit variations across multiple products at once?

Yes — that is exactly what the Variations tab (Pro) is for. It shows every variation in your catalog as a flat list, filterable by attribute (Color, Size, etc.), stock state, sale state, and parent category. Select the variations you want, apply a bulk action. See Chapter 13.

Q: What is the difference between the Bulk Editor variation expansion and the Variations tab?

The Bulk Editor expansion (Free + Pro) is product-scoped — you expand one product and edit its variations inline. The Variations tab (Pro) is catalog-scoped — you see every variation across all products, filter by attribute or stock state, and bulk-edit across your whole catalog. Same data, different lens. Rule of thumb: if you are thinking about a specific product, use the Bulk Editor expansion. If you are thinking about a variation attribute or stock state, use the Variations tab. See Chapter 13.1.

Q: The attribute filter is not finding my variations — what is wrong?

The most common cause is the pa_ prefix. WooCommerce stores attributes with a pa_ prefix internally — so Color becomes pa_color, Size becomes pa_size. Enter pa_color in the attribute key field, not just color. Check WooCommerce → Attributes to see the exact slug for each of your attributes.

11.3 Feature questions

Q: How many products can Bossy handle at once?

There is no hard cap. Bossy has been import-tested at 10,000 products on shared hosting with 100% product success rate and 99.94% image success rate. Import timing on shared hosting: 200 products in under 1 minute, 2,000 in ~7 minutes, 5,000 in ~21 minutes, 10,000 in ~53 minutes. For bulk editing, 25-100 rows per page is comfortable on shared hosting. Larger catalogs benefit from filtering to scope your work rather than loading everything at once. See section 5.9 and Chapter 1.2 for the full performance details.

Q: Is there a free trial of Pro?

Check bossyplugins.com for current pricing and trial options. Pricing and trial availability may change.

Q: Will my data carry over when I upgrade from free to Pro?

Yes. The Pro plugin reads the same database tables as free. Snapshots, settings, column visibility preferences — all of it carries forward. See Chapter 1.4 for the upgrade flow.

Q: Can two users in my shop use Bossy at the same time?

Yes, with one caveat: snapshots are per-user. Each user has their own undo history. You cannot undo your coworker's changes, and they cannot undo yours. See Chapter 7.2 truth #3.

Q: Does the free version include the drag-and-drop variation image strip?

No. Drag-and-drop variation image assignment is Pro only. Free users assign variation images with click-to-pick: clicking a variation's main image zone or gallery slot opens a product-first picker — choose from the product's image pool, upload a new image, or browse the full Media Library.

Q: Does Bossy support scheduled publishing?

Yes. Use the Bulk Schedule Publish panel in the Bulk Editor to set a future publish date and time on selected products. Selected products move to Scheduled status and go live automatically at the time you set — WordPress's built-in cron handles the actual publish. Undo snapshot support is included. See Chapter 2 for the full Bulk Schedule Publish walkthrough.

Q: Can I bulk-edit whether products are featured, their menu order, or their tax class?

Yes — all three arrived in 1.11.0, in both Free and Pro. Each is a grid column you can inline-edit (Featured uses a star toggle) and each has a matching bulk-action panel: Bulk Featured (Set / Unset), Bulk Menu Order (set a sort value), and Bulk Tax Class (apply a tax class to the selection). All three are snapshot-backed, so undo covers them. See Chapter 2 for the panels and Chapter 12 for the reference entries.

Q: Does Bossy work with WPML or Polylang for multilingual stores?

Bossy operates on the products in your default language. Multilingual plugins typically expose translated versions as separate products that Bossy treats independently. Test in a staging environment before relying on Bossy for multilingual catalog management.

11.4 SKU questions

Q: Why does Bossy default to "BOSSY" as the SKU prefix?

It is a defensive default. No real store uses "BOSSY-0001" as their SKU pattern, so it is unlikely to collide with existing SKUs in your shop. You can leave it as BOSSY for safety or change it to something specific to your shop. Either choice works. See Chapter 5.3.

Q: My import failed because of duplicate SKUs. What do I do?

Use one of the three SKU strategies in Chapter 5.6:

• Strategy A: Edit your CSV to fix the duplicates manually
• Strategy B: Check "Generate missing SKUs" — Bossy fills in blanks with generated SKUs
• Strategy C: Check both "Generate missing SKUs" AND "Force overwrite generated SKU" — Bossy ignores CSV SKUs entirely

Q: I already imported. How do I clean up ugly SKUs after the fact?

Use the Bulk SKUs panel in the Bulk Editor (Chapter 2.6). Select products, set prefix, digit width, starting number, separator, and apply. Generates clean sequential SKUs in place across selected products.

Q: Can I pre-generate SKUs before importing?

Three ways:

• Free Etsy SKU Fixer at bossyplugins.com/tools — for Etsy CSVs
• Excel formula — ="PREFIX-"&TEXT(ROW()-1, "0000")
• Google Sheets formula — same syntax, paste as values before exporting

See Chapter 5.13.1 for full details.

11.5 Undo and recovery questions

Q: How far back can I undo?

50 batches per user per site, with up to 40 active (non-restored) shown at a time. On a busy day this may be only a few hours of history. See Chapter 7.2.

Q: Can I undo a CSV import?

No. CSV imports are not covered by the snapshot system. Recovery options: restore from your site backup, or use the Bulk Editor and Danger Zone (carefully) to clean up. See Chapter 7.1 and Chapter 8.

Q: Can I undo a Danger Zone action?

No. Danger Zone actions are permanent. Take a site backup BEFORE running anything in Danger Zone. See Chapter 8.

Q: Can I undo a product I trashed from the grid?

Yes — two ways. Use Bossy Undo (the snapshot bar at the top of the Bulk Editor) to restore directly without leaving the screen. Or use Products → All Products → Trash in WordPress admin and click Restore on the product. Either way, the product comes back including all variations. WordPress Trash works even after the Bossy snapshot has rolled off the 50-batch retention. See Chapter 2.9 for the full workflow.

Q: How do I permanently delete a product from Bossy?

Bossy's grid trash buttons NEVER permanently delete — they always move products to WordPress Trash. To permanently delete: trash from the grid first, then go to Products → All Products → Trash and click Delete Permanently on that product (or click Empty Trash to permanently delete everything in trash at once). For wiping the entire catalog, use Danger Zone (Chapter 8).

Q: I deleted all my products by mistake. What do I do?

Restore from your site backup (UpdraftPlus, Solid Backups, or your host's backup). If you exported a CSV before deleting, re-import that CSV. If you have neither, you are rebuilding manually. See Chapter 8.7 for recovery options ranked by preference.

11.6 Bossy Plugins free tools questions

Q: Where can I find Bossy's free tools?

All free tools live at bossyplugins.com/tools.

Q: What is the Etsy SKU Fixer?

A free in-browser tool that cleans up Etsy CSV exports by adding sequential SKUs with your chosen prefix and digit width. No account, no email, no upload to a server — your CSV is processed in your browser and downloads cleaned. Recommended pre-step for any Etsy migration. See Chapter 5.7.

Q: What other free tools are coming?

From bossyplugins.com/tools, the following are listed as in development:

• Etsy Tag Checker — validates Etsy's 20-character tag limit
• Etsy Price Calculator — materials + time + fees + margin
• Etsy → WooCommerce Converter — full structural conversion (will handle the things CSV cannot)
• WooCommerce Bulk Price Preview — test % or $ price changes before applying

Check bossyplugins.com/tools for current availability.

11.7 Pricing and licensing questions

Q: How much does Pro cost?

Check bossyplugins.com for current pricing. Pricing varies by plan tier.

Q: How many sites can one Pro license activate on?

Varies by plan tier. Check the bossyplugins.com pricing page at the time of purchase or your Freemius account for your specific activation count.

Q: Can I get a refund?

Refund policy is published on bossyplugins.com. Check there for the current terms.

Q: What happens if my Pro license expires?

Pro features stop working. The Pro tabs (Variations, Media Manager, Settings, Import, Danger Zone) disappear and the admin reverts to the two-tab free layout — Bulk Editor + Get Pro. Pro-only bulk-action panels (Find & Replace, CSV Export, Bulk Clone) leave the control deck. Your data is not deleted — products, snapshots, and settings remain intact. Renew at bossyplugins.com to restore Pro functionality. See Chapter 1.4.

11.8 Where to get help

• Documentation: bossyplugins.com/docs (the latest version of this manual)
• Support: bossyplugins.com (contact support directly)
• WordPress.org plugin support forum: for free plugin general questions