gazchap

<p>By default, WooCommerce will only show thumbnails for categories if the category has a thumbnail set.</p>
<p>This plugin changes this behaviour so that WooCommerce will hunt for a product thumbnail in the category being displayed, and use that instead.</p>
<p>Upon activation, the plugin will configure itself with the basic settings. Any categories that you have on your WooCommerce store that do not have a thumbnail set will then start displaying any available product thumbnails inside the category.</p>
<p>There are a number of options, these can be found in WooCommerce -> Settings -> Products -> Auto Category Thumbnails.</p>
<ul>
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<p>Thumbnail Size sets the image size that the plugin should use when displaying the thumbnails. Defaults to shop_thumbail, but shop_catalog may be a better option for some themes.</p>
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<p>Go into Child Categories makes the plugin look in child categories too, useful if you have products buried in quite a deep category structure.</p>
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<p>Random Thumbnail tells the plugin to pick a random product thumbnail from those it finds every time the page loads – otherwise it always uses the first one it finds.</p>
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<p>Use Transients tells the plugin to save the thumbnail it picks for a category as a transient in WordPress, so that it won’t have to do it again while the transient is still active. This can hugely increase performance on sites with many categories, so is enabled by default.</p>
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<p>Transient Expiry is the length of time each transient is active for before the site picks another thumbnail for the category. By default it is set to 1 day.</p>
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<p>Custom Transient Expiry can be used to define your own transient expiry period (in seconds) if none of the pre-defined options are suitable.</p>
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<p>Exclude Thumbnail IDs accepts a comma-separated list of attachment IDs from the WordPress Media Library. The plugin will never use any thumbnail with one of these IDs for a category.</p>
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</ul>
<h3>License</h3>
<p>Licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html" rel="nofollow ugc">GNU General Public License v2.0</a></p>


GazChap's WooCommerce Auto Category Product Thumbnails

Pick WooCommerce category thumbnails automatically from products contained within those categories.

YoOhw Studio

<p>Thumbnail Manager helps you control WordPress thumbnail generation, regenerate image sizes, and clean unused thumbnail files from the Media Library.</p>
<p>Use it after changing themes, installing WooCommerce, disabling custom image sizes, or cleaning up years of generated media files. The plugin focuses on predictable thumbnail management: choose which image sizes should stay enabled, rebuild the thumbnails you need, preview cleanup results, then delete only reviewed generated files.</p>
<p>Cleanup is metadata-aware and safety-focused. Thumbnail Manager validates uploads paths, protects original full-size images, runs prune/delete actions in batches, and updates attachment metadata after deleted thumbnail sizes are removed.</p>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Regenerate WordPress thumbnails for existing image attachments</li>
<li>Generate only missing thumbnails or force-regenerate all selected images</li>
<li>Disable unwanted registered image sizes for future uploads</li>
<li>Prune unused thumbnails while keeping selected sizes</li>
<li>Run Dry-run previews before deleting generated thumbnail files</li>
<li>Detect legacy thumbnail sizes stored in attachment metadata</li>
<li>Report disk-only orphan matches without deleting unmapped files by default</li>
<li>Scan recommendations based on protected sizes, WooCommerce-related sizes, generated metadata, and common content references</li>
<li>Process large Media Libraries with cursor-based AJAX queues and folder scoping</li>
<li>Manage everything from Tools > Thumbnail Manager</li>
</ul>
<h4>Common Use Cases</h4>
<ul>
<li>Clean WordPress thumbnail bloat after theme or page builder changes</li>
<li>Regenerate thumbnails after changing Media Settings or custom image sizes</li>
<li>Reduce WooCommerce image storage by reviewing generated product thumbnails</li>
<li>Disable image sizes that should no longer be created for new uploads</li>
<li>Rebuild missing thumbnails after migration, restore, or failed image processing</li>
<li>Audit legacy thumbnail sizes left behind by old themes and plugins</li>
</ul>
<h4>Safety First</h4>
<p>Thumbnail Manager is designed for controlled cleanup, not blind filesystem deletion.</p>
<ul>
<li>Original full-size images are not deleted</li>
<li>Delete mode requires a fresh delete token and a completed scan</li>
<li>Dry-run mode never deletes files</li>
<li>Cleanup targets files from attachment metadata</li>
<li>Disk-only orphan matches are reported, not deleted by default</li>
<li>Paths are validated under the WordPress uploads directory before deletion</li>
<li>Attachment metadata is updated after generated thumbnail sizes are removed</li>
</ul>
<h4>What It Does Not Do</h4>
<ul>
<li>It does not compress or optimize image quality</li>
<li>It does not replace image optimization or CDN plugins</li>
<li>It does not automatically delete media without confirmation</li>
<li>It does not delete original uploaded images</li>
<li>It does not unregister image sizes from themes or plugins</li>
</ul>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<h4>Recommended Workflow</h4>
<ol>
<li>Open Tools > Thumbnail Manager.</li>
<li>Scan Recommendations to review likely keep/remove sizes.</li>
<li>Apply recommended sizes if they match your site.</li>
<li>Open Thumbnail Sizes and save the sizes you want generated for future uploads.</li>
<li>Run Regenerate to rebuild missing or selected thumbnails.</li>
<li>Open Prune Files and run Dry-run before any deletion.</li>
<li>Review matched files, then switch to Delete only when the preview is correct.</li>
</ol>
<h4>Regenerate Thumbnails</h4>
<p>Use Regenerate when you need to rebuild WordPress image sizes for existing attachments. You can process all media, the current year, a specific uploads folder, or specific attachment IDs.</p>
<h4>Prune Files</h4>
<p>Use Prune Files to clean generated thumbnails for sizes you no longer want to keep. Always run Dry-run first. If orphan discovery is enabled, metadata-backed legacy sizes can be included, while unmapped disk-only matches are reported for review.</p>
<h4>Thumbnail Sizes</h4>
<p>Use Thumbnail Sizes to control which registered image sizes WordPress should generate for future uploads. This setting does not remove existing files until you run Prune Files.</p>
<h3>Technical Notes</h3>
<ul>
<li>Uses <code>intermediate_image_sizes_advanced</code> to control future thumbnail generation</li>
<li>Uses cursor-based AJAX queues for regenerate and prune scans</li>
<li>Uses attachment metadata for prune candidates</li>
<li>Validates filesystem paths under the uploads directory before deletion</li>
<li>Updates attachment metadata after generated thumbnail files are removed</li>
<li>Requires the <code>manage_options</code> capability</li>
<li>Works per site on multisite installations</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
<p>Thumbnail Manager does not collect, store, or transmit personal data. All thumbnail scans, regeneration actions, and cleanup actions run locally on your WordPress site.</p>


Thumbnail Manager

Regenerate WordPress thumbnails, disable image sizes, and safely clean unused media library thumbnails with dry-run previews.

GazChap's WooCommerce Auto Category Product Thumbnails vs Thumbnail Manager