Change default sorting for specific Woocommerce product category archive pages

Question

I need to change the default product sorting option to "Newness" for a specific product category on my site. I know you can go to WooCommerce > Settings > Product > Display to globally change the default sorting option, but thats not what I need to do. I need something like:

function change_default_sorting_option(){

if(is_product_category('3555')){

//change default sorting option to newness

}

}
add_action('', 'change_default_sorting_option');

I haven't done much with the sorting functionalities so I'm not exactly sure where to start. I know the function should go in my child theme's functions.php.

Answer 1

here is the correct hook and the way to get for a specific product category archive page, the default sorting by "Newness":

add_filter( 'woocommerce_get_catalog_ordering_args', 'custom_catalog_ordering_args', 20, 1 );
function custom_catalog_ordering_args( $args ) {
    $product_category = 't-shirts'; // <== HERE define your product category

    // Only for defined product category archive page
    if( ! is_product_category($product_category) ) return $args;

    // Set default ordering to 'date ID', so "Newness"
    $args['orderby'] = 'date ID';

    if( $args['orderby'] == 'date ID' )
        $args['order'] = 'DESC'; // Set order by DESC

    return $args;
}

Code goes in function.php file of your active child theme (or active theme). Tested and works.