---
title: How to Control Who Can Duplicate WooCommerce Products
description: "One PublishPress user came to us with an interesting question. They wanted to give their WooCommerce a specific set of permissions: **edit and duplicate only their own WooCommerce products**. This seems like it should be a straightforward task, but it…"
url: "https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/duplicate-woocommerce-products/"
updated: "2024-01-23"
category: "How-to Guides / WooCommerce"
---

# How to Control Who Can Duplicate WooCommerce Products

One PublishPress user came to us with an interesting question. They wanted to give their WooCommerce a specific set of permissions: **edit and duplicate only their own WooCommerce products**.

This seems like it should be a straightforward task, but it turned out to be more complicated than we expected. This post will explain how we solved the problem using [the PublishPress Capabilities plugin](https://publishpress.com/capabilities/).

If you install [PublishPress Capabilities](https://publishpress.com/links/capabilities), you can follow along with this guide. Go to "Capabilities" to see the options.

The obvious choice is to remove the "**edit others**" permission for WooCommerce products. You can see how this is done in the screenshot below.

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/product-edit-others-1024x313.png)

If I uncheck the "edit others" box, this will successfully prevent the user from editing other users' posts. However, it also prevents them from duplicating a product they have created themselves. Look at the screenshot below and you'll see where a "Duplicate" link should normally be available.

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/duplicate-link-1024x568.png)

So what's the solution? [PublishPress Capabilities](https://publishpress.com/links/capabilities) enables you to use a new permission called **duplicate_products**.

- Go to "Capabilities".
- Use the "Select Role to View / Edit" box in the top-left corner.
- Load the role whose permissions you want to edit.

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/select-role-capabilities.png)

- Now look for the "Add Capability" box in the right sidebar.
- Enter "duplicate_products".
- Click the"Add to role" button.

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/duplicate-product-1024x414.png)

- Go to the center of the screen.
- Check the "duplicate products" box.
- Click the blue "Save Changes" button.

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/capabilities-duplicate-products-1024x601.png)

Now your user will be able to duplicate their own products, using the "Duplicate" link you see below:

![](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/duplicate-products-link-1024x486.png)

So, let's summarize what we've learned ... "**duplicate_products**" is not a permission that you will see after installing WooCommerce. However, this permission is available and does allow you to control who can duplicate WooCommerce products.