Common problems and fixes
Updated September 15, 2026
A short list of the problems that come up most often, with what to check for each.
The Customer Reports menu is missing
The reports screen requires the manage_options capability, which in practice means an administrator. A shop manager will not see the menu item even though they can manage WooCommerce. Log in as an administrator, or grant the capability to the role.
If you are already an administrator, confirm WooCommerce is active, since the menu is added beneath it.
A report is slow or times out
Reports are built from the WooCommerce Analytics lookup tables, which is many times faster than reading every order. If those tables are missing or badly out of date, the report falls back to reading orders directly and slows down considerably.
Go to WooCommerce › Status › Tools and run Regenerate the WooCommerce Analytics lookup tables. If the report is store-wide, narrow the date range as well.
The customers list is empty or shows the wrong totals
The list is built from the WooCommerce customer lookup and order statistics tables. If either is missing, the plugin falls back to listing WordPress users and counting their orders individually, which is slower and does not include guests. Regenerating the lookup tables fixes this.
Remember that the list only counts paid statuses, so a customer whose orders are all pending or on-hold will show zero orders here while still having a full report.
The activity log is empty
Activity is only recorded for registered customers, and only from the point the Pro version was activated, so there is no history before that. It is also recorded against whoever is logged in, so guest orders and admin-created orders do not appear.
If a customer has been active for a while and the log looks short, check Activity Per User in the settings. It defaults to 25, and older entries are removed beyond that.
An export fails or returns a security error
Exports are nonce-protected. If the reports screen has been open for a long time, the nonce expires and the export is refused. Reload the page and try again.
If the download is empty, check that orders exist for the filters you have set. Exporting also requires the manage_options or manage_woocommerce capability.
An email does not arrive
Emails are sent through WordPress using wp_mail(). If they are not arriving, other WordPress emails will usually be failing too. Install an SMTP plugin or check with your host, then test again.