Unable to Reconnect Facebook for WooCommerce Plugin: A Troubleshooting Guide
Are you struggling to reconnect your Meta pixel correctly? You’re not alone. We recently faced this challenge ourselves and discovered a surprising issue after exhausting all standard troubleshooting suggestions.
When attempting a complete reset of the Facebook for WooCommerce plugin, we uncovered a significant oversight: the plugin lacks a built-in option to clean the database during deactivation. This oversight leaves behind residual database records that prevent the plugin from reconnecting properly again later on down the line.
Although we eventually resolved the issue by manually removing data from the database, we strongly believe this should be an automated feature within the plugin itself. This experience highlights a critical area for improvement in the plugin’s functionality, potentially saving users hours of frustration and reducing the risk of database errors.
For novices, manipulating database records can be extremely dangerous and potentially disastrous. If you’re stuck at this point and need assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Host My Domain – we’d be happy to help!
However, if you’re comfortable proceeding on your own, here’s a step-by-step guide to removing Facebook for WooCommerce data from your WordPress database:
Remove Facebook for WooCommerce from Database
Follow these steps to completely remove the Facebook for WooCommerce data stored in your WordPress database. In our case, there were over 3,000 of these records, mostly transient entries.
Maintenance Mode:
If your website is busy, wait for off-peak hours and put the site in maintenance mode. This minimizes the risk of data loss if anything goes wrong.
Deactivate Facebook for WooCommerce:
Disable the plugin before proceeding.
Backup Your Database:
This is crucial! Back up your entire database before making any changes. For large databases, you can also backup the wp_options table separately and try restoring that first if you need to.
Access phpMyAdmin:
Navigate to your phpMyAdmin page and go to the SQL section.
Verify Data:
First, run a SELECT statement to confirm you’re targeting the correct data:
SELECT * FROM `wp_options` WHERE option_name LIKE ‘%wc_facebook_%’;
Ensure the data looks correct before proceeding.
Delete Records:
Once you’re confident, run the DELETE statement:
DELETE FROM `wp_options` WHERE option_name LIKE ‘%wc_facebook_%’;
Verify Site Functionality:
Check that your site is still up and running correctly.
Reactivate the Plugin:
Reactivate Facebook for WooCommerce. You should see 3-5 new rows in the database at this point.
Reconnect:
Try reconnecting Facebook for WooCommerce. Hopefully, the process goes smoothly, and you start seeing better results in your Facebook account.You should see about 21 rows in the database at this point.
Deduplication:
Remember to consider deduplication to match browser and server event IDs for more accurate tracking.
Additional Resources
For more information on troubleshooting connection errors, refer to the Official Facebook Guide.
If you’re looking for an alternative plugin that claims to be far better, check out this article on the Best Alternative to Facebook for WooCommerce Plugin.
User @lykkelig shared a similar experience in this WordPress support thread which helped us understand the issue.
At Host My Domain, we understand the challenges of managing ecommerce platforms and their integrations. If you need professional assistance with your WooCommerce setup, Facebook pixel integration, or any other aspect of your online store, don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to ensure your ecommerce operations run smoothly and efficiently.