What are background processes in WordPress?
A background process, also known as Scheduled Actions are tasks that are executed on a regular interval. For example your stock for dropshipping products need to be updated every 30 minutes, that is a background process.
The background processes are triggered by the WordPress cron. If you experience issues with delays in product updates, the background processes or WordPress cron might be the bottleneck.
How to check the Scheduled Actions?
The background processes or scheduled actions are visible in the WordPress backend via WooCommerce -> Status -> Scheduled Actions. You can consider all tasks with pending status, that they are waiting in queue do be executed.
But in some cases this queue piles up and the number of pending tasks are tens, hundreds to maybe even thousands. That is an issue, because that means all pending tasks will be executed with a massive delay which can cause your store being out of sync.
The Action Scheduler plugin to the rescue
The free Action Scheduler plugin is a job queue for background processing large sets of actions in WordPress. In combination with for example our dropshipping and marketplace plugins, it can be used to help you process your Scheduled Actions faster.
Download and install the Action Scheduler plugin
Go within your WordPress backend to the plugin section and click on Add new
Go to the search bar and type Action Scheduler
Click on Install now and activate the plugin
You don't have to configure settings in the Action Scheduler plugin. However, sometimes the magic won't happen and pending Scheduled Actions are still piling up.
Have any questions about background processes or scheduled actions?
Feel free to contact our support desk anytime. We're happy to help!