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EDD Category Carousel

How to use EDD Category Carousel Widget of Sky Addons for Elementor

The Sky Addons EDD Category Carousel widget turns your Easy Digital Downloads Download Categories into a visually rich, touch-friendly Swiper carousel. Each slide shows the category image, name, product count, and an optional description — all linking directly to the category archive. Four layout styles and full per-state styling give you precise control over how each category card looks at rest, on hover, and when it is the active centered slide. This documentation will guide you through the process of using the EDD Category Carousel Widget to create an inviting category browser on your website.

Features:

  1. Four Layout Styles: Choose from Style 1–4 to vary how the category image, overlay, and text are composed.
  2. Category Query Controls: Filter by include/exclude terms, set an item limit, and control ordering to curate exactly which categories appear.
  3. Product Count Badge: Optionally append the number of products in each category directly to the title (e.g., “Audio (14)”).
  4. Responsive Columns: Configure column counts per breakpoint so the carousel adapts from a wide desktop grid down to a single-column mobile view.
  5. Configurable Height: Set a fixed carousel height in px or em so every slide is the same size regardless of image dimensions.
  6. Full Swiper Controls: Autoplay, loop, speed, navigation arrows, and dot/fraction pagination — all configurable from the panel.
  7. Content Area Styling: Independent style controls for the overlay content wrapper, title, and description text — including background, border, radius, padding, and box shadow.

Insert EDD Category Carousel Widget

  1. Open your page in Elementor and click the + icon to add a new section.
  2. Search for EDD Category Carousel in the widget panel and drag it onto the canvas.

Configure Layout

The Layout section sets the structural style and column configuration.

  1. Layout Style: Style 1–4 each present the category image and text overlay differently — from a classic stacked card to a full-bleed image with an animated content reveal.
  2. Columns: Set column count per device breakpoint (desktop defaults to 3, tablet to 2, mobile to 1).
  3. Image Size: Select a registered WordPress image size for the category thumbnail.

Configure Query

The Query section targets the download_category taxonomy and gives you fine-grained control over which categories appear.

  1. Include / Exclude Terms: Select specific Download Categories to include or exclude by name.
  2. Item Limit: Cap the number of categories shown (set to 0 to show all).
  3. Orderby / Order: Sort categories alphabetically by name, by term ID, by slug, or by product count, in ascending or descending order.
  4. Hide Empty: Optionally suppress categories that have no published products.

Configure Additional Display Options

The Additional section controls which elements are rendered inside each slide.

  1. Show Title: Toggle the category name. When enabled, choose the Title HTML Tag.
  2. Show Image: Display the category’s featured image (set via the EDD term image meta).
  3. Show Text: Display the category description (the text entered in the taxonomy term editor).
  4. Show Count: Append the product count in parentheses to the title, e.g., “Plugins (8)”.

Configure Carousel Settings

The Carousel Settings, Navigation, and Pagination sections expose the full Swiper configuration for the carousel.

  1. Height: Override the carousel container height so every slide is a uniform size regardless of image aspect ratio.
  2. Carousel Settings: Autoplay toggle, delay, loop, speed, space between, and slide effect.
  3. Navigation: Enable arrows and customise their icons.
  4. Pagination: Enable dot bullets or fraction indicator.

Style Your EDD Category Carousel

Use the Style tab to customise every visual element of the carousel.

  1. Carousel Item:
    Text alignment, match spacing, padding, border, border radius. Normal / Hover / Active tabs for background, box shadow, and opacity — use the Active tab to highlight the centered slide.
  2. Image:
    Padding, margin, border, border radius, box shadow, and CSS filters for the category image.
  3. Content:
    Background, padding, margin, border, border radius, and box shadow for the content overlay wrapper that sits over or beneath the image.
  4. Title:
    Spacing, typography, text color, and hover color for the category name.
  5. Text:
    Typography, color, and spacing for the category description (visible when Show Text is on).
  6. Navigation:
    Arrow icon size, color, background, border, and hover states.
  7. Pagination:
    Dot size, color, active color, and spacing.

Save and Preview

  1. Click Update in Elementor to save your page.
  2. Preview the page to see your EDD Category Carousel widget in action.

Best Practices

  1. Upload a dedicated category image for each Download Category in the EDD term settings — the carousel looks best when every slide has a consistent image.
  2. Use Hide Empty to automatically keep the carousel clean as your catalog evolves, without needing to manually update the widget.
  3. Set a fixed Height in the Carousel Settings section so slides with taller images do not push content around on pages with mixed image sizes.
  4. Consider adding the Product Count to the title to signal to shoppers how active each category is before they click through.

Troubleshooting

  1. No categories appear: Confirm that Easy Digital Downloads is active and that at least one Download Category has been created and assigned to a published product. Check that Hide Empty is not filtering out all categories.
  2. Category images are missing (showing a placeholder): The EDD Category Carousel reads the image set via the “Download Term Image” meta field on each taxonomy term. Go to Downloads → Categories in the WordPress admin, edit the relevant category, and upload a term image.
  3. Carousel height is uneven across slides: Set a fixed Height value in the Carousel Settings section to enforce uniform slide height regardless of image dimensions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this widget require Easy Digital Downloads?

Yes. The EDD Category Carousel widget is built for the download_category taxonomy that EDD registers. EDD must be installed and active.

Can I show only certain categories and hide others?

Yes. Use the Include Terms field in the Query section to whitelist specific categories, or use Exclude Terms to block specific ones from appearing.

Where do I set the category image?

Category images are stored in the term meta field download_term_image that EDD manages. Go to Downloads → Categories, edit a category, and upload a thumbnail image in the term edit screen.

Can I display the category description?

Yes. Enable Show Text in the Additional section. The description displayed is the text entered in the “Description” field on the EDD Category term edit screen.

How is the EDD Category Carousel different from the EDD Category Grid?

The Carousel presents categories as a horizontally scrollable Swiper slider with autoplay, navigation arrows, and pagination. The Grid uses a CSS grid layout for a static multi-column view. Use the Carousel for featured or hero-style sections and the Grid for comprehensive category overviews.

Related Documentation

Explore other Sky Addons widgets and extensions that complement the EDD Category Carousel widget:

Conclusion

The EDD Category Carousel widget gives your Easy Digital Downloads store a polished, interactive way to guide shoppers to the right product section. With four layout styles, flexible query controls, and comprehensive Swiper carousel options, you can build a category showcase that looks great on every device without writing any code. If you have any questions or need help, visit the Sky Addons support center.

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