WooCommerce queues work to run in the background – sending some emails, syncing stock, processing subscriptions, tidying up. That queue is called Action Scheduler, and you can see it under WooCommerce, Status, Scheduled Actions.
Why it matters on our hosting
Action Scheduler normally runs on WP-Cron, which fires when visitors arrive. We disable WP-Cron and run a real scheduled task instead – see Why WP-Cron is disabled on our servers. That is better for reliability, but it means the scheduled task must genuinely be in place. If WP-Cron has been disabled without the replacement, the queue stops silently and nothing tells you.
The symptom
Things that should happen do not, and there is no error anywhere. Order emails do not arrive, stock does not sync, subscription renewals do not process. Meanwhile the shop appears perfectly healthy.
How to check
Open Scheduled Actions and look at the Pending tab. A handful of pending actions with future dates is normal. Hundreds of past-due actions is not – it means nothing is running the queue.
The other failure
The opposite problem is a queue so large it cannot get through itself. The actionscheduler tables can grow to hundreds of thousands of rows, at which point each run spends its time reading the backlog. Failed and completed actions should be pruned; WooCommerce does this itself but can fall behind badly on a busy shop.
If the queue is stuck
Confirm the scheduled task exists and is running, then let it work through the backlog rather than clearing it blindly – there may be real customer emails in there. If the backlog is enormous, open a ticket and we will look at it with you.
