--- title: "Lightspeed X-Series settings" url: "https://kestrelwp.com/docs/lightspeed-x-series-settings/" description: "Every setting for a Lightspeed Retail X-Series connection, tab by tab." published: "2026-10-07T05:33:04+00:00" modified: "2026-10-07T05:33:04+00:00" --- Every setting for a Lightspeed Retail X-Series connection lives under **Lightspeed » Settings**, on five tabs: **General**, **Products**, **Customers**, **Orders** and **Background polling**. Click **Save changes** on each tab. Settings that need the connection, such as the register and payment types, only appear once you’re connected. For R-Series, see [Lightspeed R-Series settings](/docs/lightspeed-r-series-settings/). ## When you’d use this - To look up what a setting does and its default. - To change how products, customers or orders move between WooCommerce and Lightspeed. - To tune the background sync when you hit rate limits or slow syncs. ## General ### Outlet register The Lightspeed register WooCommerce works with. Product stock is matched to that register’s outlet, and WooCommerce orders are recorded against the register when [Sync orders](/docs/lightspeed-x-series-settings/#sync-orders) is on. Registers are grouped by outlet in the list. Nothing syncs until you choose one. Until any products or customers have synced, you can pick any register. After that: - You can switch to another register in the same outlet at any time. - To use a register in a different outlet, click **Reset register** below the settings and confirm. Your synced products and customers are kept, and syncing pauses until you choose a register again ("Register reset. Choose a register to resume syncing with Lightspeed."). If the saved register is deleted in Lightspeed, the tab shows "The register saved here no longer exists in Lightspeed" until you choose another one. ### Staging mode Only shown when the site looks like a staging site, for example when its address matches a common staging host or its WordPress environment type isn’t production. **Allow sync operations on staging website** is on by default. Turn it off so a staging copy doesn’t sync with the Lightspeed account your live store uses. While it’s off, the admin shows "A staging website has been detected. Sync operations with Lightspeed servers are currently disabled." ### Debug mode **Enable debug mode** adds detailed request and response information to the plugin’s log under **WooCommerce » Status » Logs** (source `kestrel-lightspeed-pos`), and the full Lightspeed error for failed requests. Off by default. Turn it off when you’re done, because it writes a lot of log data; the admin reminds you while it’s on. ## Products ### Changes in WooCommerce Whether WooCommerce product edits go to Lightspeed: - **Update products in Lightspeed on-demand only** (default): changes go to Lightspeed only when you export products from the Sync screen or connect a product by hand. - **Update products in Lightspeed automatically**: saving a simple or variable product in WooCommerce updates it in Lightspeed, or creates it there if no match is found. Stock changes from WooCommerce orders go to Lightspeed with either option. Keep the default unless you manage some product details in WooCommerce on purpose, since automatic updates can overwrite Lightspeed data. ### Match products by How a WooCommerce product finds its Lightspeed counterpart when it’s sent to Lightspeed: **SKU (default)** or **Global unique identifier (GUID)**, WooCommerce’s **GTIN, UPC, EAN or ISBN** field. A product without a value in the chosen field can’t be linked. ### Sync product SKUs Keeps the WooCommerce SKU and the Lightspeed product code chosen in [Map product SKUs to](/docs/lightspeed-x-series-settings/#map-product-skus-to) the same, in both directions. On by default. SKUs must be unique: if a product on one side takes a SKU another product already uses on the other, that product’s sync fails. ### Map product SKUs to Which Lightspeed product code holds the WooCommerce SKU: **Custom SKU (default)**, **EAN**, **ISBN**, **ITF**, **JAN** or **UPC**. Imports also use it to match existing WooCommerce products by SKU. ### Sync product GUIDs Keeps WooCommerce’s global unique identifier and the Lightspeed product code chosen in [Map product GUIDs to](/docs/lightspeed-x-series-settings/#map-product-guids-to) the same. On by default. Codes must be unique. ### Map product GUIDs to Which Lightspeed product code holds the WooCommerce global unique identifier: **EAN** (the default), **ISBN**, **ITF**, **JAN** or **UPC**. WooCommerce has one such field, while a Lightspeed product can have several codes, so only the mapped one syncs. ### Exclude by tags A comma-separated list of Lightspeed tags, empty by default. Products carrying any of them aren’t imported into WooCommerce, and products already imported are set to **Draft** while they carry the tag. Remove the tag in Lightspeed and the next update imports or republishes the product. The comparison ignores capitalization. ### Product categories What the plugin does with each product’s Lightspeed category: - **Do not import product categories from Lightspeed**: leaves WooCommerce categories alone. - **Replace WooCommerce categories upon sync** (default): sets the product’s category to its Lightspeed one. - **Add missing categories from Lightspeed upon sync**: adds the Lightspeed category and keeps the product’s other categories. The plugin recreates the Lightspeed category hierarchy in WooCommerce, matching categories by their Lightspeed ID first and their name second, and assigns the product to its deepest category. If a product has no category in Lightspeed, its WooCommerce categories stay as they are. Category changes made in WooCommerce don’t go back to Lightspeed, and Lightspeed tags are never imported as categories. ## Customers ### Changes in WooCommerce Whether WooCommerce customer changes go to Lightspeed: - **Update customers in Lightspeed on-demand only** (default): customers go to Lightspeed only when you export them from the Sync screen or connect one by hand. - **Update customers in Lightspeed automatically**: new WooCommerce customer accounts, and customer profiles saved in the WordPress admin, are created or updated in Lightspeed. Customers are matched by email address. Changes made in Lightspeed come into WooCommerce through the **Customers** interval under [Background polling](/docs/lightspeed-x-series-settings/#background-polling). ## Orders The Orders tab reminds you that sales are never synced from Lightspeed into WooCommerce, and that order sync needs your WooCommerce tax rates in Lightspeed. Saving this tab syncs your tax rates. How it all works is on [Sync orders to Lightspeed X-Series](/docs/sync-orders-to-lightspeed-x-series/). ### Sync orders **Automatically send WooCommerce orders to Lightspeed when created or updated.** Off by default. Only orders whose products are all linked to Lightspeed are sent. Deleting or trashing an order in WooCommerce doesn’t remove its sale in Lightspeed. ### Record payments as The Lightspeed payment type used to record payment for paid orders. **Do not record payments** is the default. When you choose a payment type, each paid order synced to Lightspeed gets one payment of that type and its sale is closed. Create a dedicated "WooCommerce" payment type in Lightspeed for this, and don’t delete it afterward, or sales stop syncing. Only shown while connected. ## Background polling These jobs bring Lightspeed changes into WooCommerce on a schedule, using WooCommerce’s Action Scheduler and WP-Cron. Each can run every minute, every 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 or 45 minutes, every hour, or not at all (**Do not automatically sync in background**). Keep the intervals different from each other so the jobs don’t run at once, and raise them if you see rate limit errors or timeouts. While an import or export from the Sync screen is running, product and customer polling pauses until it finishes or you cancel it. The access token to Lightspeed refreshes automatically, so there’s no setting for it. ### Customers How often Lightspeed customer changes update WooCommerce customers. Default every 20 minutes. ### Products How often Lightspeed product changes, including stock, update WooCommerce products. Default every 10 minutes. ### Product images How often queued product images download from Lightspeed. Default every minute. Images go one way only: WooCommerce images never go to Lightspeed. Turning this off stops importing images from Lightspeed altogether. ## Keep learning - [Set up Lightspeed X-Series](/docs/set-up-lightspeed-x-series/) - [Sync products and customers with Lightspeed X-Series](/docs/sync-products-and-customers-with-lightspeed-x-series/) - [Sync orders to Lightspeed X-Series](/docs/sync-orders-to-lightspeed-x-series/) - [Troubleshoot Lightspeed X-Series](/docs/troubleshoot-lightspeed-x-series/)