Knowledgebase
How to add and manage currencies in PrestaShop 1.5-1.6
By default, your PrestaShop has one currency. This is the currency of the country that you selected for you store during the installation. You can add and enable other currencies. Customers can choose on the frontend the currency in which they want to see the prices displayed.
In this article we'll briefly go over the options related to currencies in the admin panel. For screenshots and more details check out the tutorial on how to manage currencies in PrestaShop 1.5-1.6.
Import Currencies with Localization Packs
A quick and easy way to add currencies is by importing localization packs. To add a particular currency, you can import the localization pack of a country in which that currency is used. To do this, go to Localization menu>Localization sub-menu, in the panel Import a localization pack select the country, make sure that the checkbox for currencies is marked and click on the Import button.
After that you can enable/disable the currency from Localization menu>Currencies sub-menu.
Add Currencies Manually
You can also add currencies manually by configuring the currency options yourself. To do this, go to Localization menu>Currencies sub-menu and click on the Add new currency button (in PrestaShop 1.5 it's labeled Add new). On the page that opens type the name of the currency in the respective field; in the fields ISO code and Numeric ISO code specify the alphabetical and numeric ISO 4217 codes for the currency (e.g. USD and 840 respectively for U.S. dollar). You can check what the codes for the particular currency are on the Wikipedia page for ISO 4217.
There are also options for the symbol of the currency, the exchange rate in relation to the default currency and the currency format that's used for displaying the prices in that currency. There are options with which you can specify whether decimals should be displayed in prices (e.g. $1,250.10 or $1,250) and whether a space should be put between the currency symbol and the price (e.g. $ 1,250.10 or $1,250.10). Finally, from the Enabled option select whether the currency should be active or not; enabled currencies can be selected on the frontend. After you're done click on the Save button.
Manage Existing Currencies
When you go to Localization menu>Currencies sub-menu you'll see a table with the currencies that are currently added to your store. To edit the options of a currency, click on its Edit button (in PrestaShop 1.5 it's a pencil icon). The options on the form for editing are the same as when manually adding a currency.
In the table there's an Enabled column that shows with green checkmarks the enabled currencies and with red X signs the disable ones. To enable/disable a currency click on the sign for that currency in the Enabled column.
To delete a currency, click on the arrow next to its Edit button in the table and from the drop-down menu select Delete. In PrestaShop 1.5 the button is a trash can icon.
Update Currency Rates Manually
To update currency rates manually, go to Localization menu>Currencies sub-menu in the admin panel and in the panel Currency rates click on the button Update currency rates. This will update the rates of all the currencies that you've added.
Update Currency Rates Automatically
An easier way to update currency rates is to set it up so that it's done automatically. This is achieved with the help of a cron job. First go to Localization menu>Currencies sub-menu, on the page that opens copy the URL link from the panel Automatically update currency rates. In the cron job you need to put as a command curl followed by the link that you copied from the admin panel (e.g. curl http://example.com). When you add/edit the cron job you can select how often you want it to be performed; this is how often the currency rates will be updated.
HostKnox customers can add and manage cron jobs from the Pixie control panel.
Change the Default Store Currency
To change the default currency of your store, go to Localization menu>Localization sub-menu, on the page that opens find the panel Configuration, select the currency from the Default currency drop-down menu and click on the Save button. You can select only from the enabled currencies.
For screenshots and more details read the tutorial on how to manage currencies in PrestaShop 1.5-1.6.