Managing Plugins

What are plugins? 

WordPress Plugins are PHP scripts that expand the usefulness of WordPress. They upgrade the highlights of WordPress, or add completely new highlights to your site. Modules are frequently evolved by volunteers, and are normally free to the public.

Plugins are accessible by means of the WordPress Module Catalog. In spite of the fact that modules you find here are completely tried and thought about protected to utilize, they are of fluctuating quality and are regularly works in progress. WordPress Support Services

How do they relate to WordPress core? 

The WordPress content administration framework programming, or WordPress center, gives the essential usefulness to distributing content and overseeing clients. Each WordPress module is an extra piece of programming that can be effectively introduced to broaden the usefulness of WordPress core.

This permits you to redo your WordPress site with your ideal usefulness. Since such a lot of usefulness is given through modules, WordPress center is full-highlighted and adjustable, without including everything for everyone.

What are some examples? 

Some of the more popular plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory fall into these categories:

• Spam control
• SEO
• Data import and export
• E-commerce
• Security
• Caching

This is just a small sample. There are thousands of plugins available in the directory, so there’s a good chance you’ll find some that are useful to you.

Finding and Installing Plugins

Finding Plugins 

You can browse and search for plugins in the WordPress Plugin Directory. Each plugin listed there is available for download as a zip file you can upload to your WordPress site.

An alternative way to find and install plugins is from within the WordPress admin screens. Navigate to Plugins > Add New, and you can browse and search for plugins from within your dashboard. Each plugin listed there has an “Install Now” button so you can easily add it to your site.

Plugin Updates 

Plugin developers update their plugins occasionally, and those updates will be visible to you on your site’s Plugins page. To find any plugins installed on your site that need to be updated:

1. Click the “Plugins” link in the left nav of your site’s dashboard.
2. Look down the list of installed plugins for any that include a line reading “There is a new version…”
3. Click the “View version…” link in that note to view details about the plugin’s update.
4. Click the “update now” link to update the plugin.

Plugin Compatibility 

If a plugin hasn’t been updated since the most recent update to WordPress core, it may be incompatible, or its compatibility may be unknown. You can view compatibility information about plugins from the Add Plugins page, or from the Installed Plugins list.

Compatibility of New Plugins 

To learn about the compatibility of a plugin before you install it, navigate to Plugins > Add New. Each plugin description on this page includes a note that reads “Compatible with your version of WordPress” or “Untested with your version of WordPress.” You can click the “More details” link to see information about this plugin’s compatibility.

Compatibility of Installed Plugins

To learn about the compatibility of plugins you’ve already installed, click the “Plugins” link in the left nav of your site’s dashboard. Each item on this list should contain a “View details” link. Click this to see information about this plugin’s compatibility with different versions of WordPress.

Installing Plugins 

There are 3 ways to install WordPress plugins.

Automatic Plugin Installation. Any plugin available on the WordPress Plugins Directory can be installed via the built-in plugin installer.

Upload via WordPress Admin. You can easily add a new plugin by uploading a zip archive of the plugin from your local computer.

Manual Plugin Installation. In some cases, you may need to manually upload a plugin directly using an SFTP client.

Automatic Plugin Installation 

This is the simplest method of installing a plugin. To add a plugin using the built-in plugin installer:

1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
2. Use the search form in the top-right to search by keyword, author or tag.
3. On the search results that appear, click a plugin’s title to read more about it. This page may contain installation notes, plugin documentation or other useful information.
4. Click the Install Now button to install the plugin.
5. Click Activate to activate the plugin.