One thing that WordPress administrators will often need to do, especially when setting up a WordPress website, is find and install plugins.
Like themes, you have to install plugins, and activate them. In fact, WordPress will come with a couple of plugins. However, they are not active, and you would need to activate the plugin.
Installed Plugins
To view a list of plugins that you currently have installed, go to the side menu, and select Installed Plugins from the slide out menu.
With each installed plugin, you will see it’s name, a menu, and a description. Under the description, you see the version, the author, and a link to the developer’s website for the plugin.
In active plugins look like the image above. They have a white background. Under the plugin name, you have three options. To Activate it, Edit the file(s) that make your plugin, and Delete the file(s).
Deleting has the effect of uninstalling the plugin. This is important in case you have a plugin that has a problem, such as a security hole. An unfortunate truth is that some security holes exist if the files are installed, regardless if they are active or not.
Activated plugins look almost the same as inactive plugins. However, it’s background is light blue, with a blue line to the left side.
Additionally, the menu below the plugin name changed the Activate to be Deactivate – so it will no longer run on the page.
Adding Plugins
To add a new plugin from the plugin menu. You have several options from the top of the page.
Search – Allows you to search for plugins on the WordPress.org website. All of these plugins are free. There are two ways to pick from the search page. First is by entering a keyword or phrase into the search box. The second option is click on one of the popular tags that you will see below the search form.
Regardless of how you search, you will see results like the one listed above. It includes the name of the plugin, the current version number, a rating (as defined by other users) and a description. The description may be cut off, but if you click on the Details link below the plugin name, you can get additional details such as the full description, installation info, a FAQ and more.
Click on the Install Now button to download and install the plugin into your WordPress website. However, you will need to activate the plugin before you can start using it.
If you purchase a premium plugin, you will need to use the Upload button. This will allow you to upload a zip file which will install on your WordPress site.
Featured, Popular, and Newest, all come from the WordPress.org website. However, it is a list that meets the given criteria. Featured is chosen by editors on the WordPress website. While newest and favorite are chosen by algorithms on the WordPress.org website.
The Favorites link at the top is your listed favorite plugins. This way if you administer several sites, and you like certain plugins, you can easily mark them as favorites, then load them into your other websites.
Choosing and Adding Plugins in WordPress was originally found on Access 2 Learn
