Installing a Plugin

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Plugins add features to WordPress, and you install them at PluginsAdd Plugin. A free plugin from the WordPress.org Plugin Directory installs from a search inside your admin, while a premium or custom plugin comes as a zip file that you upload. Either way, the plugin does nothing until you activate it.

Install a Plugin From the WordPress.org Directory

  1. Go to PluginsAdd Plugin.
  2. Type the plugin name in the Search Plugins field; results appear as you type.
  3. Check the plugin’s card for Last Updated, the number of active installations, and whether it is compatible with your version of WordPress.
  4. Click Install Now, and when the button changes to Activate, click it.

Plugin search results for SiteOrigin in Add Plugins

Click More Details on a card to read the full description, screenshots and changelog before you install. To find our free plugins, such as Page Builder by SiteOrigin and the SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle, search for “SiteOrigin”.

Some plugins need another plugin to work. Their card shows Additional plugins are required and lists them. Install and activate those plugins first, and the Activate button becomes available.

Upload a Plugin Zip File

Premium and custom plugins come as a zip file from the seller’s site. Keep the file zipped; if your browser unzipped it, compress the plugin folder into a zip again.

  1. Go to PluginsAdd Plugin and click Upload Plugin at the top of the screen.
  2. Use the file field to select the zip file.
  3. Click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.

The Upload Plugin panel with a zip file selected

If the plugin is already installed, WordPress shows This plugin is already installed. with the current and uploaded versions side by side. Click Replace current with uploaded to update the plugin from the zip, or Cancel and go back to keep the installed version. Back up the site first, as WordPress advises on that screen.

Upload a Plugin With FTP or a File Manager

When an upload in the admin fails, for example because the zip is larger than your host’s upload limit, upload the plugin to your hosting account yourself.

With an FTP program:

  1. Unzip the plugin on your computer. You get one folder, such as so-widgets-bundle.
  2. Upload that folder to wp-content/plugins. The plugin’s main files must sit directly inside it, not in a second folder within it.
  3. Go to PluginsInstalled Plugins and click Activate under the plugin name.

A Hosting File Manager uploads files, not folders, so upload the zip and unzip it there:

  1. Open public_html/wp-content/plugins and click Upload, then choose the plugin zip.
  2. Back in the plugins folder, right-click the zip and choose Extract.
  3. Delete the zip, then activate the plugin at PluginsInstalled Plugins.

The Extract dialog for an uploaded plugin zip in cPanel File Manager, set to extract into wp-content/plugins

If Add Plugin Is Missing

If you see no Add Plugin item under Plugins, check these reasons:

  • Your account does not have permission to install plugins. By default only Administrators have it, so ask the site owner.
  • The site is part of a multisite network. Only a Super Admin can install plugins, at Network AdminPluginsAdd Plugin.
  • The site’s wp-config.php file sets DISALLOW_FILE_MODS to true, which blocks installing and updating plugins and themes from the admin. Hosts and developers set this on purpose, so ask them before you change it.

After You Install

After you activate a plugin, look for its settings screen under Settings, Tools or a menu item of its own. If the site shows an error or stops loading after you activate a plugin, follow Identifying Plugin Issues to find the cause. To remove a plugin, deactivate it at PluginsInstalled Plugins, then click Delete.

The WordPress documentation covers more plugin tasks in Manage Plugins.

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