When you have one or more WordPress installations added to WordPress Toolkit, you can manage a number of admin functions directly via WordPress Toolkit. This without the need to log on to each installation separately.
To get started, begin by accessing WordPress Toolkit.
Install plugins and themes
Among the things you can do using WordPress Toolkit without accessing the admin area of each separate site are installing new plugins and themes. Please note that you may have to log on to WordPress admin to adjust the settings for the plugins and/or themes you install.
Install plugins and themes on a single WordPress installation
If you want to install a plugin or a theme on one of your sites, click the row for the WordPress installation where you want to perform the installation, the click Plugins or Themes.
To find and install new plugins or themes, click the + Install button. You will now see a page where you can search or browse for plugins and themes, respectively. Once you’ve found one you wish to install, click the Install button to the right of the plugin/theme.
When the installation is completed, a dark grey box will appear in the top right corner confirming that the process is done. To configure the newly installed plugin or theme, you need to log on to WordPress admin.
Install plugins and themes on multiple WordPress installationer at once
If you have multiple WordPress installations on your web hosting account, and wish to install one or several plugins/themes on all of them, WordPress Toolkit can do this for you.
Begin by accessing WordPress Toolkit. On the top of the page, you have tabs for Plugins and Themes.
On each of the tabs, you have an Install button on the top of the page. From there you can search for plugins or themes.
You need to enter at least three characters from the name of the plugin or theme you’re searching for. Once you’ve gotten search hits, mark the checkbox to the left of each plugin/theme you want to install. Then click Select websites.
Choose the WordPress installation(s) where you want to install the plugin or theme, and confirm with the Install button. By default, the checkbox Activate after installation is checked, but you can change this if you’d like.
When the installation is completed, a dark grey box will appear in the top right corner confirming that the process is done. To configure the newly installed plugin or theme, you need to log on to WordPress admin on each site.
Updates
If there are updates available for the WordPress core, installed plugins, and/or themes, you can install these directly from WordPress Toolkit. You can read how you do this here.
Smart updates
The smart update feature helps you investigate if pending updates will work on your website or if anything will break. We walk you through the feature in this guide.
Maintenance mode
Sometimes you want to make maintenance work on a WordPress installation running a live website. In these cases it can be a good idea to activate maintenance mode on the website, so visitors get informed that you’re working on the site, that it’s currently closed, and that they are welcome back later. WordPress Toolkit has a built-in feature for this.
To get started, access WordPress Toolkit. Then click the row for the WordPress installation you want to manage maintenance mode for. You find the settings for maintenance mode in the lower right corner.
The switch to the left of the words Maintenance mode will activate or deactivate maintenance mode, and the icon to the right (the one with three vertical sliders) opens the settings for maintenance mode.
When you’re satisfied with the settings, click OK on the bottom of the page to save.
For advanced users
If you don’t fancy the default appearance of the maintenance page, you can click Customize near the top of the page. There you get access to a file manager where you can upload custom files for maintenance mode.
Backup
If you’re about to do some major work on a WordPress installation – e.g. updating a lot of plugins/themes, update to a newer version of WordPress etc – it’s a good idea to create a backup from the moment before the work began.
We take daily backups on all our web hosting accounts, so this feature can be thought of as complimentary to those backups.
To get started, access WordPress Toolkit. Click the row for the WordPress installation you wish to back up. You now find the backup feature under Back Up / Restore.
When you click there, you get to see a summary of current backups taken by WordPress Toolkit, and can choose to create a new backup or restore one from earlier.
To create a new backup, click the Back Up button. To restore an earlier backup, click the icon with the circular arrow to the right of the backup you wish to restore from.
You can also remove earlier backups, either via the trash can icon visible on each backup, or by marking the checkbox to the left of each backup and clicking Delete.
You may also download a backup via the middle icon of the three to the right of each backup (the one with the downward arrow).
Clone
You can read about the cloning feature in these instructions.
Copy data
The section about how you copy data from one WordPress installation to another has been moved to a separate guide.
Remove a WordPress installation
If you have a WordPress installation on your web hosting account that you wish to remove, this can be done via WordPress Toolkit.
To get started, access WordPress Toolkit. Then click the three vertical dots on the row for the installation you wish to delete, and click Remove.
In the popup box you get to confirm the removal, and also decide if you want to remove the database and database user connected to the installation. When you’re done, click Yes to commence the removal process.
Problems with an installation
Sometimes when you access WordPress Toolkit, you will see that there are issues with one or more of the installations listed.
If you click the text X issue(s) you’ll see what WordPress Toolkit thinks you have to fix.
In this example, there are updates available to the WordPress core and for plugins and themes. You are also encouraged to check the security of your site. If your website isn’t using https, you will see this here as well.
Updates
If there are updates pending listed among the issues, follow the instructions here to remedy the issue.
Security
A WordPress installation can be rather complex, and therefore security can be hard to handle. WordPress Toolkit will help you manage a number of security issues.
If WordPress Toolkit flags that there are critical security issues, click that row in the X issue(s) list, or the link for Check security for the installation.
You will now see a long list of different things that needs to be attended.
Issues marked with a red, circled exclamation mark are the most important to fix. The ones with an orange exclamation mark in a triangle should also be tended to, but they’re not as urgent. If you see a green checkmark, that matter is already handled.
Mark the checkboxes for the issues you want WordPress Toolkit to manage for you, and click the Secure button on the top left.
SSL/TLS
If WordPress Toolkit flags that SSL/TLS isn’t activated, you can remedy this by first checking that https is working for the domain. Our servers run a feature called AutoSSL that should issue certificates for all domains automatically. Once you’ve confirmed that an SSL certificate exists, click the three vertical dots to the right of the installation where the warning comes from and click Update Site URL.
In the popup box, confirm the change with the Update button. You should see that the URL is changed from having http:// to https:// in the beginning.
The listed issue about SSL/TLS missing should now be resolved.