WordPress plugin installation is one of the first things to learn after WordPress installation for beginners. The WordPress platform is so popular that it has a plugin for almost every idea and design. There are thousands of paid and free plugins for WordPress. So, how do we install a plugin in WordPress?
If you do not know how to install a WordPress site, please read our article on “How to Install a WordPress Site for Beginners.”
How to install WordPress plugins?
In this article, we are going to explore three different methods for the WordPress plugin installation process.
A. Via Plugin Search Box Method
The easiest method for WordPress plugin installation is through the “Search in Plugins” section of WordPress. Of course, if you want to install a WordPress plugin with this method, the plugin you want to install must be registered and listed on wordpress.org by its author.
The Search Box Procedure
1- First, go to the WordPress Admin Panel >Plugins > Add New tab. In the Search for Add Plugins section at the top right of the screen that opens, type the add-on you want to install on your site.
2- The plugin you want to install will appear as a result of your search. At this point, click on the Install Now button.
3- After clicking the Install Now button, you will see the button will show “Installing…” button. After you complete the installation process, you also need to activate the plugin you have just installed. Clicking the Activate button will be enough for this action.
4- You can access the management panel of the plugin you have installed by clicking the Settings or General Settings button located just below the name of the plugin you have installed on the Plugins> Installed Plugins tab.
B. Via Plugin Install Method
Paid WordPress themes are not registered in the wordpress.org plugin database. Only free WordPress plugins are registered on wordpress.org. Therefore, you can only install WordPress plugins you buy from Themeforest or MyThemeShop for a fee.
In this scenario, we are going to use the manual install option as shown below.
Plugin Installation Procedure
1- First, download the WordPress plugin you want to install on your site through Admin Panel > Plugins> Add New. Go to the tab at the top of the Plugin Install, click the Add New button.
2- You will see a screen like the picture below. Now, click on the Select File section and select the extension you downloaded in .zip format and click the Install Now button.
3- Then WordPress will show you the plugin installation percentage. When you complete the WordPress plugin installation process successfully, the last step is to activate the plugin by clicking the Activate Plugin button on the screen.
4- You can access the management panel of the plugin you have installed by clicking the Settings or General Settings button located just below the name of the plugin you have installed on the Plugins> Installed Plugins tab.
C. Via FTP Method
Some hosting companies can set file upload limits from the WordPress admin panel for the WordPress infrastructure. In such cases, users may receive a WordPress plugin upload fail warning during the WordPress plugin installation process. If you face such restrictions because of your hosting company, we highly recommend changing the upload settings through your hosting company.
In such a situation, if you want to add WordPress plugins with an alternative method, FTP is your best option. However, the FTP upload option is the most difficult method for beginner-level WordPress users.
FTP Upload Procedure
1- First, download the WordPress plugin you want to upload to your site in .zip format and transfer it to your computer as a file with the export option.
2- When the export process is completed, the extension file name will be the same as the .zip file, and this will be the file you will upload to your site server via FTP.
3- Download an FTP program and install it on your computer. For this article, we will be using the FileZilla program as an example. When you open FileZilla, the program will ask you for your server, username, and password information to establish a connection between your computer and your hosting site server.
If you don’t know your FTP information, contact your hosting company and ask for your FTP information.
4- After the connection between your computer and your site server is established, the screen’s right side is your server, and the left side is your computer.
Go to the file directory where your plugins are installed by following the path Public.html > wp-content > plugins on the screen’s right side. On the left, find the add-on file you want to add to your site, right-click it, and press the Install button. Then, you will complete the WordPress plugin installation within seconds.
5- Of course, if you upload it with FTP, you need to go to the Plugins> Installed Plugins tab and activate the plugin to activate the plugin you have just added
6- You can access the management panel of the plugin you have installed by clicking the Settings or General Settings button located just below the name of the plugin you have installed on the Plugins> Installed Plugins tab.