Introduction
WordPress plugins extend the functionality of your WordPress sites. There are many types of plugins. There are some that help you build pages. While there are others that extend its functionality. Though optional, it is highly recommended to install plugins. This is true especially if a site does more than display standard content.
Installing a WordPress plugin is not difficult. It is also very similar to installing WordPress themes; and like installing WordPress themes, they may be done in multiple ways.
If that sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. We’ll go through all the methods, step by step.
Method 1: Installing a Plugin through the “Add Plugin” Page
The first method to install a plugin we will look at is an install through the WordPress dashboard’s “Add Plugin” page
To be able to do this, we need to login to the WordPress Admin dashboard. Once there, hover over “Plug Ins” then click “Add New”
You will be redirected to the “Add Plugin” page. Here you can choose and pick among a variety of different plugins. Search for the plugin that you need. In our example, we will choose to install the ‘WooCommerce’ plugin. We will click on the “Install Now” button found in the plugin’s section to install the plugin.
Once it is through installing, click ‘Activate’
Method 2: Installing a Plugin by Uploading It to the “Add Plugin” Page
Another way to install a plugin is by uploading it through the “Add Plugin” Page. This is useful for cases when we can’t find the theme in the Admin Dashboard’s “Add Plugin” page. To upload a plugin, It has to be downloaded first. In our example, we will search for a plugin in the WordPress Plugin Repository. Search for the plugin you need. For this tutorial, we will search and download the Contact Form Email plugin. After querying for the plugin and it is found, click on the plugin’s title
It will redirect to the plugin’s page. Click ‘Download’ then save the file. Don’t unzip it.
After the plugin’s file has been downloaded it can already be installed. To install the plugin, we first need to login to WordPress. On the Admin Dashboard, Hover over “Plugins” then click “Add New”.
This will redirect to the the “Add Plugins” page. Once there, click on the “Upload Plugin” button.
You will see be prompted to upload the plugin. Browse for the plugin zip file we downloaded, then click ‘Install Now’. It will install the plugin.
To use the plugin click ‘Activate’.
Method 3: Installing a WordPress Plugin through FTP
The third method we will look at is an install of a WordPress Plugin through FTP. To proceed, download the plugin you need from the WordPress repository or from its source. To be able to install through FTP, FTP access to the server that will be connected to is necessary. Proper credentials are needed as well. Lastly, an FTP client is needed.
In our example, we have been given FTP access and the proper credentials to access the FTP server. For our FTP client, we will use Filezilla Client. We will be installing the ‘contact-form-to-email’ plugin. Unzip the plugin file in a directory.
We will now proceed to the installation.Open the FTP client and connect to the remote server.
Once connected, navigate the remote server’s directory to go to the remote WordPress site’s plugin folder.
Afterwards, navigate the local machine’s directory to the unzipped plugin folder.
Right click on the plugin file. Click ‘Upload’. The file will be uploaded.
To activate the plugin, log-in to WordPress on the remote server. Once logged-in, activate the plugin through the Admin dashboard. To do that hover ‘Plugins and click on ‘Installed Plugins’.
Focus on the newly installed plugin and click ‘Activate’ on the theme to use it.
Method 4: Installing a WordPress Plugin Through a Local Installation
Plugins can also be locally installed. To do this, first download the plugin file then unzip it. Place the unzipped folder inside your local site’s “/wp-content/plugins” directory. Login to WordPress Admin Dashboard. Hover over ‘Plugins’ and click ‘Installed Plugins’
Activate the plugin to use it.
Conclusion
Now we know how to install WordPress Plugins. We can now incorporate them into our sites.
