WordPress® All-in-One For Dummies®

Manually Installing Plugins

It is not often that you find that you need to install a WordPress plugin because WordPress makes it so easy to install plugins through the Dashboard — however, we cover this method of installing plugins for you in this chapter so that you're familiar with the mechanics of downloading, unpacking, uploading, activating, and using a plugin in WordPress just in case you ever need to do it manually. This method isn't as easy as installing a plugin through the Dashboard, but the instructions below provide you an alternative installation method when you need it.

The first thing you need to know when manually installing a plugin is how to connect to the server where your WordPress installation is located via an FTP application. If you don't know how to do so, talk to your hosting provider. We also cover FTP extensively in Book II, Chapter 2 if you need a refresher. If you know how to connect to your server via FTP, the instructions below shouldn't be difficult:

1. Download your plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory at www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins.

   If the plugin doesn't appear in the directory, use a search engine to find the Web site where you can download the plugin. Many WordPress developers have a Web site where you can download their plugin.

2. After you download the plugin, check to see whether it's in a compressed format (often a Zip file). If so, “unzip” the file to access the uncompressed files.

   Sometimes the plugin comes in Zip format; if it does, ...