Multiple WordPress Management Features: Installing Plugins and Themes

To install a new plugin or theme is at least a 4 step process each time when using WordPress.

• Search for the plugin (page load)
• Click to install (popup box)
• Click Okay to confirm the install (page loads)
• Activate the plugin (page loads)

With iControlWP we’ve tried, as with updating plugins and themes, to create a couple of ways to get there, and to make it easier to install them in bulk across several sites at once.

Read on to discover all the ways you can quickly and efficiently install plugins and themes across your whole WordPress network.

5 Unique Ways To Install WordPress Plugins In Bulk

At iControlWP we know that everyone manages WordPress that bit differently.  Installing WordPress plugins is no different.

We’ve provided 5 different way to install WordPress plugins on your network of sites.

• Searching WordPress.org for plugins and then installing/activate in bulk across multiple sites.
• Searching WordPress.org for users’ favourites, and then installing/activate in bulk across multiple sites.
• Uploading a WordPress plugin zip file directly to a group of WordPress sites (and optionally activating it)
• Installing a WordPress plugin by providing a URL that points to a plugin zip file (and optionally activating it)
• Using your existing pool of WordPress plugins and installing the same plugins across your network.

I’ll take each in turn and describe the process for doing this.

Searching WordPress.org for plugins and themes

iControlWP has a dedicated WordPress.org search feature built directly into the application.

With it you can search just like you do within your WordPress site.  The difference is that instead of displaying the search results, you get to see how these particular plugins are distributed and installed across your whole WordPress network.  See the screen shots below for examples:

Searching WordPress.org for users’ favourites

WordPress.org allows you to create an account and then selected WordPress plugins as favourites.

They then conveniently allowed you to search for your own favourites using their API.  So we decided to let you build your own list of favourite plugin and use this list as a reference within iControlWP.

So, in the previous example for searching WordPress.org for plugin name, simply put in your own username and instead of selecting “Search WordPress.org Plugins”, click “Search WordPress.org Users for Favourites”.

The list of plugins displayed will be your favourite plugins and you’ll be able to see how this is distributed throughout your network of WordPress sites.

Installing WordPress plugins by uploading it to your sites or by providing a public URL

Since not all your plugins are from WordPress.org, we wanted to provide you a quick way to upload your premium and custom plugins directly through our system.

Unfortunately, the ability to see how custom and premium plugins are distributed across your network is quite difficult, but we’ve made this ability to upload plugins available none-the-less.

See the screen shots below:

Use your existing pool of plugins to install across your WordPress network

You use the same plugins on lots of your sites, right?

Well, we’ve made it really easy to see all those plugins and then install them directly onto other sites that you have connected to iControlWP

It works much the same as the WordPress.org search and favourites features in how it lists the plugins and then display their distribution on your sites.

Take a look at the screen shot below:

Installing Plugins and Themes is easy with iControlWP

Of course, all the screenshots above refers to WordPress plugins, but the same features apply to WordPress themes also.

As always, we understand that every one their individual workflow and we’ve tried to offer several options to get the same job done.

If you have any suggestions how about we can improve these, please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below or in our support section.