How to install a WordPress plugin
This tutorial will explain how to install a WordPress plugin you’ve downloaded from the Internet. Believe it or not, it’s rather simple.
Remember the first time you uploaded WordPress to your Web host? You may not remember, or you may have installed WordPress with the many one-click install Web hosting services. We’ll explain it from zero.
Uncompress the package you’ve downloaded
Once you’ve downloaded the package, uncompress it to a folder (or your desktop) in your computer, making sure your compression program preserves the folder structure.
The uncompression may yield one of two results:
- a single file or a set of files; usually a bunch of PHP files
- a new folder, with a set of files
Keep that in mind.
It’s all about FTP
First, get an FTP client. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it’s the standard way of copying files on the Internet. You’ll be using this FTP client to navigate the folders of your Web host and to copy the files into the WordPress folder dedicated to the plugins.
Heck, you could use Windows’ Web Folders feature if you’re so inclined. The examples used here show Konqueror, a very powerful network file manager that works on Linux, so don’t freak out if your computer looks a little different.
Log in to your site
Open your FTP client, and log in to your site. The instructions to do so vary quite a bit from FTP client to FTP client, but you’ll have to supply your user name, your password, and the Internet address of your Web hosting where your WordPress installation is located.
Navigate to the WordPress folder
Depending on how your Web hosting has arranged the files on the remote server, the WordPress folder could be named wordpress, public_html, or www. Locate it. You’ll know you’ve found it when you find a file named wp-config.php, which is the WordPress configuration file.
Navigate to the plugins folder
Now that you’re on the WordPress folder, enter the wp-content folder. Inside that folder, there’s a plugins folder — enter it as well.
Copy the files from the plugin
Now, remember we asked if you uncompressed a bunch of files, or a directory with files in it?
- If you got a directory with files: copy the entire directory with the files inside it, as it was uncompressed, into the plugins folder
- If you got a PHP file, or several ones, copy it to the plugins folder
The important part to remember is: preserve the structure which was used to distribute the plugin.
Final touches: activate your new plugin
Unless there was a problem with the process outlined above, now you should:
- Log in to your WordPress management console
- Open the Plugins panel
- Enable the plugin, which should now be listed there
If you successfully completed the steps outlined here, you’re now enjoying your plugin. Congratulations!
Try Turbocharged — it bundles 100 plugins in a single installable package
Although these installation instructions apply to WordPress, we recommend you get Turbocharged for the maximum WordPress experience. Instead of installing plugins one by one, you install it once, and you get 100 plugins for your WordPress blog.