How to Install WordPress Plugin from your Blog Dashboard

To use the WordPress CMS, you need to know how to install its plugins from your blog dashboard itself. This is perhaps the simplest way to install plugins. So, when you know the plugin name for instance, you can search for it on the dashboard directly to install it. To do this, you need to log on to the dashboard to click on “Plugins” and then choose the “Add New” option under it. A search box will appear on your right and you must type in the plugin name to search for it. When you have found the plugin, you can go ahead and install this new plugin.

To get additional information about any plugin, you can choose the “More Details”. This is important since you have to be sure the plugin is compatible with the WordPress version you use. Another important thing to check for before installing any new plugin for WordPress is to carefully review the documentation. When you have decided to add a new plugin, you can click on the option “Install Now”. This is followed by an “Activate Plugin” command.

To install the plugin, you will need to enter the plugin’s settings panel. You can make all changes here; it is important to configure the plugin properly because very often people install them without doing this. So, plugin installation must be supported by proper settings configuration.

To install plugins which have been downloaded from third party websites, you can upload .zip file to install this directly from the dashboard. You will then have to select the option “Upload Plugin”, browse for the .zip file in the browser.

While there are other ways to install WordPress plugins, the dashboard search feature is the most convenient. The FTP method is recommended for some specific situations. Once installed, managing the plugins is simple. For this, you must enter the plugins folder within the dashboard, either activate or deactivate the plugin with one click. When you encounter problems post installation of a plugin, you can log onto the dashboard through the FTP to deactivate the concerned plugin.