Quickstart

Go from zero to actively managing your WordPress site with WP Manager Pro in a few minutes.

This guide walks you through installation, your first look at the dashboard, and three common workflows to get you productive fast.

1. Install and activate the plugin

   Download wp-manager-pro-v2.9.4.zip from the Releases page. In WP Admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.

   See the Installation page for manual and build-from-source options.

2. Navigate to WP Manager

   Click WP Manager in the WordPress admin sidebar. The full React-powered control panel loads in place — no page reload or separate browser tab required.

   You can also click the Open link that appears in the plugin row on Plugins → Installed Plugins.

3. Review the dashboard

   The Dashboard gives you an at-a-glance snapshot of your site’s health:

   • Update alerts — counts of pending core, plugin, and theme updates
   • Active plugin and theme counts
   • PHP limits — memory limit, max execution time, upload size limit
   • Storage — database size, uploads folder size, disk usage
   • Recent posts — a summary of the latest published content

   Use the dashboard as your daily starting point to spot anything that needs attention before diving into individual features.

4. Run your first plugin update check

   Navigate to Plugin Manager in the sidebar. Click Check Updates in the top-right corner. WP Manager Pro forces WordPress to re-query WordPress.org for fresh update data and immediately refreshes the plugin list — no page reload needed.

   Plugins with available updates show an update badge. Click the update button on any plugin row to update it to the latest version.

   Use the Version History dialog (clock icon on any plugin row) to browse and install any specific version from WordPress.org — useful for rolling back after a bad update.

5. Enable maintenance mode

   Navigate to Maintenance in the sidebar. You will see three tabs:

   • Content — set the page title and message visitors will see
   • Appearance — choose a gradient preset (Midnight, Sunset, Forest, Royal, Slate, or Candy), pick an emoji icon, and adjust colors
   • Extras — add a countdown timer to a specified date and time

   The live preview pane on the right updates in real time as you adjust settings. When you are satisfied with the design, click Enable Maintenance to go live. To save your design without activating maintenance mode, click Save Settings instead.

   To take the site out of maintenance mode, return to this page and click Disable Maintenance. The maintenance page is also removed automatically when you deactivate the plugin.

   For a deeper dive, see Maintenance mode.

6. Set up admin URL protection

   Hiding the default WordPress login URL is one of the highest-impact security steps you can take. Navigate to Security in the sidebar, then open the Login tab.

   Under Admin URL Protection, enter a secret slug — for example, my-secret-login. Click the clipboard button to copy the new login URL before saving, then click Enable Protection.

   Your login page now lives at yoursite.com/my-secret-login. Direct GET requests to wp-login.php are redirected to the homepage. Password-reset and POST flows are unaffected.

   While you are on the Login tab, consider also enabling the Login Attempt Limiter to automatically lock out IPs that exceed your configured maximum attempts.

   For the full security feature set — IP blocklist, two-factor authentication, and core file integrity checks — see Security overview.