Installing Plugins
Installing plugins could enhance or extend your bbPress forums allowing further customization to your site.
Finding Plugins
The best place to find a plugin would be to look in the bbPress plugin section, or in the regular WordPress plugin repository.
If what you are looking for is not listed in the plugin section please know that since the latest version of bbPress is now a plugin of WordPress, that if a WordPress plugin does not mention bbPress or tag bbPress that doesn’t mean it’s not compatible with bbPress. Since bbPress uses custom post types you might find a plugin that will not even mention bbPress but will add its functionality to bbPress in some way and may work fine with bbPress. An anti-spam plugin like Akismet, or any plugin that modifies the registration process by allowing users to register using popular social networks are just a few examples. If you are not sure if a plugin is compatible with bbPress, you can always contact the plugin developer in their plugin support forum or whatever their means of support are.
Installing Plugins
Installing a plugin could be a unique process for each plugin and could require some more steps, so make sure to check out the plugin Installation tab on the plugin’s page on WordPress and also the plugin’s description and readme file. Usually for most the majority of plugins it is this simple process..
To install a plugin:
- Login into your WordPress backend
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Now in the plugins search bar enter the name of the plugin and hit enter to search for it
- Hit the Install Now button for the plugin that you searched for
- Then click the Activate link
Uninstalling Plugins
After using a plugin you may decide later on that you may not want it, it is unsupported, or you found something better for what you want for your site, if so you may want to uninstall the plugin that you decided not to use anymore.
While most plugins may have a simple process to uninstall, some may leave some kind of data left behind, although there may be an option to completely uninstall the plugin and its data in the plugin, some may not have this kind of option.
If you wish to remove a plugin completely with all of its data, make sure to find the plugin’s instructions that may be located in the readme file or in a tab on the plugin’s page on WordPress. For most plugins though it may be this simple process this simple process below.
To uninstall a plugin:
- Login into your WordPress backend
- Go to Plugins > All Plugins
- Find the plugin you want to deactivate and uninstall
- Click the Deactivate link beside the plugin you want to uninstall first
- Now that the plugin is deactivated, go back to the plugins section and click the Delete link beside the plugin.