WordPress Toolkit: Managing WordPress Instances

Note: The WordPress Toolkit extension is free with our Tera plans, and the Web Pro and the Web Host Plesk editions on a dedicated server or could VM.  It is available for a fee for the Web Admin edition.

Managing WordPress Instances

Go to WordPress to see all WordPress instances hosted on the server.

WordPress Toolkit groups information about each instance in blocks we call cards.

A card shows a screenshot of your website and features a number of controls that give you easy access to frequently used tools. The screenshot changes in real time to reflect the changes you make to your website. For example, if you switch the maintenance mode on or change the WordPress theme, the screenshot of the website will change immediately.

Note: Changes you make directly in WordPress are synchronized with WordPress Toolkit once every 24 hours. To sync manually, click the  button.

When you move the mouse cursor over the screenshot of the website, the Open Site button appears. Click the button to open the website in a new browser tab.

Security

WordPress websites are frequently targeted by hackers. WordPress Toolkit analyzes how safe your instance is by checking the following security aspects and showing the result below the screenshot of the website:

If you see “warning” or “danger” next to one of these aspects, click “View” and fix it.

General Information

In the “General Info” section, you see the WordPress website’s title and its WordPress version. Here you can:

• Click “Change” next to the default “My SMS” title to give your website a custom name.
• Click “Log in” to log in to WordPress as an administrator.
• Click “Setup” next to “Log in” to change general WordPress settings.

Tools

In the “Tools” section, click to access the following WordPress Toolkit features:

• “Sync” to synchronize the content of your website with another one.
• “Clone” to make a full copy of your website.
• “Manage Files” to manage the website’s files in File Manager.
• “Back Up/Restore” to create a backup of your website and restore it if necessary.

The controls below give you easy access to the following settings and tools:

• “Search engine indexing” shows your website in search results of search engines.
• "Caching (nginx)" speeds up the website load time and reduces server load.
• “Debugging” helps you debug a website that is not ready for viewing and being tested or developed.
• “Maintenance mode” hides your website’s content from visitors.
• "Password Protection" specifies the password you will use to log in to WordPress from Plesk.

On the remaining three tabs you can manage the instance’s plugins, themes, and change the database username and password.

Managing Cards View

You can choose the way WordPress Toolkit shows cards. The default “Cards” view is best suited for a small number of instances. If you have a large number of instances, collapse cards , or switch to the “Tiles” or “List” view.

You can also Sort and Filter instances to manage them more easily.

Removing and Detaching Instances

You can detach WordPress instances that you do not want to see and manage in WordPress Toolkit. Detaching does not remove the instance, merely hides it from WordPress Toolkit. A detached instance will be attached to WordPress Toolkit again after you scan for WordPress instances. To detach a WordPress instance, go to WordPress, choose the instance you want to detach, click the  button, and then click Detach.

Unlike detaching, removing completely deletes a WordPress instance. To remove a WordPress instance, go to WordPress, choose the instance you want to delete, click the  button, and then click Remove.

Search Engine Indexing and Debugging

By default, a newly created WordPress Toolkit website is shown in search results of search engines. If your website is not yet ready for public viewing, switch off Search engine indexing.

If you are installing WordPress for testing or development, you can enable Debugging to automatically find and fix errors in the website code. To do so, click "Setup" next to “Debugging”, select the WordPress debugging tools you want to activate, and then click OK.