Do you regularly set up new WordPress sites? Then you probably have multiple plugins you like to use on all your sites, but uploading, installing, and activating plugins manually one-by-one can quickly become tediously repetitive.
Luckily, there’s a quick way to install all your favorite plugins in one go, saving you time. In this post, I’ll show you how to bulk upload and install multiple WordPress plugins.
If you want to skip the written tutorial, watch the video below…
For more detailed information and instructional screenshots, check out our step-by-step tutorial below.
WordPress Bulk Upload And Install Plugin – Step-By-Step Tutorial
For this tutorial, we’re going to use WPCore, a handy tool that allows you to upload and install multiple WordPress plugins in one go. It’s available for free in the WordPress Plugin Repository.
WPCore combines a feature that is similar to WordPress.org plugin repository’s Favorites section and a bookmarking site for adding and sharing different plugin lists. You build plugin ‘collections’, which are then stored on the WPCore site. Plugin collections can then be accessed from any WordPress site by installing the plugin and entering a ‘collection key’. WPCore lets you store your plugin collections and access collections that other users have created and made available for sharing. You can import plugin collections to any WordPress site, including WordPress multisite installations.
Install The Plugin
You can easily find and install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by going to the ‘Plugins > Add New’ screen and searching for WPCore.
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu item will appear in the admin sidebar.
Adding the plugin to WordPress lets you perform a number of functions, including adding a plugin collection to your WordPress site and exporting plugins from WordPress to a collection of plugins stored on the WPCore site. Additionally, you can install and activate your plugins using the WordPress CLI.
Create A Plugin Collection
Before you can bulk add and install plugins on your WordPress site, however, you need to create a plugin collection at WPCore.
So, let’s head over to the WPCore website and create a free account …
After creating your account, you can add a new plugin collection. Enter a title and description and specify whether the collection should be made public or kept private.
Once your collection has been created, you can add plugins from the WordPress plugin repository and/or add your own custom plugins (note: this option is only available for paid members).
For this example, we’ll add WPMU DEV’s free plugins from WordPress.org. Click on the ‘ ’ symbol, start typing in the name of the plugin, and select the plugin you would like to add to your collection from the search results drop-down menu.
You can also add plugins from the WordPress directory by selecting ‘Browse > WordPress Plugins’ and clicking the ‘ ’ symbol on any plugin shown in the list.
The plugins that you select will be added and display in your plugin collection screen.
If you want to view your collection as a list instead of in grid format, just click the little cog icon at the bottom of your screen to switch the layout.
Every plugin collection you create will have its own key. Additional functions for your collection can be found below the key. These include turning plugin update notifications on/off, toggling between public and private status, adding or removing it from favorites and cloning your collection.
We’ll come back to this section in a moment. Let me point out a few additional features of WPCore:
You can browse your and other users’ plugin collections inside your account area.
You can also perform several of the functions described earlier.
‘Free’ users can create up to 2 collections with 18 plugins per collection. If you need more, you will need to upgrade to the paid plan, which lets you create and manage 200 plugin collections with up to 100 plugins each, plus add custom plugins, receive update notifications and, according to the site, receive helpful support from a cool dude.
Now that we have created a plugin collection, it’s time to add it to your WordPress site.
Importing & Installing Multiple Plugins In WordPress
In the plugin collection screen, select and copy the key to your clipboard.
Log into your WordPress site. If you haven’t installed the WPCore plugin yet, do it now. Once the plugin has been installed, select ‘WPCore’ from the main menu and click the ‘Add a collection key’ button.
Paste in the collection key from your clipboard and click ‘Save Collections’.
You will see a list of the plugins in the collection that you have just uploaded. You can add more plugin collections or install the plugins you’ve just uploaded by clicking the ‘Install Plugins’ button.
All plugins will be loaded to your WordPress site.
Activating the plugins is simple. Select the plugin(s) you want to activate, choose ‘Activate’ from the drop-down menu and click the Apply button.
All plugins in the collection will be installed and activated. The quick video below shows a summary of the above steps in action.
Congratulations! Now you know how to bulk install plugins in WordPress. I hope this post helps you streamline how you set up new WordPress sites.
WordPress Bulk Upload Plugin Practical Uses
- If you build or configure WordPress sites for clients, using plugin collections and this handy plugin will help you save time and get all your plugins installed in one go.
- If you are a WordPress plugin developer, internet marketer, consultant, trainer, or blogger, use plugin collections to set up lists of your favorite/recommended plugins and share these with other WordPress users.
- Eliminate tedious plugin tasks using the above plugin to bulk upload and install multiple WordPress plugins and a service like WPMUDEV’s Automate to ensure that all installed plugins remain up-to-date.
Now that you know how to bulk install WordPress plugins, you can practice by installing our free WPMU DEV plugins collection on your site … enjoy! 😉
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