How to install a plugin in WordPress manually

"WordPress comes alive with plugins!"

WordPress is the elephant in the room when it comes to the online arena.

Look at these stats ... As of 2022 there are more than 455 MILLION ... Yes MILLION websites using WordPress as their CMS of choice.

These numbers are climbing every year, and there is no ceiling in sight.

Why is WordPress so popular?

The real magic of WordPress doesn't lay in the platform itself, but in the plugins that expand and create pretty much anything you can think of for your website or blog.

With plugins you can create and build any website to do what you need it to do.

How do you install plugins manually in WordPress

Out of the gate WordPress has a plugin list found in the menu that has a ton of awesome plugins, the fact is however there are MANY more that aren't there.

These plugins need to be installed manually. Let's jump right in and learn how to get this done!

Step #1 Open the "plugins" menu ...

From the WordPress dashboard ...

Once opened up you will see all plugins that are installed on your site ... To manually add a new plug in you want to click on the "Add New" box in the top left.

Step #2 Click the "Add New" tab

After clicking the "Add New" box you will see a search bar, you can also scroll down the many available plugins to find what suits your needs.

Anything you are trying to get done can be searched here and usually there is something that comes up, there are times however when you need to download a plugin from another source as a .zip file.

This is when installing the downloaded plugin manually becomes necessary.

Step#3 Click the "Upload Plugin" tab

By clicking the "Upload Plugin" tab you will open up the next section (see image below) This is where the file or plugin can be installed manually.

There are 2 Ways to go about this ...

• Drag the file into the box
• Browse and open up the correct file

After clicking the "choose file" tab your .zip files will open up, this is where you should find the plugin that you purchased or downloaded.

In this case I will be installing the generate blocks pro plugin ...

Just click the file and then hit open, or you can click and drag the file right into the box and drop.

After you will see the name of the file listed, at this point just click "Install now"

The file will download and you are done with installing a Word Press plugin manually!

Once the file is downloaded it's time to activate the plugin and get it working.

Step#4 Activate the new plugin

Click the "Activate plugin" button and that's it! The plugin is ready to use and you should see it on the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard.

Keep in mind that sometimes the plugins will show up under the "Settings" or "Appearance" tabs.

Let's show you how to install a plugin in WordPress manually in real time!

Wrapping up

I hope that this article helps you get the plugins you need installed onto your WordPress website or blog.

As you can see it really isn't that hard and takes less than a few minutes to get done!

Thanks for reading!