How you can receive support - WP in the Community

I am currently looking at adding a support portal to this site but haven’t yet found quite the right solution. In the meantime, you are very welcome to request support from me using my contact form, and I’ll reply to you as soon as I can. There are many other places and ways to receive support too. This page is designed to help you find those places and get that support in the easiest and fastest way for you.

Summary of Contents

Basic Steps for Troubleshooting Site Issues

Carrying out these steps first will enable you to move straight to the next level of support when you reach out.

Places you can go for help

A quick roundup of places you might find useful.

Tips for writing a good support request

Some simple steps to ensure you receive the most valuable support in the fastest time.

Basic Steps for Troubleshooting Site Issues

Not all the questions you have will be related to an issue, but for the times when you have a problem with your site, these steps may help you to identify the source of the issue and either fix it yourself, or know which source of help is going to be the most useful to reach out to.

1. Clear your cache

Your browser, caching plugin, server and CDN if you are using one will all be holding cached versions of your site. Some themes and page builders will also add caching. Caching can cause all sorts of complications, like changes not being visible, layout issues and clickable elements not working. If anything on your site looks wrong, the first thing to do is clear those caches. The relevant documentation is the best place to check if you are not sure how to clear your caches. Note that you are needing to clear the existing caches for your site, not add further layers of caching! This is a common misunderstanding, so I thought it worth mentioning that installing a new caching plugin is not going to help you clear your cache.

2. Check for plugin conflicts

Updating plugins, plugins that need updating and plugin incompatibilities can all cause issues. A quick way to check for plugin issues is to deactivate all your plugins at once and check if the issue resolves (obviously if you’re seeing an issue in a certain plugin you’ll need to keep that plugin active, eg if you have an issue in WooCommerce, leave the WooCommerce plugin active and deactivate the rest). If deactivating your plugins resolves the issue, reactivate your plugins one by one, testing each time to see if the issue returns. If it does, you’ll then know which plugin is the issue and can reach out to the plugin support.

3. Check for theme issues

It is a good idea to have one of the WordPress default themes, such as Twenty Twenty One, installed on your site as a fallback theme. If your theme has big issues, your site will revert to using that default theme. You can also use it to check if your theme is causing problems by temporarily switching your site to use the default theme and check if the issue is resolved. If the theme is your issue, you can reach out to your theme support for help. Do please remember to make a backup of your site before switching theme. It shouldn’t cause issues but you never know!

4. Check the PHP version

It is absolutely vital that you keep all parts of your site up to date. This means regularly running updates, and also checking the changelogs for your themes and plugins to make sure that developers are still supporting their products and releasing updates regularly (ideally at least every six months). Another thing to keep an eye on is the PHP version on the server. You may see a warning in Site Health if you are using in incompatible version but you can check which version you are using under the “Server” dropdown of the “Info” tab in Tools > Site Health. The currently recommended version is 8.1. Updating is done through your hosting panel (usually via the PHP Version Control). You can check your hosting documentation or reach out to your hosting support for the details. If updating causes issues, you can revert your PHP version back down but you’ll need to identify what it is on your site that is the problem.

Bonus – Enable debug mode

If you’re used to editing your files, you can add this to your wp-config.php file
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
and then check the debug.log file that will have been created to see the errors. Remember afterwards to remove the code you added or change “true” to “false”!

If you’re not used to editing your files, you can install the WP Debugging Plugin instead. Then go to Tools > WP Debugging and select the “Set WP_DEBUG to true” option. From the Debug Quick Look in your top admin bar you can view the file and check the URLs displayed to see if you can identify what might be causing issues. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what is in that file! The first three troubleshooting steps would likely have covered anything you can easily fix so if this step seems complicated, just reach out for help.

Places You can Go for Help

As the owner of a self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org) site, all responsibility for every aspect of your site belongs to you. Some of that responsibility is shared though in terms of developers having a responsibility towards their themes and plugins and your host having responsibilities towards the server environment. There are also places you can go for more general help. This section aims to help you find the most suitable option for your needs.

(Note: If you are using WordPress.com, which is a packaged version of WordPress that differs to WordPress.org, much more of the responsibility lies with WordPress.com and you should reach out directly to them for help. This ensures that you receive accurate and useful information. This site and the support provided here is relevant to WordPress.org sites. Note also that all the general WordPress support groups on Facebook are intended for WordPress.org, apart from the WordPress.com Community Facebook Group.)

Search Engines and Documentation

This might not have been what you were expecting to see at the top of this list but so often an answer to a question can be found by typing the question or error message into a search engine. If the issue is with a particular theme or plugin, checking through the documentation can be enormously worthwhile. Themes and plugins with good documentation will often also include troubleshooting guides for particular issues. If your question is about how to do something or which plugins to use, a search engine will usually provide you with plenty of results. Do check that the information you are looking at has been recently written or updated to ensure that it is still relevant.

Support Forums

There should be support provided by the developers for all themes and plugins. If you are using pro themes or plugins, support is part of what you are paying for when you purchase the product, so don’t be afraid to use that support. For free themes and plugins in the WordPress repository, there is support through the WordPress.org support forum which you can access through the link on the relevant plugin page in the WordPress plugin repository or theme page in the theme directory. You can read through other questions posted in the forum but in order to post your own question (“create a topic”), you will need to log in or create a (free) account.

Hosting Support

Hosting support is there to assist you with hosting/server related issues. Some will assist you with site issues too but it may depend on the nature of those issues, and remember that they are not obliged to help with your site. If you have a problem and forgot to make your own backup, get in touch with your hosting support asap as they may be willing to restore your site from their backup. Many only keep the backups for 24hrs though so it is best to reach out to them as soon as possible.

Facebook Groups

Many themes and plugins have their own official Facebook groups. It is always worth searching for those so that you can draw on the knowledge of group members who are familiar with your themes and plugins, as well as the expertise of the official support team. There are also many general support groups if you have more general questions or are not sure what your issue relates to. If you have used Facebook groups before and have been put off by touts for business or spam messages being sent to you, let me assure you that there are also some very well run groups that do not permit that type of behaviour. You can find a list of some of them on the Freelancers Tools website, and below you can click/tap to reveal a summary and links to the groups I enjoy participating in the most.

WordPress.

This is a group for WordPress users with an intermediate level of skill but questions of any level are welcomed. There is an expectation that you will have carried out your own research and troubleshooting before asking questions though. The answers given may expect you to have a greater level of understanding too but you are very welcome to ask for further/easier explanations. This is an independent group with fantastic admins and I’m lucky enough to be a moderator here too.

> Join WordPress.

WPBeginner Engage – WordPress Help for Non-Techies

WPBeginner Engage is very well managed, and informative in a way that is accessible to everyone. Do watch out for their marketing tactics as their guides have a strong inclination towards the products owned by Awesome Motive (WPBeginner’s parent company) rather than necessarily being what is best for you. As long as you are aware of that fact though, this is an incredibly useful group to be a part of.

> Join WPBeginner Engage

WordPress UK&I Help and Support

As I’m based in the UK, I thought I’d add this group as it is one I enjoy being a part of, and respect for the way it is run and the knowledge imparted. Again, this group does cater for any level of WordPress experience but I would say it is a more intermediate level group. If you are not in the UK or Ireland, it may be worth your while to see if there are groups local to you.

> Join WordPress UK&I

WordPress Plugin Suggestions

This is a place to ask for recommendations if you’re unsure what type of plugin you need or which plugin to use. It is another independent group that I am a moderator for. Developers are allowed to recommend their own plugins, but are required to include a disclaimer (this is kept a thorough eye on). Mostly it is just group members helping each other out by recommending their favourite and most useful plugins.

> Join WordPress Plugin Suggestions

Polite request

I am more than happy to help you through this site or within the Facebook groups. Please note though that private messaging breaks the rules for all the Facebook groups I am in. Therefore if you try to reach out to me through Facebook Messenger, make sure you mention this site / WP in the Community otherwise I likely will not reply (except when you are contacting me in my role as moderator about a group issue, or we have already agreed in previous contact to use Messenger for communication). I hope you will be understanding of my stance on that.

Tips for writing a good support request

When you put in a request for support, remember that the person reading that request knows nothing about your site and will only have the information you provide them with to work from. The more information you can provide, the easier it will be for them to assist you, the less time will be spent going backwards and forwards asking for more information, and the more specific the support person will be able to be in their replies to you. If you’re asking for recommendations on how to provide a particular feature, including as much detail as you can about how you need that feature to work will help you to receive more useful answers.

The following tips may help you think about what information you may need to include in your support request:

1. A link to your site

This is the number one most important thing you can include. Huge amounts of troubleshooting can be done by looking at your site code from the frontend, and if there are any details missing from your support request or you are not sure of what information to give, it often enables the support person to find out that information for themselves. It is always welcomed and recommended to include a link to your site, and in many cases it is impossible to provide support without it. Even all the Facebook groups will welcome a link for troubleshooting purposes.

2. Relevant details of the theme, page builder and plugins you are using

A list of every plugin in use on your site is usually going to be information overload but if, for example, you are asking a question about something on one of your pages, it’s useful to know which theme the site is using, whether you used a page builder to create the page and if there is any other plugin involved in providing the part of the page you are referring to. If you’re having issues, if you know that you recently updated a theme/plugin/Wordpress/PHP, that could be useful information to include too. If your question is about how to provide a certain function on your site, again, providing the details of your theme, page builder or other plugin/product/payment gateway etc that the function needs to work with, it will help people to consider compatibility before providing answers.

3. Error messages

If you are seeing any error messages or warnings on your site, please share the wording of that message in full. If you see it intermittently, mentioning what you were doing prior to seeing that error could be useful information too.

4. Screenshots

These are so useful to help understand exactly what you are looking at and seeing. If your issue is on the frontend of your site, it enables support persons to immediately identify where to look on your site. If the issue is in the backend of your site then a screenshot is vital for support to be able to see the issue themselves. Remember that a screenshot is not a replacement for a link to your site. A screenshot is valuable information, but a lot of the time it is impossible to troubleshoot from a screenshot alone as it does not enable your site code to be viewed.

5. Provide details of the troubleshooting steps and research you have already done

This saves support from suggesting things you have already tried and saves you from receiving irrelevant answers. If your site has an issue, mentioning the troubleshooting steps you have already taken will help support to narrow down the causes and dig in deeper straight away. If you are looking to add a feature to your site, saying what you have already looked at and why you have decided against those options will help people to help you find what you need rather than make more generic recommendations or suggest the options you’ve already dismissed.

6. Bonus tip – No crossposting

Asking the same question in multiple places is seen as bad manners and an abuse of the free help that is being provided for you. People in one place can’t see what people in another place are saying, leading to multiple people giving up their time to look at something that may have already been solved elsewhere and providing duplicate information. Keeping your question to one place also helps you to keep track of answers and work methodically through an issue. If people see you crossposting, it can leave them reluctant to help you, resulting in you receiving less help. In Facebook groups it can mean your crossposted question is deleted and you are placed on post approval (leading to future delays in your questions being posted). Asking that you do not crosspost does not mean your access to help is restricted. It is simply a request to allow time (at least 24 hrs) for your question to be successfully answered in one place before moving on to ask somewhere else.

Don’t Worry!

This page isn’t meant to be an overwhelming or complicated list of instructions. The only important thing is that you receive the help you need. Any good support person will be wanting to help you at whatever level of experience you have. If the thought of troubleshooting worries you or you are not sure what information is relevant to your issue, just provide the best information you can (along with that all-important link to your site) and support will work through the issue with you. If the thought of reaching out to support yourself seems daunting, you are always very welcome to contact me and I will guide you myself, liase with the relevant source of support on your behalf, or even fix the issue for you if it all seems too much. I would recommend you see how far along the whole process you can get yourself though. At the very least you might learn more about your site, and imagine that sense of achievement if you’re able to fix things yourself.