Installing the WordPress plugin

Getting the Checkfront plugin onto your WordPress site takes just a few clicks -  no bulky code blocks on your page, and no need to touch your website code if your URL ever changes. 

Learn how to install the WordPress plugin, including searching for the plugin and activating it.

Are you new to WordPress?  Please read the first article in this series for an introduction to our WordPress integration.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• Manage > Integrations > Website Integration > WordPress
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions to manage integrations.
• WordPress.com account with a Business plan or a hosted website with the free WordPress.org software.
• Ability to copy and paste into your website code or have some helpful person do this for you!
   

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• This feature is available in both our classic items version (Inventory > Items) and our classic products version (Inventory> Products).  → Learn more about products

Unlike our Booking Widget integration method, the WordPress-based booking widget requires installing a plugin.

The two methods yield similar results, but installing the WordPress plugin avoids a complex mass of code and lets you change your website URL without editing any code on your webpage.

• If you've used WordPress before, you are probably familiar with finding and installing plugins on your server. 
• If not, then don't panic! It's straightforward to complete and takes just a few moments.

The following steps show you exactly how to do this with just a few mouse clicks.

The first step is to locate the Checkfront plugin within the WordPress Plugin Directory. You can navigate to your WordPress dashboard.

1. Click on the Plugins menu in the left sidebar.
2. Click Add New.
3. Enter Checkfront in the search field and press Enter.
4. When the Checkfront plugin appears, click Install Now.

1. It takes only a moment for the plugin to install, after which you must activate it. From here, click the Activate button.

2. Once you have activated the plugin, you can see a confirmation message at the top of the screen.

3. The plugin is now visible on your list of active plugins, and you also see Checkfront under the Plugins menu in the left sidebar. Click this Checkfront link to continue the plugin activation process.

4. On the next screen, you see a Quick Start section at the top with text instructions on how to proceed and a video Quick Start Guide at the bottom of the page. 
5. Directly below the Quick Start text instructions is a white box labeled Setup. Here, you can find a field to enter your Checkfront Host URL. The Checkfront URL is the URL you use to access your Checkfront Admin area, and you chose it when you first created your account. It is most likely [BusinessName].checkfront.com. In our example below, we use demo.checkfront.com.
6. Finally, enter the Checkfront Host URL and click Update to save your changes.

7. If everything went according to plan, you see an Updated! message in the Setup box.

Checkfront Host URL Pay close attention to your Checkfront Host URL. Depending on where you are located, your URL may not end with .com. It may, for instance, end with .co.uk. Entering this incorrectly is a common mistake, so double-check before entering the URL in the field.

Next Steps

Next, we look at accessing the shortcode generator from WordPress or within Checkfront.

< Introduction to the WordPress plugin     |     Accessing the shortcode generator for the WordPress plugin >