must plugins always be active?

  • My site would not launch and I received a message, first there were technical difficulties and later there was a critical error on the site. I disabled all plugins and the site launched just fine. I reactivated one-at-a-time about half–the ones I felt were most important–and let the others sit inactive and the site seems to be functioning just fine.

    My question is, do plugins always have to be active or, do they only have to be active during design and editing?

    Really appreciate this forum, I’ve always received great information.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • Hi, It depends on your desired demand. You have to know which plugins is required and non-required. In this way you should keep the necessary plugins on your site.

    In my professional and personal websites, I avoid having inactive plugins.

    Although there are some plugins you might want to activate for spot use, I suggest that the only good plugin is one you actually need and keep active. I recently deleted 20 plugins from a client site, including four that were inactive, and no in-house Admin noticed. Then again, that site had 55 plugin.

    Then there is the issue of website security. Active plugins are generally kept up to date. Of course there are abandoned plugins that still work without updates, but I’d be auditing my plugins as a regular security measure.

    Thread Starter greenscreen

    (@greenscreen)

    Thank you both, Wudman & Toufiqur
    I have tried to keep my plugins to a minimum but now, the question becomes, which ones are necessary? I only have 15 total, one is Pro version of theme (A), two are Elementor related (A), eight are WooCommerce (4 A, 4 I), Duplicator (A) for backups, MailMunch, Smush & Yoast all (I). The inactive (I) ones are only turned off because of the issues. Haven’t had the patience yet to go through the process of turning the rest back on to finish finding the culprit. Where do I find out which ones are “necessary”?

    Thanks

    Hi there,

    Thanks for your reply. One by one disable the plugin and check which you need or not.

    -Thanks

    Thread Starter greenscreen

    (@greenscreen)

    I know I can do a trial and error but that could give random results–works this time but not later on. Pretty time consuming to check every function on a site for every plugin. I would think somewhere in the documentation or in some hidden file, it would tell you this is “required” for functioning and not just design or setup.

    Hi there,

    Thanks for your explanation. Yes, It’s time-consuming. You can contact your theme provider. I hope they will help you.

    -Thanks

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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