Create lists of your favourites plugins, export and import them in any new website to install all plugins in the list with just one single click.
| Author: | codingfix (profile at wordpress.org) |
| WordPress version required: | 4.0.1 |
| WordPress version tested: | 6.7.2 |
| Plugin version: | 1.2.4 |
| Added to WordPress repository: | 16-10-2024 |
| Last updated: | 11-02-2025 |
| Rating, %: | 0 |
| Rated by: | 0 |
| Plugin URI: | https://codingfix.com |
| Total downloads: | 776 |
 Click to start download |
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Whether you’re building a site from scratch or setting up a local development environment, Instalist allows you to create, save, and manage lists of plugins, which can then be installed and activated with just a single click. This simple yet powerful tool is a game-changer, especially for developers who find themselves repeatedly installing the same set of plugins across multiple projects.
Why Instalist?
Imagine this scenario: You’re setting up a new WordPress site, and as always, there are certain plugins you can’t do without—think WPForms, WP Mail SMTP, Yoast SEO, Google Site Kit, and a few others. Normally, you’d have to install each of these plugins individually, a process that can become tedious, especially if you manage several sites.
Instalist changes all that. With this plugin, you can create a list of your go-to plugins, save it, and use it to quickly set up new sites. No more searching for each plugin, no more repetitive clicks—just a streamlined process that gets you up and running faster than ever.
Creating and Saving Plugin Lists
The magic of Instalist lies in its ability to create and save plugin lists. Here’s how it works: Once you’ve installed Instalist, you simply start typing the name of a plugin you want to add to your list. Instalist will automatically suggest matching plugins based on your input, allowing you to quickly find and select the one you need. After selecting the desired plugin, you just click “Add plugin,” and it’s added to your list along with its exact name, slug, and icon.
Once you have saved your list you can export it to a csv file and this is the game-changer feature of Instalist: in any new website you’ll build you’ll be able to import that file and install and activate all of your plugins with just a click!
Plugin versions
Free version
In the free version you can:
* create a plugin list from scratch using an easy list editor
* Esport a plugin list to a file in csv format
* Import a plugin list from a fil in csv format
* Install and activate all plugins in the list with just a single click of mouse
In the free version, you can create and manage only one list of plugins, so you can try the plugin and see how easy it is to use.
Premium version
The Premium version will offer these additional features:
* multiple lists management: you’ll be able to create as many lists as you want. For instance, you could create a basic plugins list which holds all those plugins that you use in every website you create; another plugin list for e-commerce websites, another one for blogs and so on
* selective installation and activation: you’ll be able to choose if install and activate all the plugins in the list or select only a few
* create a plugin list loading already installed plugins and choosing among them
How to use
Creatng a new list
1. New website
In a new website you can just install Instalist and use it to create a list of all plugins you need to install and activate. This alone is a significant time-saving: in fact, you don’t have to install and activate each plugin one by one, going from a page to another like a pinball ball. One you have saved your list, you’re ready to click the Install all button and let Instalist work for you.
But this is just the beginning. You can export your list to a file in csv format to save on your hard drive. When the time comes to create a new website, you can just install Instalist, import the csv file and click Install all button to get the job done.
2. In an existing website
If you have the Premium version of Instalist, you can create a list choosing from the plugins that are already installed in your website! A piece of cake!
Installing a list of plugins
When you give Instalist the Install command, it checks all the plugins in the list. If one or more required plugins are missing—meaning they are neither in the current list nor installed on the website—Instalist will stop the installation process and prompt you to install the missing dependencies.
If you agree, Instalist will download the required plugins and update the list. You can then click the Install button again, and Instalist will first install the necessary plugins before proceeding with the others, ensuring a smooth installation process.
Important notice
As you can read here, any “Plugin will fail to activate with the following generic response for multiple reasons, including; issues parsing the header information, issue with the ‘plugin’ cache […], or a permissions error”.
In addition, several plugins don’t use Requires Plugins header field, so it can happen that a plugin seems to be activated when it is not. In other tests, I have found that some plugin use a code to deactivate itself if a required plugin is missing but they put an exit; or a return; immediately after having called deactivate_plugins() function. This interrupts the normal flow of the WordPress cycle. Even n this case, the plugin seems to be activated but it is not. Last, but not least, due to connection or network problems, the opposite can happen, that is that a plugin seems not to have been activated while it is active and perfectly working.
I have tried to catch all of these cases and to return the appropriate feedback to the user. Anyway, if one error prevents the plugin’s activation, you’ll be able to select it/them in the plugins’ page of WordPress dashboard and activate it/them manually. Personally, I don’t think this has a significant impact on the advantages of using Instalist: in fact, the process of installing and activating various plugins is still much faster than using the traditional method.
To do its job, Instalist relies on wordpress.org and uses WordPress plugin API to download and activate the desired plugins. You can read about privacy policy of wordpress.org at https://wordpress.org/about/privacy/
ChangeLog