Where can you add widgets on your site?

It all depends on your WordPress theme. Many themes have sidebar and footer widget areas. Some also allow you to place widgets in the header, homepage, or other areas of your site.

Directory Widgets

Business Directory Plugin comes with a variety of widgets to display listings. They can be placed wherever your theme allows widgets. You can find them under Appearance → Widgets in WordPress:

• Search
• Region Search (comes with Region Module)
• Location Search (comes with ZIP Search Module)
• Latest Listings
• Random Listings
• Featured Listings

Search Widgets

Basic Search

This widget can be used to place a search form in a widgetized area on your page. The basic mode will search listing titles, categories and description fields by default.

And here is the result on the site:

Advanced Search Widget

If you want to add additional fields to be searched, you would choose the Advanced option and select multiple fields search. You can select more than one field by holding down the Ctrl or Cmd button on your keyboard while making selections:

And here is what that looks like on the front-end:

Region Search

This widget is available with the Regions module and it adds a quick Regions search area on the page.

You can change the widget title as well as select the region fields you’d like to include in the search form. You can also choose the number of matching listings to return in search results. Here is what that looks like on the front-end:

Location Search

This widget comes with the Zip search module. It allows you to add a quick Zip search form on the page. You can also include a category search field with Zip search.

The widget allows you to change the title and select from the following:

Display Settings

• Hide Search Mode Selector – When selected, the widget will only search for the provided zip code
• Hide Category field selector – When selected, the category field will not be included with the zip search

Default Search Mode

• By Postal Code only
• Distance Search

Standard Directory Widgets

Featured Listings, Latest Listings, and Random Listings

These widgets allow you to display listings from your directory with full control over the size and placement of your images. You can also choose which fields should be included.

Widget Settings

Title – By default, the name of the widget will show, but the text can be modified to anything you'd like.

Number of Listings to display – Defaults to 5 and can be changed to the number you prefer.

Display listings in random order – Only applies to the Featured Listing widget. Toggle on or off.

Thumbnail Settings

The thumbnail settings control the media that show up in your widget.

Show thumbnails – toggle on or off

Use “Coming Soon” photo for listings without an image – toggle on or off

Image width, height, in pixels – customize to your preference and the space where the widget is being displayed

Thumbnail Positions (Desktop, Mobile) – place the image differently for better desktop or mobile viewing experiences.

Fields

The final area of customization for widgets is which fields you'd like to have displayed. You can choose from any field you have added to your listings.

This is an example of what the Random Listings widget might look like on your site when changing the name of the widget to “Visit These Listings” and choosing some fields to display:

This is an example of what the Random Listings widget might look like on your site when changing the name of the widget to “Support these local businesses” and choosing different fields to display. We've also changed the image to be on the right side of the listing with a simple setting change:

You can manage which Directory Theme you use under Directory → Themes and you can learn more about installing your new Business Directory theme in this video.

There are a number of themes available for purchase here, but you can also create your own themes or override specific templates from an existing theme. Consult the theme customization guide to get the details.

Directory Themes

Here’s where you’ll find everything related to themes. This page can be accessed via Directory → Themes.

On this page, you can change your current theme, upload or delete themes or delete themes, among other things.

Installing and updating themes

Installing themes

Installing Business Directory themes is easy. Just follow these steps.

1. First obtain the ZIP package from businessdirectoryplugin.com. Both the link to download the ZIP file with your theme and its license key should’ve been e-mailed to you after your purchase.
2. Login as an admin to your WordPress backend and visit the Directory → Themes page.
3. Click on Upload directory theme and select the ZIP file to begin the installation process.
   
   
4. Once the installation is completed, you’ll receive a notice to enter your license key.                                        
5. Follow the link that appears at the top of the page or click on the Licenses tab to add the license key.
6. You can now activate your new theme by clicking on the Activate button that appears next to its name.
   

Managing installed themes

You can change or delete themes inside the Directory Themes page.

• To change your current theme just click the Activate button next to the name of the theme.
• To delete a theme make sure the theme is not the active one and then click the Delete button that appears when you hover over the theme name.
  

Updating themes

Business Directory Plugin constantly checks if new versions of your installed Directory Themes are available. When an update is available, you’ll see a badge appear next to both the Directory menu and the Themes submenu, on your WordPress admin backend.

This badge indicates the number of updates that are available for your Directory Themes.

Once you’re on the Directory Themes page, themes that have an update available will show a status bar at the bottom with the details of the new version and a link to update.

Updating is as easy as clicking the Update now link. While the update is in progress, the status bar under the theme’s details provides information about the process.

Advanced topics

Themes settings

You’ll find the theme settings under Directory → Settings → Appearance.

See more about the theme and styling settings.

Theme tags

Business Directory Plugin also uses the concept of theme tags. It allows admins to (optionally) give “meaning” to some of their form fields by mapping some fixed tags to the fields that exist on the site.

For instance, you could tag a field as “Address” to indicate to Business Directory knows that the field is used for displaying addresses. The specifics of the field (such as its name or if it’s a textfield or a textarea, etc.) are not relevant.

Themes can take advantage of these theme tags to display certain fields in particular locations. A theme designed for mobile uses might want to display the business phone number first and in big font, instead of as part of a long list of fields, and the only way to do that if it knows which field represents the phone number.

You can update your theme tags at any time on the WordPress backend, by going to Directory → Themes and clicking the Manage Theme Tags button on top. The same button is also available on the Directory → Form fields page.

Template customization

Currently, Business Directory Plugin allows you to customize the look and feel (and even behavior) of themes in one of two ways:

• You can add your own CSS file with custom styles. All fonts, colors and spacing can be changed using custom CSS. Here is an article about how to use custom CSS with Business Directory in a way that doesn't get overwritten on upgrade of Business Directory. This file is picked up by Business Directory and loaded after all other CSS files from us. This means any styles you add to the file take precedence over our default styles, allowing you to easily override how things look.
• You can add your own PHP templates to override the ones bundled with our themes. This offers the most flexibility but requires some PHP and WP knowledge. The customization guide includes details about the locations and names for these templates, as well as the PHP variables and functions available to them.

You can find all the details about these customization options in our customization guide.

Troubleshooting

While working with themes you might encounter some problems. Some scenarios and possible solutions are considered below.

If you’ve tried these steps and they don’t solve the issues you’re experiencing, you can contact Business Directory Plugin support.

Can’t upload theme packages.

• Make sure you’re trying to install a ZIP package downloaded directly from businessdirectoryplugin.com. We can’t guarantee that themes provided by other sources work correctly or follow our theme specification.
• Update Business Directory Plugin to the latest available version.
• Make sure you’re not trying to upload our ZIP package as a regular WordPress theme. You have to be on Directory → Themes.
• Business Directory Plugin requires write permissions to the wp-content/businessdirectory-themes folder in order to install themes. If this folder doesn’t exist, please create it and give it read and write permissions (0755 on UNIX systems).

Can’t delete themes.

• Default and No theme can’t be deleted. These are included in the Core plugin.
• You can’t delete the theme that is currently active. If that’s the theme you want to delete, you must first activate a different one.
• Make sure wp-content/businessdirectory-themes has read and write permissions (0755 is recommended for UNIX style permissions).

After enabling a theme, listings appear empty.

• • If you’re using the Restrictions module and have enabled restrictions, make sure the fields are really available to the listing level or plan that the listing uses.
  • The theme might be configured to display fields with certain tags (instead of all fields), so make sure you’ve mapped your fields to tags.  This is particularly important if you saw a warning like the one below after activating the theme:

First and most important, in order to get a video to display, you must follow the WordPress video embedding rules (these are not controlled by Business Directory Plugin in any way).  Which means that you must:

• Use one of the WordPress-approved sources for your video (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, etc)
• Use the format of the embed shortcode or tag with the appropriate parameters
• Use this in the Description (as content) field for your listings (no other field supports it currently)

In addition to this, you must turn on Allow WordPress shortcodes in this field? and Allow IFRAME tags in this field? in the field in which you want to place the video. You can find this option under Directory → Directory Content → Form Fields and click Edit on the (as content) field.

If you follow these rules, you'll be able to display videos in your listings by using an embed code.  Many of the rules are ones that we don't control and can't fix if you can't use them (for example, video from some “other” source).

This document will walk you through the basic steps to import and export your listings and will give you tips on how to make the process quick and easy. 

The Basics of importing and exporting

Business Directory Plugin has a tab for these features under Directory → Directory Content → Import & Export. 

This article will cover both importing and exporting as well as some FAQs. You can use the menu on the right to skip to the section you need or read on to understand the entire process. 

Importing Listings

Before importing your listings, please be sure that you have configured all of your form fields exactly as you want them. It is worthwhile to do this, create some listings, then tweak the fields to be exactly as you want them to appear. 

The importance of this step cannot be overstated. Changing your form fields, deleting them, etc., may have a negative impact on your listings import. For example, if you import 100 listings and then change your fields, the 100 listings you imported won’t have the fields that you changed. 

Let’s walk through the import settings on this tab and discuss each. 

Files

The first two settings allow you to choose a file to attach for importing. The CSV file is the file that contains the data you want to import. We recommend keeping the overall import size under 5MB to avoid timeouts We’ll go over the options for creating the import file in a moment. 

You can also select a ZIP file containing images that go with your listings if you have those. The names of these images should be referenced in the “images” column of your CSV file. 

Separators

Beyond the file attachments, the first several settings ask about what symbol you'd like to use to separate your Columns, Images, and Categories. 

The comma is selected by default for the Column Separator, and a semi-colon is selected for both the Image and the Category Separator. You can change these settings to match your CSV file separator. However, do not choose the same separator for each separator type, as it will make your file unreadable to the BD importer.

Listing Status

The Listing Status options include settings for the post status of NEW and EXISTING listings. Your choices here will set the status of the listings once they have been imported. 

For new listings, the choices are 

• Published (default)
• Pending Review

For existing listings, the choices are

• Preserve existing status (default)
• Pending review
• Published

Missing Categories

The Missing Categories handling setting tells the system how to handle missing categories. Your options here are:

• Auto-create categories (default setting)
• Generate errors when a category is not found

IMPORTANT: Settings under Directory → Settings → Listings will override any choices you make here. 

Miscellaneous Settings

The next few settings will tell the system how to handle existing images, whether to assign listings to a specific user, and allows you to choose a default user to be used if the username column is not present in the CSV file. If you turn Assign Listings to a specific user on and leave the assigned user column empty, it will be assigned to the admin by default.

If you choose to assign the imported listings to a specific user, the system will generate a dropdown menu for you to choose the default listing owner. 

Batch size

The Number of listings imported on every cycle setting is related to the batch size of the import and should be left at the default of 40 unless you are having problems importing your listings due to memory problems. Using this setting, you can reduce the import batch size to 5 or 1 and then re-attempt the import.

This will result in a longer batch import time but will increase the chance of success on shared hosting platforms and other resource-constrained servers.

Email Notifications

The final setting on this page is used to tell the plugin how to handle email notifications during import. By default, this setting is turned off during the import. It is recommended to leave this as the setting when you run your import unless you want all listing owners to be notified that their listing has been created. 

Test Import and Import Buttons

Finally, there are two buttons at the bottom of this page: Test Import and Import Listings. 

Test Import will run a quick check of your CSV file and Import Listings will go directly to the process of importing your listings. 

CSV File Formatting

The remaining information on this page will show you what your CSV file headings should be titled and whether or not data is required in a field for the import. The data included in the CSV File Formatting section includes a chart of the following items: 

• Header name/label
• Field Type
• Required?
• Multivalued?

The headers here will show you exactly the headers for the columns of your CSV file and should be consulted before doing an import. Names and case matter! For example, if the header is listing-description, you can only use listing-description as the column header in your CSV file. Listing Description, Listing-Description, or Listing_Description will all cause your import to be rejected. 

The Required? field will show you which fields must have data in them in your CSV file for importing. TIP: If you don’t have all of the required data for an import but want to require this information for new listings, you can turn off the requirement for data in the field under Directory → Directory Content → Form Fields for the import, then turn it back on after the import is complete. 

Exporting Listings

To export ads via CSV, you must have data in your directory, either through direct entry OR via CSV Import. We always recommend adding your listings through the front-end submission form on your website so that any required fields are not empty. 

IMPORTANT Please note that the export process is a resource-intensive task. If your export does not succeed try disabling other plugins first and/or increasing the values of the ‘memory_limit’ and ‘max_execution_time’ directives in your server’s php.ini configuration file.

To export your data, go to Directory → Directory Content → Import & Export and choose the Export tab

You’ll notice on this screen you have several options.

Which listings to export

Your choices here are 

• All
• Active only
• Active + Pending renewal

Export Images 

Toggle on or off.

When you choose this option and toggle it on, the exporter will create a ZIP file with both a CSV file and listing images. By default, this is turned off. 

Additional metadata to export

Depending on what you are doing with your exported file or the reason you need to export it, there are a variety of options to choose from that tell the system which data should get exported for each listing: 

• Include unique IDs for each listing (sequence_id column). IMPORTANT: If you plan to re-import the listings into your directory and don't want new ones created, select this option!
•  Author information (username) (checked yes by default)
•  Listing expiration date (checked yes by default)
•  Listing created date
•  Listing last updated date
•  Listing T&C acceptance date

CSV File Settings

What operating system will you use to edit the CSV file? * Windows and macOS versions of MS Excel handle CSV files differently. To make sure all your listing information is displayed properly when you view or edit the CSV file, we need to generate different versions of the file for each operating system. If you are using Google Sheets, choose Windows. Choose one of the following: 

•  Windows (default)
•  macOS

Separators

These are the symbols you choose to separate multiple data points in your CSV file. Some people may want to change this, however, the default values are ; and those default values work for most people. 

Export Listings Button

Once you have selected the settings you need, you are ready to export your listings. 

Click the Export Listings button. 

The processor will work for a moment (depending on how many listings you have in your directory) and then a button will appear that lets you know you can now download your exported listings. 

FAQs and Troubleshooting

How do I get a template CSV file that matches my current fields exactly? 

Follow these steps:

1. Configure your form fields under Directory  → Directory Content →  Form Fields
2. Create a listing from the front end (this means go to your site and create the listing)
3. Only fill out the fields that are required (these fields will have an asterisk)
4. Click on the See Example tab and generate your file
5. Download the CSV file
6. Use this file as a template for your import – the headers will match exactly and are case-specific and you’ll know which fields are required and MUST have data in them)
7. Verify that your file is saved in CSV UTF-8 format before importing 

Is there an example file available for me to use? 

1. Yes! You can get a sample CSV file based on your exact setup by clicking on the See Example button in the top right corner of the Import page and then choosing the Download Example button.
2. TIP: You can create an entry using the front-end submission form by completing only the required fields so that you have all of the required fields filled out and then do an export. Doing this will format everything perfectly for you and you’ll easily see which fields require data and which do not. 

I have a CSV file already and it has extra data that I don’t need – how do I get my data into the right format? 

1. Follow the steps to export your listings or download a sample CSV file using the See Example button
2. Copy the exact headers over to your CSV file using the headers created by Business Directory Plugin. 
3. Delete extraneous data columns to keep the file neat and readable.

My directory listings have ZIP codes that start with a zero. Are there special rules that apply in this situation? 

Yes!

If your directory has any entries in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), Puerto Rico (PR), Rhode Island (RI), Vermont (VT), Virgin Islands (VI), APO Europe (AE), FPO Europe (AE),  or any other locale with a Zip Code that starts with a zero, you will need to follow specific instructions.

1. If you are using the text-only format of a CSV file to import listings, there is no issue. But if you are using Excel or Numbers to edit the file, or are doing an EXPORT-CHANGE-IMPORT using one of those programs, the ZIP Code field must be changed to a TEXT field in order to avoid losing the leading zeroes that are what begin the ZIP codes for these locations. If you need access to a program that can do this for you, please visit this site.

Can I import images for my listings when I import data? 

1. If you want to import images within your ads as well, you must provide a separate ZIP file with all the images contained in it. The names of these images should be referenced in the “images” column of your CSV file. In the image field, the filenames should be listed. For example, exampleimage.jpg
2. NOTE The image file is often the reason for a failed import. Try to use the smallest size of image you think you will need, at most. Putting 100 2MB images into a ZIP file will only choke the uploader and cause timeouts during upload!

My listings have multiple images. How do I import them? 

1. Follow the instructions for attaching a ZIP file of images. 
2. If you have multiple images for a single listing, you must separate their names with the “Image Separator” character, which is a semi-colon by default. For example imagetitle1.png;imagetitle2.gif;imagetitle3.jpg. 
3. Set the path to these files using the names of the images in the ZIP file and their file extension.

Is there a maximum number of listings I can import at one time? 

1. There is no upper limit on the number of records that can be imported using the CSV file process, though your hosting plan may have some effect on the process. This is typically something that your hosting company can help you with, including reading any error logs that have been produced.
2. A CSV file of 25000 records isn't a problem for Business Directory Plugin itself, but it may overflow the memory of most hosting services during import. We would recommend that you break up your import into files that are smaller — starting with about 1000 listings and see how that goes. You may need to adjust up or down, depending on your hosting plan.

How can I import a listing with multiple categories? 

Here is an example of correct category formatting for importing multiple categories (NOTE: your headers may be different from the example shown):                           

How do I import Social Field (other) data?

There are a lot of possible settings for these fields so the very best way to determine what is needed for your import file is to create a listing using the social fields, do an export, then import it to make sure it works.

For example, if I choose only to have the URL and icon show for each social field, my import file should look like this:

URL,,SocialSiteName,

Getting the exact formatting you need is best determined by doing an export of a completed listing.

What happens if I have to do a second import? Or a third? 

1. Each time you do an import without using a Sequence ID to match the imported listings to existing listings, new listings will be created. 
2. To avoid adding duplicate listings you can export your listings with a Sequence ID and then use those in your import file. This is the only way to get the Sequence IDs. 
3. You can also delete all of your current listings before doing an import.

NOTE: Be sure to use the See Example button at the top to get started with a template CSV file–it's WAY easier than typing it from scratch and helps avoid common errors.

Common errors to avoid during import

• Your CSV file should be based on the sample CSV file that is created under Directory → Directory Content → Import & Export, by clicking the See Example button. Generate that if you haven’t already. The example will include all of your current listing data, including the correct headers to use when you import the file. Once the example file is visible, you can download the file and edit it. 
• Your CSV file must have every column from the sample file, named exactly the same as shown in your grid on this configuration page. Don’t delete any of them, especially the OPTIONAL ones.
• Your CSV file should have data in every column that is required. Optional columns/fields can be left empty below the header, but you cannot remove the column!
• Text fields can’t have single quotes in them without putting double quotes around the whole field (e.g. “Bob’s Market”)
• Dates must be in the expected format of the CSV import settings (MM/DD/YYYY)
• Imports work best after you’ve completed all field configuration, so make sure you do that first (especially naming the fields)

PRO TIP: If you want to upload a URL that is replaced by text for your URL field, use the following format in your CSV file: “https://mysite.com,My Website” That will populate the link and the text into their proper places. Instead of looking like this in the listing: https://businessdirectoryplugin.com/ The link will look like this instead: My Website

NOTE: You can also add category-specific fields, which is explained here.

Notes before you begin

IMPORTANT:  When you enter information into the main description field, you can enter anything you like.  However, Business Directory Plugin may NOT display HTML content properly unless you have the attribute set under Directory → Directory Content → Form Fields for the Long Description field, “Allow HTML content?” checked.

You can preview the form at any time by clicking the Preview Form button at the top to see how your changes will look on the Submit Listing screen.

When you select the menu item under Directory → Directory Content →  Form Fields you see this main screen:

Your field names may be different than the ones shown.  The right-hand column shows at a glance, whether field is:

• Optional or Required (Validator)
• Displayed in the “list view” (In Excerpt) or in the “detail view” (In Listing)

You can find additional information about the field by hovering over the field name and clicking Edit.

Adding a New Form Field

1. Click the Add New Form Field button at the top of Form Fields screen
2. Enter the data shown below
3. Click “Add Field” and the field will be saved

Form Field Settings

Field Association

This is the meaning of the field in the eyes of WordPress.  Only certain associations are allowed in WP, so you must pick from this list.  Your options are as follows:

• Post Title: Select this option for the (top) Title field for your listings. Can only be used for one field in your set of fields
• Post Content: Select this option for the “main content” of your listing.  Usually, this is the Long Description field for your listings. Can only be used for one field in your set of fields
• Post Category: Select this option for the “category” of your listing. Used by the Business Genre field (by default) for your listings. Can only be used for one field in your set of fields
• Post Excerpt: Used by the Short Description field for your listings (for displaying in the list view). Can only be used for one field in your set of fields
• Post Tags: Used by the Tags field for your listings. Can only be used for one field in your set of fields
• Post Metadata: The type used by all other fields. Can represent any other type of field (e.g. URL, LinkedIn, Facebook, Email, etc). Can be used as many times as you want

You may see other associations when viewing certain fields like Regions or Ratings.  These associations are internal for BD and are not editable.

Field Type

The type of control used to display and enter your field data. Select from:

Textfield

A basic one-line text field for text entry.

Select list

A drop-down field with limited choices and a single selection option.

URL field

A web link with additional configuration options.

Textarea

A multi-line text entry control.

Radio button

A set of exclusive choices presented in a bulleted list

Multiselect List

A listbox field with limited choices and multiple selection option (by using Ctrl or Shift clicking)

Checkbox

A set of inclusive choices presented in a bulleted list

Facebook follow

Allows entry of a Facebook page to create a Like button pointing to that page. This field says “Like” with a number after it and lets you like the Facebook page without leaving the listing.

Social Site (Twitter)

Allows entry of a Twitter handle (e.g. @handle) or a full URL to a Twitter account to create a Follow button on the profile

This field says “follow @whoever” and takes you to the Twitter page to follow them.

LinkedIn profile

Allows the entry of a Business LinkedIn profile (only business profiles supported, personal ones do not work). This field says nothing but takes you to the page in LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn field is very particular about what you put in there (because of their API). It’s not a URL of your profile. The company number assigned by LinkedIn is required.

Example: If you follow the link https://www.linkedin.com/company/1480

You will go to the company page for Adobe and 1480 is the LinkedIn identifier for Adobe. To add Adobe's page for LinkedIn, put 1480 into the LinkedIn form field of the listing and the button will appear, and let you “follow” the company. If you click it it will take you to the LinkedIn company page.

Here is an example the Facebook, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn fields:

Social Site (Any)

Allows end-users to choose the social media field they would like to add.

You have lots of options here, like choosing an icon or icon and text, or text only. Since this field allows users to choose which social media they want to add, the best names for this field in your submit listing form is “Social Media”

Here is an example using icons only in the Social Site field:

Image Upload

A field that accepts a file upload (usually used for logos)

Date Field

A field that uses a calendar control to accept formatted dates.

Phone Number

A field that usually uses a phone number validator to accept formatted phone numbers.  The field will attempt to use the Phone metadata tags so that mobile browsers will render this as a link and allow users to call the number directly.

Field Label

The text label used with this field on the forms (can be hidden, see below)

Field description (optional)

A description that can be displayed under or next to the field (depending on your theme) for additional info regarding how to use it

Field validation options

Field Validator

The type of validation to be performed on the field prior to submitting the data.

• No validator: performs no validation on the field (default).
• Email: Ensures the entered data conforms to a standard email address of the form person@domain.ext.
• URL: Ensures the data is a standard web URL of the form http(s)://site.ext/sub-url/
• Don't Allow URLs: Ensures the entered data doesn't contain any URLs.
• Whole Number: Ensures the entered data is a valid integer value. If the field is used in sorting, it will be sorted numerically.
• Decimal Number: Ensures the entered data is a valid floating point or integer value. If the field is used in sorting, it will be sorted numerically.
• Date: Ensures the entered data will parse as a date.

Fields that fail validation will prevent the listing from being saved/submitted.

Is field required?: Whether this field must be always be filled in or not.

Field-specific settings

Some fields have additional settings that depends on the type of the field.  These additional options are explained below:

Field display options

Field Category Policy

Allows you to add category-specific fields for your directory. You can either make the field apply to all categories or apply it to only certain categories.

Show this field to admin users only

When turned on, this field will be shown to admin users only in the edit listing view and no users on the front end.

Show this value in excerpt view

When turned on, the field will show in the excerpt (list) view.

Show this value in listing view

When turned on, the field will show in the listing (detail) view.

Include this field in the search form

Display label and/or icon

This field allows users to choose how the field displays in the listing (premium license holders only).

You can choose to show the field label, no label, both label and icon, icon only, or replace the field value with an icon. Please review the complete instructions for enabling this feature.

Here are example fields with the various settings:

Show Label:

Hide Label: 

Show Label and icon: 

Show Icon: 

Replace Value with Icon: 

Field Privacy Options

This field contains sensitive or private information?: Add this field when exporting or deleting a user's personal data. NOTE: This setting was added to accommodate users affected by the GDPR privacy regulations in the European Union and refers to the exportation of data into a CSV file.

Edit an existing Form Field

1. From the Form Fields screen, hover over the plan you wish to edit
2. Click the Edit link
3. Edit the data noted above
4. Click Save Field and the data will be saved

Delete a Form Field

1. From the Form Fields screen, hover over the plan you wish to remove
2. Click the Delete link
3. You will be asked to confirm the deletion on a new screen
4. Click the Delete button to complete the process

Preview the Listing Form

Clicking on the Preview Form button will create a rough idea of what the form will look like on the Submit Listing section.  It's not an exact display because it doesn't apply the final CSS to the form but it will show you the labels, order and basic layout.  An example is shown below:

Manage Theme Tags

Theme Tags are the way Business Directory maps a field to a display area in the BD Directory Theme (not your WP theme!).  For example, you might identify 3 fields like “Customer Address”, “Customer State”, and “Customer City” to map to “Address”, “State” and “City” in the directory theme.  This allows BD to “understand” what the field means in your mind, and allows us to do things like special formatting.  It's the difference between the unformatted address, and a formatted one.

Unformatted (no theme)

Formatted (using Elegant Business theme from BD Directory Themes)

The Manage Theme tags screen looks like the following.

Mapped Fields:

Unmapped Fields:

When checking your theme tags, you should do the following, IN ORDER:

1. Create all of the fields you think you'll need in your directory.
2. Go to Directory → Directory Content → Form Fields, and click Manage Theme Tags.  You'll see the screen above (without the colorful arrows)
3. Starting with the next Unmapped field, see if you already have a field to map to it.  In the example above, notice that Address is unmapped.  In my fields, I already defined “Customer Address” so I can open the drop-down and select “Customer Address” for the mapping.
4. Repeat step 1 for every field on your Unmapped fields.
5. If you don't have a field for mapping, add one under Directory → Directory Content → Form Fields. Return to Manage Theme Tags and map the field.

• General Settings
• Templates

The settings area configures email options, like admin notifications to send out, who gets copied on certain emails, and so on.  The templates sub-tab is where you change the actual text of messages that users will receive as well as the timing of those emails.

General Settings Sub Tab

The settings sub-tab looks like this:

General Settings Section

Display email address fields publicly?:  Turning on this setting will show any field that is of type “Email” under Directory → Form Fields and display the email in the data.

How to determine the listing's email address: If you have Contact forms enabled for Business Directory to use to contact the owner of the listing, the plugin can use EITHER the author's email associated to the listing (the WP user) or the email actually included in the listing data (the listing email).  This setting allows you to pick which one to use “first”.

Email Notifications Section

Notify admin via email when:  This is a series of notifications the admin can opt-in to receive for various events in the directory.  Including:

• New listings
• Edited listings
• Expired listings
• Renewed listings
• Completed payments
• Flagged listings
• Contact messages sent

CC this email address too: You can enter an email address that is carbon copied on the notifications above (generally someone else besides the admin of the site, to observe the directory traffic)

Notify users via email when:  This is a series of notifications the users can receive for various events in the directory.  Including:

• Listing submitted
• Listing approved/published
• Payment is completed
• The listing is about to expire

The exact text of the emails is handled under the Templates sub-tab below.

Templates Sub-Tab

This section is where you configure all outgoing email messages from Business Directory sent to the users.  The administrators can also receive copies of these messages depending on your settings under the General area.  These notices include:

• Email confirmation message (Sent after a listing has been submitted)
• Listing published message (Sent when the listing has been published or approved by an admin)
• Listing Contact Message (Sent to listing owners when someone uses the contact form on their listing pages)
• Payment abandoned reminder message (Sent some time after a pending payment is abandoned by users) — Premium Feature —
• Renewal – Expiration notices (Sent when listings expire or renew, only used for NON-recurring listings)

It looks like this:

If you wish to edit the content of the email, click on the “Click to Edit” box, which expands the email editor like so:

Each section has a unique editor, with different field codes that are available for that email.  Each email is sent as Plain Text and you can edit the Subject and Body, inserting any valid field codes for that email (only).

Here is a list of all field codes:

• [listing-url] – Listing's URL
• [listing] – Listing's title
• [name] – Sender's name
• [email] – Sender's e-mail address
• [message] – Contact message
• [date] – Date and time the message was sent
• [link] – Checkout URL link
• [access_key]   – Access key for editing ads (if feature is enabled)
• [[site-title]] – The name of your site as configured under Settings->General.  This is available in EVERY email.

Most of the email editors are self-explanatory but the last one merits some additional explanation:

Add Notices

This section allows you to define more than a single email to send to users depending on two events:

• Renewal
• Expiration

And two different types of listings:

• Recurring
• One-time (non-recurring)

There are a variety of ways this can be configured–by default, we provide you with an expiration notice that only applies to non-recurring (one-time) listings so you can remind them to renew.  However, you are free to define as many messages as you want and set them for different types of listings.  For example:

• For Recurring listings, you might send a “Thank You” email on renewal where you remind the user their payment was just processed and thank them for their business
• For Non-Recurring (one-time) listings, you might send a series of emails after expiration (an email campaign) asking them to renew
• For Non-Recurring (one-time) listings, you might have a separate renewal email thanking them for their payment and reminding them it will expire again shortly.

The add notices section allows you to define any or all of these depending on your situation.

When you open the Email Notices section, it's a bit different than the others:

Not only can you define the body and subject, but the timing of the email and what kind of listings it applies to.  Clicking on the dropdown menus under “Applies to” gives you these options where you can pick what type of listing the email is for:

Clicking on when to send provides a variety of options for renewal or expiration:

You can pick the options that make the most sense for you.

Return to top

This area is used primarily to assist with troubleshooting issues you might be having with Business Directory Plugin by surfacing a number of settings and versions that exist on your server as well as within the plugin itself.

The site health info page provides some general overview about your installed plugin, modules, Business Directory themes and general versions of all the above in one place.

Site information

Information about your WordPress site and server is included in the WordPress Tools → Site Health → Info → WordPress section.

You may be asked to send screenshots of these details.

The tab appears like this when you have a module installed, with one box per module.

Authorize a Plugin

Go to your account page to get your license keys.

Copy each license key, paste them on your site, and click Authorize. You'll receive a confirmation:

The key in this case is blocked out for security reasons.  Once the key is authorized, you can click Deauthorize if you wish to move the license key to another site or domain.  Single site licenses allow you to have the license key active on a single production domain.

If your key is invalid, or you're using the wrong key for the wrong product, you'll receive a different message. Do not use the bundle license key since this is not yet supported:

If you are having trouble with your license keys, most license key issues are the result of one of the following:

• The license key expired and you need to renew.
• The license key has been used on more domains than it allows. To remove a site, click the Manage sites link on your Account page
• Your local cURL library version is too out of date, and your server can't securely contact our server to authenticate the key. You can find your current cURL library version using the WordPress Tools → Site Health → Info page.

If you still have trouble, be sure to contact Support.

General Settings

Listings per page: This setting is used for pagination–it indicates the number of listings that will show on a directory page (search, category, or main listings) before a “Next” or page number link will display.  It's important to set this to a reasonable number for your site–too many and your users will groan while they wait for the page to load, too few and they have to keep clicking to browse through everything.  A good number is usually around 10.

Turn on listing renewal option?: If checked, listings can be renewed by the users.  Expiration notices will be sent, if the notification is turned on (see below).

Open detail view of listing in a new tab?: If checked, when you click on detail link for a listing on the list views (from search results, categories, or from the main directory page), this will open in a new tab instead of the same tab in your browser.

Include comment form on listing pages?: If active, the comment form is present at the bottom of the Detail view of listings.  Comments can be submitted by users as long as the form is active.  Comments are posted to the bottom of the listing.  There are three options:

1. Don't include comment form (default)
2. Include comment form defined by the WP theme (your theme may have a specific look or template for a comment form, we can use it if this is the case)
3. Include comment form defined by BD (if your theme doesn't have a special comment form template, you can use our default)

We recommend trying option 2 first, and if you don't have it or don't like it, try option 3.

Prevent featured (sticky) status on directory pages? Prevents featured listings from floating to the top of the selected page.

Default owner of ‘Anonymous Submitted Listings' New listings must have an author, If login is not required to submit listings, this user will own them, typically the administrator of the site or some other user that will never actually be managing a listing.

Default new post status: Status of a listing immediately after users complete the listing on Submit Listing form OR when the admin creates a new listing from the dashboard. Set the status to Pending (Require approval) if you want to review posts before publishing them (recommended to avoid spam or abusive language).

Edit post status: Status of a post immediately after a non-admin user edits it. Similar to New Post, set to Pending (Require approval) if you want to review things even after users edit. Set to Publish if you trust users after submission.

Terms and Conditions

Display and require user agreement to Terms and Conditions: Checking this box will display the Terms and Conditions on checkout.  The user must agree to what you put in the next text box in order to proceed with completing a listing.  Turn this on if you have some special agreement you need the users to agree with before posting listings.

Terms and Conditions: Here you can enter specific text for the user to read OR you can place a link (starting with http) to a page on your site that we will use in an anchor tag.

Message Defaults

Replace and customize default strings and messages around your directory. You can also use the wpbdp_custom_strings hook to replace any other words you choose.

Listing label: Replace the word “listing” with a word of your choice.

Listing label (Plural): Replace the word “listings” with a word of your choice.

Directory label: Replace the word “directory” with a word of your choice.

Submit listing instructions: This is a convenient way to put a message at the top of the Submit Listing form to give your users some instructions about what to do or what to expect.  If you need more than just simple text here, you can also use our page hooks to add any HTML you like to the header and footer of the page.

Searching

Search form display:  Where BD puts the search form after we return results from the Advanced Search page.  3 choices–above, below, and don't show it at all.

Quick search fields:  What fields should be used in the Quick Search box for looking at matching listings?  Your list of fields will likely be different than what you see above.  The Quick Search box (for review) looks like this in BD:

And is displayed at the top of the directory.  When you enter something in the Keywords field, the fields that are checked in this setting will be searched.  Not checking ALL fields in your directory helps improve the performance of searches (mostly because many users have shared hosting plans, and their database bandwidth/query time is limited).

Enable high performance searches?:  This option is a hack added for Shared Hosting plans where limiting the fields is not enough to make their directory perform as expected.  Enable this if you find Quick Search to be too slow, or if you get database errors on query timeouts.  It trades speed for accuracy, however, and it removes some of the “wildcard” matching clauses and reduces the number of listings that match your query.

Categories

Show listings under categories on main page? : If checked, on the main Directory page, you will see categories at the top, and then all listings underneath them. Leave this OFF if you only want categories shown on the main directory page.

Order categories list by: The data used to sort categories in your directory–you can sort categories by name, the slug (URL), or number of listings in the category (count).

Sort order for categories: Sort ascending (A → Z) or descending (Z → A)

Show category post count?: If checked, your Directory and Search results will show a count of listings in the categories next to the name, like “Software (4)”. New directories may wish to uncheck this to make the site look less empty.

Hide empty categories?: If checked, any category without listings in it will not show up in the directory page or search results until a listing is posted there.  This setting will not affect the Submit Listing form, as you must always be able to see ALL categories to submit a new listing.

Show only parent categories in category list? Checking this setting shows only parent-level categories on the main page. The sub-categories will not be displayed if this setting is checked.

Contact Form

Include listing contact form on listing pages?: If checked, the contact form is present at the bottom of the Detail view of listings.  Contact forms will send an email to the owner of the listing and (optionally) the admin, depending on your settings under Email tab.

Require login for using the contact form?: Checking this option means that users must be registered and logged into your site in order to post a contact form request to the listing owner.  This helps reduce spam on your site.

Maximum number of contact form submits per day: Another anti-spam measure.  This setting allows you to restrict the number of times a listing can be contacted in a day.  If you leave it as 0 (the default), there is no limit to the number of contacts per day.

Buttons

Reporting

​BD plugin allows the option to define your own ‘report' reasons and you can also control whether or not to accept reports from users who are not logged into the website i.e. those who are not registered.

​One a listing is flagged or reported, admins will see it under the Reported section on the backend under the Directory > Directory Listings tab:

Once inside the listing, admins can edit the listing and delete the report if needed:

Other buttons

These settings control which buttons or links appear in your Directory at the top.

Show the “Submit listing” button: If checked, the Submit Listing button will appear on the Directory, Category and Listings pages

Show “Search listings”: If checked, the Search Box, Advanced Search Link and button will appear on the Directory, Category and Listings pages

Show the “View Listings” button: If checked, the View Listing button will appear on the Directory, Category and Detail pages

Show the “Directory” button: If checked, the Directory button will appear on the Category, Detail and Listings pages

Sorting

Order directory listings by: The data used to sort the listings–you can choose from any of these below:

Sort directory listings by: Sort ascending (A → Z) or descending (Z → A)

Enable sort bar?

If checked, a sorting link bar appears at the top of your list views, like this:

What displays depends on what you check in the next setting.

Sortbar fields: Check the fields you think the users of the directory will find to be the most useful in helping sort the listings while they are browsing them.  You probably don't want to have TOO many fields checked, as this will clutter the interface and make it confusing to use.  This setting is only enabled when Enable Sort bar? is checked.

Enable ABC Filtering?

Clicking the letters will show all listings whose title starts with that letter.  Title is the same as “Business Name” in this example.

Statistics

(Included in the Businss Directory Premium Module.)

The statistics tab allows you to add some valuable insights for your listing owners. It will measure the number of visits to a listing, which may be helpful.

To enable it, click the Track Page Views radio button. You can then also choose whether or not to include the number of times Administrators visit the page or not.

The view counts will show up on your Directory Listings Dashboard under Directory → Directory Listings

Listing owners will be able to see the number of views on their listings in the admin bar:

Finally, you can add MonsterInsights Pro for advanced Google Analytics integration. This adds an easy for admins and listing owners to see stats on their listings. This will let you share listing info straight from Google Analytics with listing owners. It includes page views, bounce rate, time on page, entrances, and exits.

Styling

Button style

Choose whether to override WP theme button styling or not. For consistency, you may want to use the WP theme style for buttons. This setting is limited to Business Directory pages and doesn’t affect anything else. If you find that you have conflicts or the style isn't quite right, you can adjust that with custom CSS.

Primary color

Select a color to use for the rootline, file uploader, and buttons. If you would like this color to be used for the buttons, the Override WP theme button styling button should be checked.

If you choose to use your WP theme buttons, we recommend you set this color to the button color in your theme.

Listings layout

The Business Directory Premium plugin adds this layout option. It allows you to choose how the listings are displayed. This includes three options:

• Default – Use the single column layout, or the layout from a directory theme. This option is recommended if a directory theme is installed.
• Two Column – Show your listings in two columns instead of one.
• Table – Listings will show in a condensed, sortable table.

Images

These settings control the way your images appear in listings within the directory.

Images

The settings you can control here are:

Allow images?

If checked, users are allowed to upload images to their listings, based upon either their plan restrictions (paid sites), or the restriction set for Number of images allowed in the plan settings.  You must turn this setting ON if you want to have any listings with images (free or paid).

Min image file size (KB)

The smallest size of image to allow for upload. Images smaller than this size are automatically rejected during upload.  If you want to accept ALL files regardless of size, set this to 0.

Max image file size (KB)

The largest size of image to allow for upload. Images larger than this size are automatically sized down to save on space.

Min and max image width

The narrowest and widest width of the enlarged image you allow on the site, in pixels. This width is the “detail image” width, which is the width of the image as displayed by clicking on the thumbnail.  This setting does NOT affect the thumbnail of the image shown in the list or detail view.

Min and max image height

The shortest and tallest height of the enlarged image you allow on the site, in pixels. This height is the “detail image” height, which is the width of the image as displayed by clicking on the thumbnail.  This setting does NOT affect the thumbnail of the image shown in the list or detail view.

Turn on thickbox/lightbox?

Turns on the Lightbox feature, if not present in your theme or plugins. Uncheck if it conflicts with other elements or plugins installed on your site.  The “lightbox” is the effect when you click on an image and the background dims and the image appears in a popup with a small frame around it.  This is a common feature of many themes (and other plugins) that can be enabled by WordPress.  BD supports adding it to images if you turn on this setting.

Require images on submit/edit?

Choose to require an image to be added to a listing.

Thumbnails

Show thumbnail in excerpt

Choose this option to allow an image to be shown in a listing excerpt.

Show thumbnail in listing from

Use this setting to choose which thumbnail image is shown. You can choose either the thumbnail from Business Directory Plugin, from your WordPress theme, or to not show the thumbnail at all. If no thumbnail is chosen, and the listing includes other images too, the thumbnail image will be included in the gallery.

Main thumbnail image size

This indicates the size of the main thumbnail to be used both in excerpt and detail views. For CROPPED image size values, we use the EXACT size defined. For all other values, we preserve the aspect ratio of the image and use the width as the starting point.

Gallery thumbnail width and height

The size of the any images other than the main thumbnail shown on a listing. The height is computed automatically, maintaining the aspect ratio (width:height).

Crop thumbnails to exact dimensions

Thumbnails can be created using one of two possible algorithms:  Create a thumb based on an exact image size (150×150), ignoring the source image size completely, or you can create a thumbnail that is 150x(something) where (something) is calculated by the aspect ratio of the source image.  For example, if the source image was 1000×500 (a 2:1 aspect ratio), the thumbnail would be created at 150×75 if this setting is NOT checked.

Coming Soon Image

Use “Coming Soon” photo for listings without any (primary) images?

When checked, will display an “Image Coming Soon” picture in the thumbnail position for a list view. Improves layout by keeping the listing consistently positioned across the page by maintaining a consistent text/image position for each listing. You can choose to show this image in the search results (excerpt view), in the full listing view (detail view), neither, or both.

You also have the ability to add a custom “Image Coming Soon” picture in the image thumbnail position.

Featured Badge Image

Use this option to upload a replacement for the default Featured Listings badge included with BD. If no image is added, a ribbon will be used instead.

Please note: Your image should mirror the dimensions of this image exactly in order to make sure that the templates will render appropriately (100 px by 102 px with a clear background). If you choose a different size for your image or a different background, your listing layout/look may be affected. This can usually be fixed with custom CSS.

Featured Badge URL

If you have a replacement badge online, you can link to it here instead of uploading it.

Display featured (sticky) badge on listing

Choose to show the badge in the search results, in the full listing view, neither or both.

Image Size Recommendations

There are many ways to improve the speed of your site and a big contributor to site speed issues is images. Although there are many techniques out there to accomplish this, some ideas for image optimization techniques would be:

Resizing Images with New Settings

If you make changes to your image settings, in order to make sure that all of your existing listings are formatted with any new image settings, you will need to install and run a plugin called reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced. Once installed, you will then go to Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails and run the plugin to make sure that all of your listings have the new thumbnail settings.