Installing ChroniclePress takes about two minutes. You’ll do it from inside your WordPress admin area — no FTP or technical setup required.

What you’ll need #

• A self-hosted WordPress website with administrator access.
  ChroniclePress requires WordPress 6.5 or newer. We recommend keeping WordPress updated to the latest version. If you are not sure which version of WordPress you are running, log in to your admin area. The version number is displayed at the bottom of the admin page.
  
• PHP 7.4 or newer
  PHP is the programming language WordPress runs on. Most web hosts run a supported PHP version by default. To see which PHP version your site uses, go to Tools –> Site Health in your WordPress admin, click the Info tab, and expand the Server section. We recommend PHP 8.0 or newer for best performance and long-term compatibility. If you are running earlier versions of PHP, your web host can update your PHP version for you.
  
• 64 MB of PHP memory or more
  Most hosts provide 128 MB or higher by default. ChroniclePress is lightweight and works comfortably within standard limits. If your memory limit is too low, most web hosts will happily increase it for you.
  
• The ChroniclePress plugin file (a .zip file you received after purchase)

Step-by-step installation #

1. Log in to your WordPress admin area.

Go to your website address followed by /wp-admin (for example, yoursite.com/wp-admin) and log in with your administrator username and password.

2. Go to Plugins.

In the left-hand menu, click Plugins, then click Add New Plugin at the top of the page.

3. Upload the plugin file.

Click the Upload Plugin button near the top of the page. Click Choose File, find the ChroniclePress .zip file on your computer, and select it. Then click Install Now.

WordPress will upload and install the plugin. This usually takes just a few seconds.

4. Activate ChroniclePress.

Once installation is complete, click Activate Plugin. ChroniclePress is now running on your site.

What happens after activation #

As soon as ChroniclePress is activated, a few things happen automatically:

• Three new sections appear in your WordPress admin menu: People, Places, and Sources
• A Locations taxonomy is created and pre-loaded with the United States and all fifty states, ready to use
• Archive pages are created for each content type, so visitors can browse all your people, places, and sources

You’re ready to start adding content.

Troubleshooting #

I don’t see People, Places, or Sources in my menu. Try deactivating and reactivating the plugin. If the menu items still don’t appear, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes — this refreshes WordPress’s URL system and usually resolves the issue.

I got an error during installation. Make sure your .zip file is the complete, unmodified file you downloaded. Do not unzip the file before upload. If the problem persists, contact support with a description of the error message you saw.