If you are having issues with your Events Manager in WordPress not functioning properly, there are a few common causes to check. The Events Manager plugin allows you to create and manage events listings and registrations on your WordPress site. It is a popular choice among users looking to build an events calendar. However, sometimes the plugin can encounter problems that prevent it from working correctly. In this article, we will explore some troubleshooting tips to get your Events Manager back up and running smoothly.
Check Your WordPress and PHP Versions
One of the first things to check is whether your WordPress and PHP versions are supported by the Events Manager plugin you have installed. Events Manager requires WordPress 4.1 or higher and PHP 5.2.4 or higher. If you are running older versions of WordPress or PHP, it could lead to compatibility issues that break functionality in Events Manager.
To check your WordPress version, log in to your WordPress dashboard and look at the version number displayed at the bottom of the left-hand menu. For PHP, you will need to contact your web host and ask them which PHP version your site is running on.
If your WordPress or PHP versions are out of date, update WordPress to the latest release and contact your host about upgrading PHP to a supported version. This can resolve many common problems with Events Manager.
Verify Your Permalinks Structure
Events Manager relies on having a working permalinks structure in order to generate the custom URLs needed for your event pages and related functionality. If your permalinks are misconfigured, it can prevent Events Manager features from operating correctly.
To validate your permalinks, go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Make sure your permalinks are not set to Plain or Default. Typically, the Post Name or Month and Name settings work best for Events Manager.
Flush your permalinks after making any changes by clicking the Save Changes button. You may need to reconfigure any custom rewrite rules that were tied to the old permalink settings.
Check for Plugin Conflicts
If you have other plugins installed on your site, there could be a conflict between plugins that is causing Events Manager to break. Some functionality from a different plugin may inadvertently be blocking or overriding code that Events Manager needs to work properly.
Try disabling your other plugins one-by-one to isolate if another plugin is causing a conflict. If Events Manager starts working after disabling a particular plugin, you know that is the source of the conflict. You may need to uninstall the conflicting plugin or contact its developers for a solution.
Verify Your Event Locations
Events Manager requires that your event venues have properly configured location data. Each venue must have a name, address, city, state, post code, and country. If any venues are missing this location information, it can prevent certain Events Manager features from operating correctly.
To check, go to Events > Venues and click on each venue name. Make sure all the location fields are filled out. Click Update Venue to save any changes. This ensures Events Manager has the necessary location data for maps, proximity searches, and other functionality.
Reset the Plugin
Resetting the plugin back to default settings can help clear out any corrupted data or invalid configuration that may be interfering with Events Manager’s operation.
To reset Events Manager, go to Events > General Settings. At the bottom of the screen click the Reset/Uninstall tab, then click Reset Plugin. This will restore Events Manager’s settings and data to factory default.
After resetting, reconfigure any custom settings you had previously applied and test if Events Manager is now working properly.
Fix File Permissions
File permission issues can sometimes break functionality in WordPress plugins. Events Manager may not have the necessary write permissions to access and modify files it needs to work.
Try temporarily setting your wp-content/uploads folder to 755 or 777 permissions. You may also need to set the Events Manager plugin folders to 755 as well. Just remember to change the permissions back to secure settings after testing.
If adjusting permissions fixes your Events Manager problems, there may be an ongoing file access issue on your server that needs further examination.
Check for JavaScript Errors
Since Events Manager relies quite a bit on JavaScript for front-end functionality, errors with JavaScript files can cause issues. Problems loading JavaScript files or conflicts with your theme’s scripts could be preventing Events Manager’s JS from running correctly.
Check your browser console for any JavaScript errors on pages using Events Manager features. If present, try to resolve the errors, which may require modifications to your theme or reaching out to the Events Manager developers for assistance.
Examine Your Error Logs
Looking at PHP and server error logs may provide clues to what is causing the problem with Events Manager. There could be fatal errors, file access issues, exceeded memory limits or other notices that point you in the right direction.
Check your PHP logs as well as WordPress debug.log file in /wp-content/uploads/wp-debug-log/. Search for references to events-manager or any errors during times you try to use Events Manager features. This can reveal underlying issues.
Update Events Manager
Running an outdated version of Events Manager can sometimes lead to problems if the code contains bugs or incompatibilities with latest WordPress releases. Keeping Events Manager updated to the newest version is recommended.
Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and check if there are updates available for Events Manager. Click Update Now to get the latest files which may contain critical fixes that resolve your issues.
Try an Events Manager Rollback
If your Events Manager problems appeared suddenly after an update, try rolling back to a previous plugin version to see if that resolves the issue.
Find the previous Events Manager .zip files on your server in the /wp-content/plugins/ folder. Extract the old plugin version, rename the folder to replace the current one, then force refresh your Plugins page. This will roll Events Manager back to the previous code.
Test if the issues persist on the older plugin version. If they are fixed, you know it is a bug in the latest update. Consider reporting the problem or downgrading until a patch is available.
Contact Events Manager Support
If you continue experiencing issues with Events Manager after trying the above troubleshooting, reach out to the plugin developer support team. They can provide personalized help troubleshooting and fixing stubborn problems related to Events Manager.
On the Events Manager plugin page in the WordPress directory, find and click the support tab. This takes you to the developer contact form where you can submit a ticket with details about the problems you are having.
Be sure to provide your WordPress version, PHP version, Events Manager version, any error messages, steps to reproduce, and screenshots. This helps the support team quickly diagnose the cause and provide fixes.
Conclusion
Events Manager is a powerful events calendar system when running properly. But sometimes plugin conflicts, theme issues, web server configurations, or problematic updates can cause the plugin to break.
Following the troubleshooting tips above to verify system requirements, check for conflicts, reset settings, examine errors, and contact support can get your Events Manager back working again smoothly. Events are an important part of connecting with your community, so resolving any Events Manager problems helps ensure people don’t miss out.