Addons Overview - Vanilla Success
<main> <article class="userContent"> <h2 data-id="what-are-addons">What are Addons?</h2><p>Addons (or plugins) are features or tools that are available based on client plan levels. </p><ul><li>For developer information, see <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/152-what-is-an-addon" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">What is an Addon?</a></li></ul><h2 data-id="addons-per-plan"><strong>Addons per Plan</strong></h2><p>Vanilla offers a variety of addons/features available on all plan subscriptions while there are some addons and features that are only available on specific plans.</p><ul><li>Our <a href="https://vanillaforums.com/plans/" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">plans-overview page</a> makes it easy to quickly compare which features are standard in which plans.</li><li><a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/kb/articles/115-addon-master-list" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">Addon Master List</a> provides information about all of our Addons.</li></ul><h2 data-id="open-source-addons"><strong>Open Source Addons</strong></h2><p>It is noteworthy that you may find some Open Source addons on open.vanillaforums.com. These are not supported in the Hosted Instance of Vanilla. Anyone can create open source addons/plugins and, as a result, these addons/plugins are not always available on Vanilla Hosted as they may not meet our stringent standards for security/scalability.</p><p>If there is an Open Source addon that isn’t available on Vanilla Hosted that you’d like to see, we encourage you to submit it as <a href="https://success.vanillaforums.com/categories/product-ideas" rel="nofollow noreferrer ugc">a product idea</a>.</p><h2 data-id="enabling-addons">Enabling Addons</h2><p>Enabling an addon immediately makes it active and available. To do this, go to your Dashboard, then Settings, and select "Addons" at the bottom of the list on the left side panel. </p><p>Navigate to the addons list and click “Enable” next to the addon. There may be a delay while enabling a new addon for the first time while it updates your database.</p><p>Some addons may need to be enabled by Vanilla Staff, if you do not see the addon you are looking for in your settings.</p><h2 data-id="configuring-addons">Configuring Addons</h2><p>After enabling, some addons will have a “Settings” button next to them in the Addons list. </p><div class="embedExternal embedImage display-large float-none"> <div class="embedExternal-content"> <a class="embedImage-link" href="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/120/1CF2SC5O5894.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener ugc" target="_blank"> <img class="embedImage-img" src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6030677/uploads/120/1CF2SC5O5894.png" alt="image.png" height="94" width="902" loading="lazy" data-display-size="large" data-float="none"></img></a> </div> </div> <p>It is recommended to visit the Settings page (if available) for an addon after enabling it, if it has one, to see if additional setup is required.</p><p>You can return to the addon’s settings to adjust it.</p><h2 data-id="disabling-addons">Disabling Addons</h2><p>Disabling an addon will remove whatever features it added, but it <strong>never</strong> destroys the data associated with it. For instance, turning off the Polls addon does not delete any Polls that were created, it just hides them until the addon is enabled again.</p><h2 data-id="discovering-addon-features">Discovering Addon Features</h2><p>Addons can do many things. Some common changes include adding new options to the Dashboard’s menu, adding information to discussions or comments, changing how parts of the forum work or appear, adding information to user accounts or profiles, or adding new pages of content to your forum.</p><p>Every add-on comes with a short description of what it does. As a general rule, enabling an addon is fully reversible, so it’s safe to turn on any addon and try it out to get a better understanding of how it effects your community.</p> </article> </main>