Install, update, and remove the plugin on your WordPress website

Install TermsFeed AutoTerms from your WordPress admin, from its ZIP file, or with a single WP-CLI command, then open any admin screen once to finish the setup. Each method installs the same plugin, with the slug auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy.

WordPress and PHP requirements for the plugin

The plugin needs WordPress 5.0 or later and PHP 7.0 or later. The Cookie Consent kit needs the PHP DOM extension to read the attributes of the vendor scripts you add. Without the DOM extension, a page that prints a vendor script with attributes, such as the async and src of the Google tag, stops with a PHP fatal error. The Vendor Scripts tab in your WordPress admin stops the same way. Ask your host to add the extension if Tools > Site Health in your WordPress admin reports the dom module as missing.

You need an Administrator account to install a plugin on a single WordPress website, or a Super Admin account on a multisite network. Install on a network with WordPress Multisite Legal Pages.

How to install the plugin from the WordPress admin

Search the plugin directory from your WordPress admin, then install and activate the plugin, in 4 steps and about 2 minutes. This method suits most sites, because WordPress downloads and unpacks the plugin for you.

  1. Open Plugins > Add New Plugin in the WordPress admin.
  2. Type "TermsFeed AutoTerms" in the search field.
  3. Click the "Install Now" button on the "TermsFeed AutoTerms" card.
  4. Click the "Activate" button once the installation finishes.

WordPress returns to the Plugins screen with the plugin active and a TermsFeed item in the admin menu.

How to install the plugin from the ZIP file

Upload the plugin ZIP file in 4 steps to install a copy you downloaded, or to install on a server with no connection to WordPress.org. Download the ZIP file from the plugin page on WordPress.org before you start, and leave it zipped.

  1. Open Plugins > Add New Plugin in the WordPress admin.
  2. Click the "Upload Plugin" button at the top of the screen.
  3. Select the ZIP file in the file field, and click the "Install Now" button.
  4. Click the "Activate Plugin" button once WordPress reports that the plugin is installed.

WordPress shows the Plugins screen with the plugin active.

How to install the plugin with WP-CLI

Install and activate the plugin with a single WP-CLI command, run from your WordPress installation folder.

wp plugin install auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy --activate

A WP-CLI command does not open an admin screen. Open any screen of your WordPress admin in a browser after the command, so the defaults and the legal page addresses are in place before visitors arrive.

What the plugin sets up on the first admin screen

The plugin completes its setup on the first admin screen after activation, which is the Plugins screen in an admin install. The setup makes the legal page addresses work, stores the default settings, and adds the plugin roles.

A new installation starts with these values.

  • Settings. The plugin stores the defaults of General Settings, the Advanced tab, and every compliance kit, with the website name, company name, and company address set to the WordPress Site Title.
  • Legal pages slug. The slug is termsfeed, so legal pages take addresses such as /termsfeed/privacy-policy/ with pretty permalinks.
  • Compliance Kits. Links to Legal Pages starts on, and the Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice, Update Notices of Legal Pages, and Endorsements kits start off.
  • Consent preference. The Cookie Consent kit gets the Compliance preference "GDPR Directive (i.e. I Agree & I Decline buttons)", so the consent banner asks for express consent once you turn the kit on.
  • Roles. The plugin adds "WPAutoTerms Pages Editor (additional)", and adds "Editor + WPAutoTerms Pages Editor" on sites that have the Editor role.

On the same admin screen, the plugin copies the old settings of a WordPress website that ran Auto Terms of Service and Privacy Policy 1.x. The TermsFeed menu of that site then shows a Legacy Auto TOS & PP item. Keep the 3 old shortcodes working with Legal Page Shortcodes for WordPress.

How to confirm that the plugin is installed

Confirm the install in the admin menu and on the Plugins screen of your WordPress admin.

  1. Check that the admin menu shows a TermsFeed item with Dashboard, All Legal Pages, Add Legal Page, Compliance Kits, Settings, and Help below it.
  2. Open Plugins > Installed Plugins and read the version under the plugin description, "Version 3.0.8" for the release this manual describes.

WP-CLI prints the version with this command.

wp plugin get auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy --field=version

The plugin is ready for its first settings once the menu and the version appear. Fill in your website and company details next with WordPress Legal Page Settings.

How to update the plugin

Update the plugin from Dashboard > Updates or the Plugins screen, and your settings, vendor scripts, and legal pages stay as they are. Automatic updates from WordPress and wp plugin update auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy work the same way. Read the changelog of every release on the plugin page on WordPress.org.

What deactivating the plugin keeps

The plugin keeps every setting, vendor script, role, widget, and legal page while it is deactivated, so you reactivate it with your WordPress website as it was. While the plugin is off, the Compliance Kits print nothing, legal page addresses stop working, and [wpautoterms] shortcodes show as plain text.

Deactivate the plugin from Plugins > Installed Plugins, or with wp plugin deactivate auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy. Reactivate it from the Plugins screen, and the legal page addresses work again.

What deleting the plugin removes and keeps

Deleting the plugin removes all its settings and keeps your legal pages, unless a constant in wp-config.php tells the plugin to delete them. Check wp-config.php for WPAUTOTERMS_UNINSTALL_DELETE_PAGES, then deactivate the plugin and click Delete under its name in Plugins > Installed Plugins. WordPress then runs the plugin uninstall routine, and on a multisite network it acts on every site.

WP-CLI runs the same uninstall routine with this command, which deactivates the plugin first.

wp plugin uninstall auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy --deactivate

Avoid wp plugin delete auto-terms-of-service-and-privacy-policy for a removal. That command deletes only the plugin files and skips the cleanup, so the settings, the plugin roles, and the Legal Pages widgets stay in your WordPress database.

The deletion removes what the plugin added to your WordPress website.

  • Settings. The deletion removes every setting of General Settings, the Advanced tab, the Compliance Kits, and the Legacy Auto TOS & PP screen. It deletes the vendor scripts and every other value on the Cookie Consent kit tabs in the same step.
  • Roles. The deletion removes the plugin roles. Users with the "Editor + WPAutoTerms Pages Editor" role become Editors, and users who held only "WPAutoTerms Pages Editor (additional)" lose their access to legal pages.
  • Widgets. Every Legal Pages widget leaves your sidebars.
  • Permalink rules. The deletion clears the stored permalink rules, and WordPress rebuilds them on the next request to each site.

The deletion keeps every legal page with its revisions, and the post tags you created from the Endorsements settings. The kept legal pages leave your WordPress admin with the plugin and return when you install it again. The returned legal pages sit under the default slug termsfeed, because the deletion removes the "Legal pages slug" setting.

Delete the legal pages together with the plugin by adding this line to wp-config.php before you delete the plugin. The cleanup then deletes every legal page, with its revisions and custom fields, on every site of a network.

define( 'WPAUTOTERMS_UNINSTALL_DELETE_PAGES', true );

Copy the text of any legal page you want to keep before you add the line, because the deletion is permanent. Remove the line from wp-config.php after the plugin is gone.