Run the plugin on every site of a WordPress multisite network

Network-activate TermsFeed AutoTerms once, and each site of the network keeps its own settings, legal pages, and Compliance Kits. A site Administrator manages the legal pages and the settings screens of that site. A Super Admin adds the code and markup that a site Administrator on a default network is not allowed to save. Install the plugin itself with Install the TermsFeed AutoTerms Plugin on WordPress.

How to activate the plugin on a WordPress multisite network

Activate the plugin for the whole network from Network Admin > Plugins, in 4 steps. You need a Super Admin account, because only a Super Admin installs plugins on a network.

  1. Open My Sites > Network Admin > Plugins.
  2. Install the plugin with "Add New Plugin" if the network does not have it yet.
  3. Click the "Network Activate" button on the plugin card, or, for a plugin the network already has, the "Network Activate" link under "TermsFeed AutoTerms".
  4. Open the WordPress admin of each site once, starting with the sites that need legal pages.

The AutoTerms plugin sets each site up on the first request to the WordPress admin of that site, such as the first admin screen you open there. On that request it stores the defaults, sets the legal pages slug to termsfeed, makes the legal page addresses work, and adds the plugin roles. Any request to admin-ajax.php counts as an admin request, such as a front-end request from another plugin, so a site you never open is set up on the first such request.

Check each site after its first admin visit. Open Users > Add New User in the admin of the site and confirm that the "Role" list holds "WPAutoTerms Pages Editor (additional)", the role the setup creates. Then fill in the details of that site.

What each site of the network keeps for itself

Every site of the network has its own plugin settings, legal pages, compliance kit settings, vendor scripts, and roles. Turn on the Cookie Consent kit on each site that needs a consent banner, because a kit turned on for one site prints nothing on the other sites. A legal page you create on one site appears on that site only.

Fill in General Settings and answer the questionnaires on each site, because the plugin copies nothing between sites. Each site has its own legal pages slug, so /termsfeed/privacy-policy/ on one site and /legal/privacy-policy/ on another work side by side. Set up each site with WordPress Legal Page Settings.

The plugin remembers a closed Cookie Notice bar or Update Notices bar per site, on a subdirectory network too. A visitor who closes the Cookie Notice on example.com/shop/ still sees it on example.com/blog/. A closed Cookie Notice stays closed for 7 days, and a closed Update Notices bar until the page changes again or 7 days pass.

What a site Administrator manages on a network

A site Administrator creates, edits, and publishes the legal pages of that site and opens every plugin settings screen. The plugin gives every user with the WordPress manage_options capability, which each site Administrator holds, full access to legal pages. Super Admins get the same access on every site.

A site Administrator on a default network lacks the WordPress unfiltered_html capability, which lets a user save scripts and markup. On a save by that site Administrator, the plugin keeps the stored callbacks, Additional CSS, and vendor script code. It removes markup from the changed texts of the Cookie Consent kit and shows an error. In the notice and Endorsements messages, the same save removes only the markup that a WordPress post does not allow, with no error. The site Administrator still saves every other field, and reorders or deletes the stored vendor scripts. Read which fields each error covers in TermsFeed AutoTerms Capabilities and Roles.

How a Super Admin adds code to a site of the network

Add vendor scripts, callbacks, and Additional CSS as a Super Admin, who holds unfiltered_html on every site unless DISALLOW_UNFILTERED_HTML is set.

  1. Open the WordPress admin of the site from My Sites.
  2. Open TermsFeed > Compliance Kits and click the "Configure" button of the kit you want to change.
  3. Add the code where it belongs, such as a vendor script on the Vendor Scripts tab of the Cookie Consent kit with the "Add vendor script" button.
  4. Click the "Save Changes" button.
  5. Confirm that the field or the Vendor Scripts table still holds your code after the page reloads, with no error notice above the form.

The site Administrator then saves the other fields of the Cookie Consent kit tabs without losing your code. Paste each tracking script as a vendor script with Block WordPress Scripts Until Consent.

What network deactivation and deletion do to every site

Network deactivation and deletion act on every site of the network at once. Network deactivation keeps the settings, roles, widgets, and legal pages of each site, and the legal page addresses of each site stop working until you activate the plugin again.

Deleting the plugin from Network Admin > Plugins removes its settings, its roles, and the Legal Pages widgets of every site. The legal pages of every site stay, unless wp-config.php defines WPAUTOTERMS_UNINSTALL_DELETE_PAGES as true, which deletes the legal pages of every site. Read the full list of what deletion removes in What deleting the plugin removes and keeps.