Searching the directory
The “Store” tab searches the official WordPress directory. At the top you choose “Themes” or “Extensions”; without a search term you see the most popular ones. Each card shows the name, a short description, the rating and how many sites use the theme or plugin. “Show more” loads further results.
If the search finds nothing, try another word or an English one: most entries in the directory are labelled in English. You can browse while the installation is still a draft; you can install as soon as it is running.
Installing and activating
For a plugin, “Install & activate” installs it and switches it on straight away; if it is already installed, the button says “Activate”. A theme you install with “Install” and then switch on with “Activate” and “Yes, activate” — a theme switches the whole site over, for every visitor. Whatever is already running is marked “running on your site”.
The Store installs through the same checks as the Control Panel. It uses no AI credit and follows the “Live”/“Sandbox” switch — to try something out, it is best to install it in the sandbox first.
- Open the “Store” tab and choose “Extensions”.
- Type what you need under “Search the WordPress directory”.
- Click “Install & activate” on a card.
Uploading your own theme or plugin
If you have a theme or plugin that is not in the directory — from an agency or bought elsewhere, say —, you upload it as a ZIP file: “Upload your own theme (.zip)” or “Upload your own plugin (.zip)”. “Activate right after uploading” switches it on straight away. The file may be at most 20 MB.
Your own code runs on your site; only upload what you know. The sandbox is the better place to try things out. You can upload a plugin the same way in the Control Panel’s “Plugins” door.
- Open the “Store” tab and click “Upload your own plugin (.zip)”.
- Click “Choose ZIP file” and pick the file.
- Tick “Activate right after uploading” if it should run immediately.
- Click “Upload & install”.
What comes afterwards
The Store only installs. You switch off, update or delete everything in the Control Panel under “Themes” and “Plugins” (Managing plugins and themes).
When the switch above the preview is set to “Sandbox”, everything you install in the Store lands in the copy; the Store says so above the cards. If you like the result, you bring it to the real site by pushing the sandbox live (Pushing the sandbox live).