To install Timeline Express, you have two options. If you are going to be testing out, or using, the free version you’ll simply need to download the latest release from the WordPress plugin repository. The easiest way to do so, is by downloading and installing the plugin from the WordPress dashboard.
The pro version requires you to upload the .zip which you should have receieved in the puchase receipt sent to you via email, shortly after your puchase.
Once you’ve gone ahead and installed the plugin, you can display the timeline on a page using our shortcode. Take a look at the knowledgebase article titled ‘Display the Timeline‘ for assistance.
Free Version
Free Version
Below you’ll find a video walkthrough on how to install the free version of Timeline Express from the WordPress plugin repository.
Step 1) You’ll want to login to your WordPress dashboard.
Step 2) Once logged in – on the dashboard in the left hand sidebar, hover over the menu item Plugins and in the sub-menu, select Add New.
Step 3) In the top right hand corner, enter Timeline Express and hit ‘Enter’ on your keyboard. When the results appear, click the ‘Install’ button for Timeline Express by Evan Herman.
Step 4) Once Timeline Express is successfully installed, click the ‘Activate Plugin’ link.
Pro Version
Pro Version
Installing the pro version, is similar to the free version (listed above) but there are a few things to keep in mind. If you are migrating from the free to the pro version, you’ll first want to uninstall the free version from your WordPress site.
If you want to ensure your announcements aren’t deleted when you uninstall the free version, head into the ‘Timeline Express‘ settings page and ensure the last option (Delete Announcements On Uninstall?) is unchecked. Additionally, to backup your announcements – you can head into ‘Tools > Export’ and select ‘Timeline Express Announcements’ and export your announcements for safe keeping during the migration (Note: this can also be used to transfer announcement between sites).
Step 1) Immediately following your purchase, you should receive a ‘Purchase Receipt’ via email, to the address provided on the checkout page. Inside of the purchase receipt will be a download link to the latest release of Timeline Express Pro. Go ahead and download the .zip, and save it to a location you’ll remember.
Step 2) Go ahead and uninstall the free version of Timeline Express. If you attempt to install the pro version while the free version is still installed, you’ll receive an error. If you want to save your existing announcements, follow the steps above to ensure your announcements aren’t deleted during the uninstall process.
To uninstall the free version, from the dashboard, hover over ‘Plugins‘ menu and select ‘Installed Plugins‘.
Step 3) Next we’ll install Timeline Express Pro. In step 1, you downloaded a .zip from the purchase receipt. You’ll want to upload this .zip file to your site.
From the dashboard, in the left hand menu hover over ‘Plugins‘ menu and select ‘Add New‘.
From the ‘Add Plugins‘ screen, click the ‘Upload Plugin‘ link at the top of the page, next to the title.
Finally, click on the ‘Choose File‘ button, then navigate to and select the .zip that you downloaded in Step 1. Once prompted to, click on the ‘Activate Plugin‘ link.
If you are upgrading from the pro version, and chose to keep your announcements – you should still see them listed on the ‘All Announcements‘ page.
I installed Timeine Express (free version) and it’s in my dashboard. I created 3 test announcements. Where is the timeline?? is there a short code I need to put somewhere?
Hi Shelly,
Yes you need to add the shortcode to the page. The shortcode is
[timeline-express]in the free version.Took me 10 minutes to find out you need to add a short code. Please add to the documentation somewhere!
Hi Dinososa,
Can you tell me where I can put the shortcode on my homepage? I am not a wizzard with HTML.
Thank you
Hi Muller,
You can add the shortcode to your page by doing [timeline-express] on the homepage content.
This will generate the timeline wherever you want it to display.
Feel free to take a look at our documentation on displaying the timeline here:
https://www.wp-timelineexpress.com/documentation/display-the-timeline/
Thanks!
Evan
Hi – I purchased Historical Dates Add-On, how do I install that on timeline?
Hi Peter,
You just need to go to ‘Plugins > Install > Add New’ (in the dashboard) and upload the .zip that you downloaded from the purchase receipt sent to you via email.
I am a Pro user and have 1.3.9 installed. How do I install 1.4.1 without losing my data?
Hi Alastair,
If you have an active and valid license key entered onto your license page, you should be able to remotely update the plugin from the dashboard. However, you can also log in here on the site by clicking the ‘Account’ link in the top right of the site. Once logged in you should be able to view your previous purchases, as well as download the latest version that has been released.
As we gear up for the 2.0 release you should get the notification on your dashboard by the end of the week. If you need some assistance accessing your past purchases, feel free to reach out to us and we can help walk you through the process.
Best,
Evan
HI there – I’m having problems with the Pro version of the plugin. Activating the plugin causes a 500 internal server error.
Here are my steps:
– in settings, of regular plugin, I’ve chosen to keep announcements on delete
– I deactivate the regular plugin
– I upload the zip file of the pro plugin
– I click Activate, then wait, and then my screen goes to a 500 error.
The short video here shows you what I mean:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/byc56ptr95h283t/timeline-plugin.mov?dl=0
Any help much appreciated,
David
Hi David,
I went ahead and responded to your email, but I’d be happy to respond here as well for anyone else who might ever encounter a similar issue.
______
From what I can see in your video, it looks like you may have used the snippet found in our documentation (https://www.wp-timelineexpress.com/documentation/how-do-i-use-a-larger-announcement-thumbnail-size/).
function custom_announcement_image_size( $image_size, $post_id ) {
$image_size = ‘full’;
return $image_size;
}
add_filter( ‘timeline-express-announcement-img-size’ , ‘custom_announcement_image_size’, 10, 2 );
If you added that snippet (or one similar) with the same name (I believe that was the old name, I could be slightly off) then it could be that there is a small naming conflict between the base plugin and the snippet that is in your themes functions.php.
It is quite a simple fix, and just requires that you change the name of the function to something else, since the function was introduced into Timeline Express Pro v2.
Try and rename the function to something like the following:
function custom_timeline_express_announcement_image_size( $image_size, $post_id ) {
$image_size = ‘full’;
return $image_size;
}
add_filter( ‘timeline-express-announcement-img-size’ , ‘custom_timeline_express_announcement_image_size’, 10, 2 );
(Notice the custom_ prefix before the function name) This has been updated in the documentation so others don’t have this issue, but users who had previously implemented a custom image size and then installed v2 ran into that issue.
Let us know if that helps resolve things on your end. If it’s not that and something larger, I’d be happy to get in there and take a look for you.
Best,
Evan
____
Feel free to respond to the email and we can continue the discussion there.
Best,
Evan
Hello,
I have been searching for an age online, and it would seem it used to be an option at the top of the settings that is no longer available, but how do I change the size of the title/heading in each timeline announcement? It is way too big for my purposes.
Thank you,
Alison
Are these plugins compatible with hosting via WordPress.com, which has core PHP without write permissions?
As far as I know, they are not. WordPress.com allows for certain plugins hosted on WordPress.org, but they do not allow custom plugins downloaded from elsewhere. You can migrate off of WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress installation, and you should have no issues.
Evan
Following up here, you can install third-party plugins on WordPress.com business plans only.
Can you do more than 1 timeline? I would like to use them on different pages for the history website I am working on.
Hi Don,
With the pro version you can create and display as many timeline as you need on your site.