Activating Maintenance Mode in WordPress: A Simple Guide

Maintaining your website is crucial for its functionality and up-to-date. To enable WordPress maintenance mode, use a plugin or add code to your website’s functions.php file. The plug-in approach is user-friendly and allows custom maintenance pages, while the code approach suggests simple solutions for experienced users without the need for additional plug-ins. Enabling WordPress maintenance mode ensures a smooth and functional website.

a) Use the SeedProd plugin to enable WordPress maintenance mode

1. Log in to WordPress and select Plugins on the menu on the left side of the dashboard, then click the “Add New” button.

2. Then, search for SeedProd plugin in the search bar in the upper-right corner. After searching for and selecting the plugin, click the “Install Now” button to install it.

3. Once installed, you will find modules for setting up the “Coming Soon” and “Maintenance” pages (activated via buttons), as well as a section at the bottom for managing the landing pages.

4. Then, navigate to SeedProd’s landing page template gallery, select the template you want, navigate to the builder, customize the template, and click Save to save your changes to create a maintenance mode page.

5. After that, click the Add New Landing Page button in the landing pages section and adjust the page title and URL in the Page Settings section to add another landing pages section.

6. To activate maintenance mode on the WordPress admin page, click the Activate button on the plugin dashboard, and a “Maintenance Mode Activated” message will appear in the upper right corner.

b) Use the WP Maintenance Mode Plugin to enable WordPress maintenance mode

1. Log in to WordPress and select Plugins on the menu on the left side of the dashboard, then click the “Add New” button.

2. Then, search for WP Maintenance Mode plugin in the search bar in the upper-right corner. After searching for and selecting the plugin, click the “Install Now” button to install and activate it.

3. To access WP Maintenance Mode, navigate to your WordPress dashboard and select Settings. The settings page displays five tabs: General, Design, Modules, Manage Bots, and GDPR.

4. The “General” tab Status section on WordPress allows you to activate or deactivate WordPress in build mode. The Bypass Search Bots feature allows search engines to access your site during maintenance. The Back end Role and Front end Role options allow you to select user roles for backend access during maintenance. Only administrators can change these settings if you don’t set them. Save your changes by clicking the Save Settings button.

5. To create a splash page in the Design tab, add a Title to the Title (HTML tag) section. Then, add a Heading and Text to customize on-screen maintenance messages. Change the background color and use a custom background image for visual appeal. Finally, click the “Save Settings” button to save your settings.

6. The Modules tab allows you to configure the countdown timer, set the start time and remaining time, and notify customers when your website is online again. The “Modules” tab also allows connecting social network accounts to the launch page. Insert your social media account link, and the plugin will automatically display the icon on the maintenance page. Click the Save Settings button to save your settings.

7. To attract new subscribers, create an interactive subscription form on the Manage Bots tab. Users can engage with the bot through maintenance mode, with 10 customizable messages and four response options. This method collects user names and email addresses. Save the settings after completing the settings. To export your subscriber list, go to the Modules tab and select Export as CSV under Subscribers.

8. WordPress’s GDPR compliance settings are crucial for collecting data from the subscription form on the launch page. To ensure compliance, activate GDPR status in the GDPR tab, link to the Privacy Page, and create acceptance checkboxes for contact and subscription forms. If you don’t have one, go to Privacy to set one up in Settings. Once the GDPR configuration is complete, click Save Settings to save the site in maintenance mode. This ensures your website is fully compliant with GDPR regulations.

c) Use the WP Maintenance Plugin to enable WordPress maintenance mode

1. Log in to WordPress and select Plugins on the menu on the left side of the dashboard, then click the “Add New” button.

2. Then, search for WP Maintenance plugin in the search bar in the upper-right corner. After searching for and selecting the plugin, click the “Install Now” button to install and activate it.

3. After installing and activating the plugin, navigate to its settings in the left sidebar, which offers nine sections.

• General: Here you can find buttons to enable maintenance mode and configure login page messages.
• Colors & Fonts: Customize your landing page’s appearance by adjusting background color, text color, and font to match your brand, but note that there’s no drag-and-drop builder or visual editor available.
• Pictures: Add a header and background image, along with pattern images and sliders, to enhance the visual appeal of your website.
• Countdown: Set the start date and time for the countdown and enable the under building mode to be automatically disabled at the end to bring your site online.
• CSS Style: The page contains CSS tables for maintaining it, and if you wish to customize it by inserting custom CSS, you can do so here.
• SEO: To optimize your website, enable SEO settings, edit the page’s meta title and description, and add a favicon from this location.
• Social Networks: Adding social network accounts to your landing page aids in directing users to your social media pages for further information.
• Footer: The maintenance screen can be customized with a footer and text, and a link to the dashboard can also be added.
• Settings: The plugin offers additional settings such as enabling the theme maintenance page, removing custom settings when deactivated, and displaying server error codes.

d) Use a custom function to enable WordPress maintenance mode

Before you do this step, please backup your files and folders to avoid losing them. For more information about backups, you can check out the Backup information page.

1. Navigate to “Appearance” on your WordPress admin dashboard and select “Theme Editor”. Select “Theme Functions” from the right to open the functions.php file, allowing you to edit the code in the editor.

2. Add code at the end of the file to activate WordPress’ default maintenance screen.

3. To modify the HTML message displayed on the screen, find the wp_die function in the fourth line of code and edit the HTML code in parentheses. Then, click the “Update File” button to update the message.

4. Once the website is complete, make sure to remove the code from the functions.php file to restart the website.

e) Use the .htaccess file to enable WordPress maintenance mode

Before you do this step, please backup your files and folders to avoid losing them. For more information about backups, you can check out the Backup information page.

1. Log into cPanel and navigate to the Files section, or search for the File Manager tool in the search bar to explore your cPanel file manager.

2. Then, open the public_html directory to locate the .htaccess file.

3. Create a maintenance.html file with the message being built, or upload it if already present, to serve as your maintenance screen.

4. Next, open and locate the .htaccess file in the public_html by right-clicking and selecting Edit.

5. To create a backup, copy and paste the contents of the .htaccess file into a new file named .htaccess_default, and add the code snippet to the original .htaccess file content.

6. Once it is finished, visitors will be directed to the maintenance HTML page, allowing you to commence work on the site.