WP Updates Settings: An Admin UI For Configuring WordPress Updates

One of the most exciting features in WordPress 3.7 was the ability for WordPress to stay up to date through automatic background updates. However, WordPress provides no easy way to change your update settings in the admin. Update settings require manual configuration in your wp-config.php file.

WP Updates Settings is a new plugin released today, just in time for users to experiment using it with the upcoming WordPress 3.8.1 release. It provides a user interface for configuring update settings within the WordPress admin at Settings >> Updates.

The WP Updates Settings plugin includes a comprehensive list of update options, including translation files, as well as a few other extras such as contextual help:

Show/hide Updates notification

Use default WordPress behaviors

Enable/Disable Updates capabilities to Administrator users

Set Major Core Automatic Background Updates

Set Minor Core Automatic Background Updates

Set Plugin Automatic Background Updates

Set Theme Automatic Background Updates

Set Translation files Automatic Background Updates

Contextual Help

Translation MO/PO files

Clean uninstall

This plugin provides a good option for WordPress users who want to change some extra settings, such as adding in automatic theme updates, but are intimidated by editing the wp-config.php file.

If you try the plugin for awhile but want to uninstall it later, the default update settings are restored (core updates for minor versions). I’ve got it installed on a WordPress site to fully test whether my update settings are correctly recorded and implemented when WordPress 3.8.1 is released. I’ll report back here when it is complete.

WP Updates Settings is the first plugin to provide a comprehensive UI for the most common selections users would otherwise define in wp-config.php. Download it for free from the WordPress plugin repository.