Very confused about the "Install on selected site's"

[Filips]

I’m exploring the free version of MainWP v. 5.0.2

I read some related posts but couldn’t find an answer.

I created a new site and thought: In MainWP I select some plugins I have on my other sites and install them on my new site. It looked so logical and intuitive but … it didn’t work. I made an image that explains it (below).
Is this possible? Is it a bug? Is this a pro feature?

[bojan (Bojan Katusic)]

Hey @Filips

Welcome to the MainWP community!

Thanks for the clear description of your steps.

The “Install to selected sites” button takes into account the sites you selected in the plugin table on the left.

While the selection of sites in the sidebar on the right serves only as a filter for which sites you wish to include in the search.

So if you expand one of the plugins on the left, you will see that all the sites that have it installed get selected, and those are the sites that the “Install to selected sites” button takes into account.

There’s also a KB that explains this exact scenario: How to install a plugin on sites that already have a certain plugin installed - MainWP Documentation

For your use case, MainWP doesn’t provide a perfectly matching workflow.
But our Favorites extension (part of the Pro plan) could help.
With it, you can add any desired plugin to a favorites group and then install any desired group of plugins to that new empty site.

[Filips]

Hi Bojan,

Many thanks for your quick response. I indeed read the post you mentioned but still was very confused. After reading your answer and the post again I’m starting to understand.

Thanks again,
Filips