Updates, support, and safe maintenance

POM Events updates arrive through the private POM update channel, gated by the license. This page covers updating safely, the maintenance rhythm, and how to ask for help.

Before an update

1. Read the release notes for changes to events, registration, templates or settings.
2. Confirm the License section reports a valid state.
3. Confirm the subscription is active and the domain authorized.
4. Note the current plugin version.
5. Note anything customized: template overrides, code using the plugin's hooks, page-builder layouts around the shortcodes.
6. Schedule it outside a registration peak — an event closing that evening is not the moment.

On multisite, update detection needs POM Events network-active or active on the main site, with the network license configured there.

Apply and verify

Use the normal WordPress plugin update flow.

Then check, in this order:

1. WordPress reports the expected version.
2. Settings → POM Events opens with all four sections, and no POM Framework error.
3. Events is still in the sidebar.
4. A published event renders correctly signed out.
5. The registration form opens, validates and submits.
6. An event list page returns results, filters and loads more.
7. The calendar loads, if you use it.
8. The attendee panel shows the three sections and the export buttons.

If event pages return not-found errors after an update, open Settings → Permalinks and save once.

Routine maintenance

Weekly

• Sort All Events by Event start date and look at what is coming.
• Check the Assistants count against capacity for events filling up.
• Move waiting-list registrations up when places are released.

After each event

• Export the attendee list before doing anything else.
• Decide whether the event stays published as a record or is unpublished.
• Note what to change for the next edition.

Periodically

• Review event types and categories; unused terms make the filters noisy.
• Review old events: they are excluded from upcoming lists automatically, but they remain in the calendar and the archive.
• Review attendee data retention against your privacy policy.

After changing the theme

The event runtime only loads on the POM theme. After any theme change:

1. Confirm the Events menu is still present.
2. Open a published event signed out.
3. Check the pages holding the shortcodes.
4. Re-check the single event settings, since the template renders them.

If events vanish after a theme switch, the content is intact — the runtime is simply not loading.

Before asking for help

1. Reproduce the problem in a private window, signed out.
2. Note whether it also happens signed in.
3. Note the scope: one event, one list, one visitor, or everything.
4. Reload once, in case a page cache is serving an older copy.
5. Note what changed just before — an update, a settings change, a theme change, a new plugin.

What to include in a support request

• The exact public URL where the problem is visible.
• The event's start and end dates, and its status.
• Whether attendee functionality is enabled.
• Whether WooCommerce is involved.
• The active theme.
• Whether it happens signed out, signed in, or both.
• The exact wording of any message on screen.
• The steps that reproduce it.
• Screenshots with personal data cropped out.

What never to send

• The license key.
• WordPress, hosting or database credentials.
• Attendee lists, exports or any file containing personal data.
• Screenshots showing attendee names, emails or telephone numbers.
• Customer or order data from WooCommerce.

Attendee exports are personal data. If support genuinely needs to see the shape of an export, send a redacted sample with invented values.

Recovering from a mistake

• A registration deleted by accident — deletion of a cancelled row is permanent. Recreate it from an export if you have one, or ask the person to register again.
• An event edited wrongly — events are ordinary posts and keep revision history in the editor.
• A settings change with wide effects — settings are site-wide; revert the specific control rather than re-saving the whole screen.
• An event deleted — restore it from the trash before it is emptied.

The habit that prevents most of this: export the attendee list before making changes to a live event.

Return to the start-here chapter for the rest of the documentation.