If you need to add a new member and process their payment information, or update an existing member’s paid subscription here are a few methods you can use as admin or membership manager.
This article covers three methods of adding or updating a member:
- Use Your Site Like a Member Would
- Edit an Existing User in WordPress Admin
- Use the New Add Member Admin Add On
If you need to bulk add or update members, please refer to the Import Users from CSV Add On documentation.
Video Demo
Use Your Site Like a Member Would
One of the easiest ways to add a new member is to simply log out of your administrator or membership manager account and “checkout” like any other member would. To do this, navigate through your membership levels > membership checkout process and complete the form as you would for the new member to be created. Until the Add Member Admin Add On is developed further, this is the only way to add a new member if you need to process credit card or PayPal payment.
If the member already exists and you are updating their membership, you can use the User Switching plugin by John Blackbourn to use that member’s account without needing their private password information. After installing the plugin, locate the member in your Users list, then click the “Switch To” link. You’re now navigating the site as the user would and can proceed with selecting a membership level, completing membership checkout, or canceling membership.
Edit an Existing User in WordPress Admin
If processing membership payment is not required, you can manually add or update a user’s membership directly via Users > Add New or Users > Edit User. Just navigate to your WordPress admin and locate the member to update. On the Edit User screen, there is a section pictured below.
You can modify the Membership Level (change level or set to none), Expiration Date, optionally “Send the user an email about this change” and optionally “Cancel this user’s subscription at the gateway”.
Click the “Update Profile” button to save the changes.
To attach an order to the user, locate the user in the Memberships > Members List and click the +order link under their username. If you know the user ID, you can also add the order via the Memberships > Orders > Add New Order admin page.
Use the New Add Member Admin Add On
This new add on (currently in Beta as we continue development) allows the admin or membership manager to create the user, the membership settings, and the order in one step.
When the plugin is activated, you will see a new “Add Member” page under “Memberships” in your WordPress admin.
The form includes the fields for:
- user account (email address, password – entered or random, first name, last name, role)
- membership level
- expiration
- payment (only cash or check; we’re currently developing the admin credit card processing component)
- order total
- order notes
- * existing filters in place for adding additional fields to the user registration will also appear here.
Once you submit the form, the user account will be active and appear in the members list with the membership settings you entered. An order under Memberships > Orders will be created for the membership “checkout”. If you need to make updates to the corresponding order (i.e. if they pay you via check offline and you want to record receipt), locate it in the Memberships > Orders list. Note that no confirmation email will be sent to the user when you use this method.