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MainWP identifies plugins and themes that may be abandoned based on how long since their last update. Abandoned items can pose security risks and compatibility issues since they no longer receive patches or improvements.

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What You’ll Accomplish

  • Understand what “abandoned” means in MainWP
  • Manually check for abandoned plugins across your sites
  • Manually check for abandoned themes across your sites
  • Review abandoned items and decide on replacements

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Prerequisites

  • MainWP Dashboard installed and activated
  • At least one child site connected to your Dashboard
  • Sites synced recently to have current plugin/theme data

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What Does “Abandoned” Mean?

MainWP marks a plugin or theme as “possibly abandoned” when WordPress.org reports no update within the configured tolerance period. The default threshold is 365 days.
By default, MainWP uses WordPress.org metadata. Dashboard 6.3 adds an optional local-file-date fallback for items without a usable WordPress.org last-updated date, including premium, private, or delisted items. This requires MainWP Child 6.3 or later.

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Check Items Without a WordPress.org Date

  1. Open top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings) and find Updates Settings.
  2. Enable Abandoned check by local file date, review Abandoned plugins/themes tolerance, and click Save Settings.
  3. Sync the affected sites to send the setting to MainWP Child, then run the abandoned checks below.
The fallback compares the modification date of a plugin’s main file or a theme’s style.css with the same tolerance used for WordPress.org dates. It is disabled by default. An older Child that does not support it continues using WordPress.org metadata. A local file date is a signal to investigate. Copying or restoring files can change it, and it does not establish the author’s last release date. See how the fallback works.

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Why Abandoned Items Matter

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Automatic Checks

When abandoned plugin and theme data is enabled for sync, MainWP Child schedules daily background checks and processes installed items in batches. Dashboard syncs collect the cached results and can queue a check when the cache is missing or incomplete. These background tasks rely on WordPress cron.
These checks depend on the sync-data settings in top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > Advanced Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=SettingsAdvanced). In the Select data to sync section, keep Abandoned plugins information and Abandoned themes information enabled. If either checkbox is cleared, MainWP does not refresh that abandoned-data set during regular automated syncs or manual site syncs.

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Manual Check from Manage Sites

1

Navigate to Manage Sites

Go to MainWP > Sites > Manage Sites.
2

Select sites

Check the boxes next to the sites you want to check.
3

Choose action

In the Bulk Actions menu, select Check Abandoned Plugins or Check Abandoned Themes.
4

Apply

Click Apply.MainWP starts the abandoned-item check on the selected sites.

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Manual Check from Abandoned Pages

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Check Abandoned Plugins

1

Navigate to Abandoned Plugins

Go to Sites > Plugins > Abandoned Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=PluginsAbandoned).
2

Run check

Click Check for Abandoned Plugins in the action bar. The action bar remains available even when the results table is empty. This checks all accessible sites without sync errors in the current scope, including sites that may not appear in the abandoned results table.

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Check Abandoned Themes

1

Navigate to Abandoned Themes

Go to Sites > Themes > Abandoned Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=ThemesAbandoned).
2

Run check

Click Check for Abandoned Themes in the action bar. The action bar remains available even when the results table is empty. This checks all accessible sites without sync errors in the current scope, including sites that may not appear in the abandoned results table.

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Adjust Abandoned Tolerance

Change the number of days before an item is marked as abandoned:
  1. Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings)
  2. Open General Settings and find Updates Settings
  3. Adjust Abandoned plugins/themes tolerance (default: 365 days)
  4. Click Save Settings
  5. Sync the affected sites before running another abandoned check. MainWP Child receives the new tolerance during site sync; without this sync, it may still use the previous value

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What to Do with Abandoned Items

When you identify abandoned plugins or themes:
  1. Search for alternatives - Look for actively maintained plugins with similar functionality
  2. Check last commit date - Some plugins on wordpress.org may have active GitHub development
  3. Test replacements - Install alternatives on a staging site first
  4. Plan migration - Replace abandoned items before they cause issues

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Self-Check Checklist

  • Abandoned plugins check completes successfully
  • Abandoned themes check completes successfully
  • Results display in the Updates page
  • Tolerance setting matches your requirements