Performing A Plugin Test

If your site starts acting up — pages not loading right, buttons not working, or layouts breaking — one of the first things to check is your plugins. Most plugins are safe and reliable, but outdated or poorly coded ones can cause conflicts or slow things down. Sometimes, even two good plugins simply don’t play well together.

Running a plugin test helps you find out if one of your plugins is the cause of the problem. Our support team or any support team such as Kadence may also ask you to do this step when troubleshooting, as it’s one of the fastest ways to pinpoint the issue.

Most Obvious Cause

Usually, when things aren’t quite working correctly, it almost always pinpoints to a plugin or a caching setting.

Before going through the steps below, disable your cache plugin/s. If it solves the issue and you have more than one caching plugin (hopefully using different settings), then disable one at a time.

When you have pinpointed which caching plugin it is, you will have to go through a process of elimination. You will need to:

1. Start with the most obvious ie if it’s images then check the image caching.
2. Unchecking a setting box.
3. Cache your website.
4. Check your website.
5. Rinse and repeat until you’ve found the offender.

Before Beginning A Performing a Full Plugin Test

Always create a full backup of your website before making changes, we recommend WP Staging Pro or Solid Backups Pro. This ensures you can restore everything if something goes wrong. If you’re not sure how to back up your site, check your host’s documentation or use a trusted backup plugin.

Step-by-Step: Running a Plugin Test

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
2. At the top of the list, tick the checkbox to select all plugins.
   • You can usually keep your theme’s recommended plugins active, as they’ve been tested and confirmed to work with your Pawfect theme.
3. From the Bulk Actions dropdown, choose Deactivate, then click Apply.
   • This will turn off all plugins on your site.
4. Clear your browser cache and reload your site.
   • If the issue disappears, you’ve confirmed that a plugin is the source of the problem.
5. Now, reactivate your plugins one by one. After each activation, refresh your site and check if the problem returns.
6. Once you find the plugin causing the issue, you can safely remove it or contact the plugin developer for support.

Using Health Check & Troubleshooting Plugin

If you’d prefer not to deactivate your plugins on your live site, the Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin is a fantastic tool to safely test for issues behind the scenes. It allows you to temporarily disable plugins and switch themes — but only for your user session. Your visitors won’t notice a thing!

This makes it perfect for diagnosing plugin or theme conflicts without risking your site’s functionality or appearance.

How to Use It

1. Install the plugin
   • In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New.
   • Search for Health Check & Troubleshooting (by The WordPress.org community).
   • Click Install Now, then Activate.
2. Open the plugin tools
   • Go to Tools → Site Health.
   • You’ll see two main tabs: Status and Info.
     • The Status tab gives you an overview of potential issues or recommended improvements.
     • The Info tab provides detailed information about your server, PHP, and WordPress setup — handy when asking for support.
3. Enter Troubleshooting Mode
   • Click the Troubleshooting tab (it will appear once the plugin is installed).
   • Click Enable Troubleshooting Mode.
   • Your site will automatically switch to the default WordPress theme and deactivate all plugins — but only for you. Your visitors still see your normal site.
4. Test your site
   • Start reactivating plugins one by one within the Troubleshooting Mode panel.
   • After each activation, check your site to see if the problem reappears.
   • If it does, you’ve found the conflicting plugin.
5. Exit Troubleshooting Mode
   • When you’re done, click Disable Troubleshooting Mode at the top of your dashboard.
   • This will restore your normal WordPress environment.

Why It’s Useful

Helpful Tip

It’s good practice to keep your plugins regularly updated and remove any you no longer use. A clean plugin list not only helps prevent conflicts but also keeps your website faster and more secure.