License Key

A PDF Ink license includes one year of support and updates, and is renewable at discount after the year is up. Once expired, PDF Ink retains near full functionality (100% frontend/customer-facing functionality), but you will want to renew in order to have full backend functionality -- and to keep your site moving quickly and securely. We always urge everyone to apply all software updates (not just PDF Ink) for this reason.

Key Activation

Once PDF Ink is installed and activated on your site, head over to WordPress -> PDF Ink -> License Key. Activating your license key allows access to automatic plugin updates, but is not required for the plugin to function. Once your license key expires, attempts at updating the plugin might return an “unauthorized” error message.

  1. Enter your license key and click “Save Changes”
  2. Click the “Activate License” button to activate your license OR click the “Deactivate License” button to deactivate your license if it is active

Deactivating your license will make the license available to be used on another site. You can also manage license keys at pdfink.com/account/.

The key should activate and deactivate ad lib, easily. On occasion the sync between our API server and your site might get twisted and we will need to reset it on our end. On other occasions, firewalls prevent API access. If something seems weird, get in touch!

Local Development / Testing Keys

Most local/development license key activations do not count toward your license key activation count. If your URL matches the following, it does not count (click here)

test.*

localhost

10.0.0.0/8

172.16.0.0/12

192.168.0.0/16

*.dev

*.local

dev.*

test.*

staging.*

*.staging2.

*.staging3.

Auto Update and Beta Versions

There are a few other settings on this page, related to your key. If your key is active, you can access plugin Auto Updates, and Beta versions. If you would like those things, check the boxes and save!

Side Note re: Manual Plugin Updates

Assuming you have not checked the “Leave No Trace” checkbox asking PDF Ink to self-destruct upon WordPress uninstallation (deletion via the yoursite.com/wp-admin/plugins.php menu), you can update PDF Ink ad lib without losing settings. We recommend you leave the Leave No Trace checkbox unchecked until you are 100% ready to abandon PDF Ink.

Settings are stored in your WordPress database, and files are stored by default in the wp-content/uploads/pdf-ink directory. You can delete the plugin and install a different version. PDF Ink uses semantic versioning, so use caution mostly when moving between major versions. Whenever you’re fiddling with your WordPress site, and especially if you don’t know exactly what you are doing — first take backups of your site!