Multisite Theme Manager

On your network, someone else wrote each theme's description

Someone who runs a site on your network opens Appearance, goes to Themes and finds a name chosen by the theme author, a description written for another audience, technical tags and a link that leads away from your service. You provide the network, but that screen speaks in third-party voices, with no order and nothing separating free from premium.

On a multisite network, the theme selector is part of your product, even if none of its words are yours. People choosing there decide with the information in front of them.

Multisite Theme Manager, by WPMU DEV, changes that information. Your details replace the ones defined by each theme: name, description, image, link and categories. You can also adjust the Themes screen itself across the network.

What changes on each site's Themes screen

• Per-theme details: display name, description, a custom link with its label, for example to your support page, and a featured image, with 600 x 450 px as the recommended size.
• Visible details: you decide whether the author link, custom link, tags and version are shown.
• Page text: your own title and description for the Themes screen, plus additional copy.
• Styling: an admin template for that screen and your own stylesheets, without editing core files.
• Automatic screenshots: you upload PNG files named after each theme's folder to wp-content/uploads/multisite-theme-manager/screenshots/, for example twentythirteen.png.
• Import and export: settings and theme data in a config.xml file to take to another network.

Categories to organize the choice and sell upgrades

Themes go into the categories you define, such as free, premium, a style or a framework, and people browsing can filter by them.

If your network runs on Pro Sites, that plugin's levels can serve as categories. The Themes screen then helps present premium themes as a paid upgrade. Pro Sites is a separate product and is only needed for this use.

Preparing it on the network with Setup Mode

You need a WordPress Multisite installation and access to the network admin. Setup Mode lets you review the result on the main site before it reaches the others.

1. Install the plugin and activate it network-wide. Its options are in Network Admin, under Settings.
2. Turn on Setup Mode and choose the template, visible details, screenshot loading and page text.
3. Go to Themes, then Installed Themes, and use "Edit Details" on each theme to fill in its information. Save with Update.
4. Check the Themes screen on the main site.
5. Turn off Setup Mode to publish the changes to every site.

The active theme of each site is out of its reach

This plugin edits what is shown about themes. Its features do not include a global change of the active theme: on existing subsites, you have to go into each one and activate the theme you want.

For new subsites there is another route, which does not depend on the plugin. You can add the constant define('WP_DEFAULT_THEME', 'themename'); to wp-config.php, and newly registered sites will use that theme by default.

Your brand beyond the theme selector

Multisite Theme Manager deals with a single screen. If you want to carry your identity to the rest of the dashboard, Branda, also by WPMU DEV, handles white labeling of the admin area and login pages, and applies that branding across the network.

Questions from network administrators

Does it work on a single-site WordPress installation?

It is designed for multisite networks: it is activated on the network and its changes are published to every site.

Can I go back to the original details?

Yes. "Delete all Custom Theme Data" removes all per-theme edits, and "Reset All Settings" resets only the plugin options and keeps the theme data.

What happens with imported categories?

If you import a config.xml that includes categories, those categories cannot be edited in the theme details editor.

Do users see the changes while I prepare them?

With Setup Mode on, you review on the main site, and the changes reach the network when you turn it off.