Today we are going to see how to create an intranet in WordPress in a very easy way with a free plugin called WP CUSTOMER AREA. With this plugin and its different premium addons you can create a more complex intranet adding invoices, private messaging, paypal and stripe payments, projects and several other interesting things.
We will be able to upload files and create restricted access pages that can only be viewed or downloaded by members of the intranet. You will also be able to assign individual files and pages to each member of your intranet where in their control panel they will be able to view and download them.
The files will be stored in private folders that you can sort into categories and tags as if they were entries.
CREATING A WORDPRESS INTRANET WITH WP CUSTOMER AREA.
INSTALLATION
Install and activate the plugin.
We will get a screen where we will create the necessary pages for the intranet to work automatically. (Files, pages, user area, my account, etc.)
Click on Create pages and menu.
2. PERMISSIONS
The next step is to give permissions to who can see the content of the intranet.
To do this we click on Configure permissions.
It will take us to another window where we will customize the roles and permissions.
The administrative zone refers to the administrator part, so be careful who you give permissions to as they may delete files, etc.
On the other hand, the public zone is simply the zone that the user can see from your website and will not be able to delete or edit anything, only view and download files.
Save changes.
3. OPERATION
Now we will see in our top and side administration bar a new section with several tabs to upload files, go to the desktop of the intranet, your account, etc..
We click on User Area and it will take us to the front-end of our website where we will find the place where the files, pages, etc, to download are stored.
Each user will have their own panel and their own files that you will have assigned from the WordPress desktop.
Ok, we know how an intranet works, what now?
Now we are going to upload a file so that the people to whom we give permission can download it.
To do this we go to User Area -> Files and click on add new.
We name the file, description if we want and under the editor we will see the option to select who can download that file from your control panel.
Next we will see the option to attach the file.
Drag the file and publish.
Now if we go to the user area, we will see that the file has been added to the intranet and is available for download for that particular user.
And the pages, how are they added?
Now we are going to add a private page so that only users with permissions can see it.
To do this we go to WP CUSTOMER AREA -> PAGES -> NEW PAGE.
We write the title, the content, assign owner and click on publish.
Now if we go to our intranet desktop we will see that this particular page has been added and is now private and only visible to the user you have chosen.
PRIVATE MESSAGING INTRANET WORDPRESS WP CUSTOMER AREA.
This time we are going to add a feature to our WP customer area plugin with which we will be able to activate a private and internal messaging in our intranet.
For this we will use the extension WP customer area Conversations where we can as administrators start conversations with different users from the back end and where users can also have conversations with each other from the front end.
WP CUSTOMER AREA FRONT OFFICE PUBLISHING
Today we are going to see another WP Customer Area extension with which we can upload files and create private pages both we as administrators and the users to whom we have given permission from the front-end of our intranet.
This extension is called WP CUSTOMER AREA – FRONT OFFICE PUBLISHING
WP CUSTOMER AREA TASKS CREATE AND ASSIGN TASKS
Today we are going to see another WP CUSTOMER AREA extension with which we can create and assign tasks to different groups, roles or to particular users.
This extension is called ‘WP CUSTOMER AREA TASKS’ is paid but for PREMIUM subscribers is available in the download area.
With this extension we can only create tasks from the back-end but if we complement it with the extension ‘WP CUSTOMER AREA FRONT END PUBLISHING’ we can give the option to publish tasks from the front-end.
WP CUSTOMER AREA CREATE GROUPS AND GROUP ADMINISTRATORS
Today we are going to see a couple of WP Customer Area extensions with which we are going to be able to create groups with administrators and configure permissions for those administrators so that they have access only to what we want.
To do this we will use the extensions:
- Wp Customer Area Manage Groups
- Wp Customer Area Owner Restriction
With the first one we will be able to include an administrator in the groups that we make and with the second one we will be able to restrict the permissions so that they can only create content for the groups.
WP CUSTOMER AREA NOTIFICATIONS
Today we will see another extension of WP CUSTOMER AREA with which we can enable email notifications whenever something happens in our intranet.
For example if someone creates a private page for the users Juan and Lola, they will receive an email notifying them. With this extension we will be able to customize each email changing the texts in an easy way and using the variables that the plugin offers us.
WP CUSTOMER AREA AUTHENTICATION FORMS
Today we will see another extension of WP CUSTOMER AREA with which we can add a registration and login form with the same design as the plugin and thus not have to use the one that brings WordPress by default.
- The user experience will be greatly improved, since the entire authentication process will be seamlessly integrated into the private area.
- Login, password reset and registration forms will be accessible from the client area.
- Lock access to the default WordPress forms if necessary.
- Allows login using email in addition to username (if you want to allow it).
- Integrates well with some spam protection plugins (e.g. Really Simple Captcha , Google ReCaptcha, etc.)
- Compatible with our notifications plugin for personalized and beautiful email notifications.
- Includes a login and registration widget that you can place in the sidebar.
WP CUSTOMER AREA INVOICING
Today we are going to see another Wp Customer Area extension with which we can create invoices for our customers in a very simple way.
WP CUSTOMER AREA INVOICING
With this extension we can create invoices for specific users, for roles, groups, even for all registered users in our intranet. In addition this extension offers us the possibility to pay those invoices online without leaving the intranet. In the video we use a test payment method but later we will see the Paypal and Stripe extensions to make real payments.
WP CUSTOMER AREA PROJECTS
Today we are going to see another extension of Wp Customer Area with which we can create projects in our intranet.
Introduction to project management.
This plugin integrates seamlessly into your private area, this add-on allows you to organize your content into projects and restrict access only to authorized people.
Assign people to your projects according to their role: guest, manager or participant. Basic project management functions: track overall progress, record important dates, etc.
Attach any type of private content: pages, files, task lists, conversations, etc.
Overall progress can be automatically configured to track the percentage of completion of task lists within that project. The projects add-on provides an integrated and fully secure solution to manage your customer projects.
WP CUSTOMER AREA ADVANCED CUSTOM FIELDS INTEGRATION
Today we are going to see another Wp customer Area extension with which we can display different custom fields in different parts of our intranet.
For example:
We can display an additional date field in the registration form.
We can also create a group of custom fields and display them in the create private page form.
These are just a couple of examples but the possibilities are endless.
WP CUSTOMER AREA ENHANCED FILES
Today we are going to see another extension of Wp Customer Area with which we can allow the upload of more than 1 file. In addition we will be able to download all the files at once in a .zip.
This extension will greatly improve the way files are attached to private content within the customer area.
- Attach more than a single file to a private document.
- Edit the file title to show more than just the file name.
- Choose from one of 4 bundled icon packs.
- Easily insert your own icon packs.
- Download all attachments with a single click.
- Multiple attachments.
With this extension you can add as many attachments as you want to a single private file document.
Of course, this can be restricted to only some user roles and you can decide that non-administrators can only add a limited number of attachments.
By default, all attachments are displayed with the file name although you may want to change this. With this plugin you can do it, just click on the file title and you can enter any text that describes it better.
You also provide 4 default icon packs, covering the most common file extensions.
WP CUSTOMER AREA SEARCH + DESIGN EXTRAS
Today we are going to see 2 extensions of WP Customer Area.
The first one adds an advanced search engine where we can filter by projects, invoices, files, tasks, etc and the second one adds some templates to invoices, front-end, emails and payment icons.
We choose the one we like and that’s it.
WP CUSTOMER AREA PAYPAL & STRIPE GATEWAY
Today we are going to see 2 WP Customer Area extensions that add Paypal and Stripe to the payment gateways available for customers to pay invoices.
To use Paypal you only need your Paypal email.
To use Stripe you need the API keys and to enable a Webhook.
WP CUSTOMER AREA SMART GROUPS
Today we are going to see another extension of WP Customer Area with which we can create groups in bulk according to the criteria and the search we do.
For example, we can create a group with all the users of a company that have the same corporate email extension or also if we create custom fields in the registry we can create groups based on that data. If we create a field of interests in the registry where the options to choose are:
We will be able to create groups with all the users who chose Marketing or SEO or WordPress.
WP CUSTOMER AREA SWITCH USERS
Today we will see another extension of Wp Customer Area with which we can switch users in a very fast way.
This extension is only functional for the administrator.
You may also be interested in ➡ Woffice, WordPress template for intranet/extranet.
Done, with this you have enough to create an intranet in WordPress and get it up and running.
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