Track Changes to WordPress Plugins, Multisite Network and the Core

Ever made a long list of changes to your WordPress site and then something breaks and you have no idea how it happened? Perhaps you’re performing some routine updates, creating content and adjusting plugins all at the same time. You may not get an error that gives you any useful information. There’s a new tool that will help you to retrace your steps so that you can find the root of the problem.

The WP Changes Tracker plugin allows you to track changes to the WordPress core, network, plugins and options. It’s even multisite-compatible, so the network admin can track changes that happen on the network.

After you activate the plugin go to Settings > WP Changes Tracker to view the log. You can sort the log by user, time, type of change, and message.

Sorting by user can be especially useful so that you can track and communicate with the user who caused the problem in the first place. You can turn the sorting off if the log is too heavy and causes a performance issue. In the future the developer plans to add the ability to track theme changes as well, which will greatly expand its usefulness for troubleshooting problems with your installation.

Perhaps you’re a developer who performs regular maintenance for a client. If your client likes to play around in the dashboard, break things and then call you on the weekend, then you may want to consider setting up the WP Changes Tracker. Instead of spending an hour hunting around, trying to figure out where something went wrong, you’ll have a clear record of changes that have been made on the site or network.

Download the WP Changes Tracker plugin from the repository and get it set up as a safeguard on your most active sites.