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Which Zip Should I Install from the Store?

When you purchase any Astra package, you』ll find zip files for the package plugins on your store account under Account > Downloads.

Sometimes you may find more than one zip file for the Astra theme and other purchased plugins. You might be wondering which zip you should install from the list. This article will help you to understand various zip files available in the store. For example –

In the above screenshot, you can see various zip files are available for Astra Theme & Pro Addon. While working on a major update for the Astra, we make it a point to release a few beta or RC versions before the final stable product. Here, users can try out the new features, test them, and share the beta/RC version feedback. The stable version releasing process follows the pattern: Alpha -> Beta -> RC -> Stable. Below is the description for these versions  –

Alpha This package contains very initial development for the new feature.Generally, it is for the internal usage of the development team and it is not available in public. Beta This is the next version of the alpha and contains the basic functionality of new features.  They are available in public.It is strongly recommended to use beta zip on staging or local environment. DO NOT use them on live sites as they release in the middle of development.Beta is released so that users can try the new features, test and share feedback. Read more here. RC ( Release Candidate ) As the name suggests, this package is a candidate for a stable release.Usually, we do not update any major thing after RC package.Again it is strongly recommended to use RC zip on staging or local environment. DO NOT use them on live sites. Stable Zip files that do not have a suffix like RC or beta are stable version zip files. As in the above screenshot,  Astra Pro Addon Plugin – Version 1.5.2 is a stable version zip for Astra Pro plugin.You can use stable version zip on your live sites.

Conclusion

If you wish to test new features, you can use the beta/RC version on the staging/ test environment. As they might need some improvements we DO NOT recommend to use them on live sites.

Finally, if you want to update Astra Pro on your live website, use only a stable version (e.g., Astra Pro Addon Plugin – Version 1.5.2). A stable version is tested and usually error-free, so there should be no major issues after the update.

Elements in Header/Footer Builder With Astra Theme and Astra Pro

Since Astra 3.0.0 (Theme and Pro), you can build great headers and footers easier than ever. Astra Header and Footer Builders give you great flexibility by bringing different features as individual elements. Now, you can place multiple elements and organize them any way you want.

Hence, you』ll find the list of all available elements for both header and footer in this document.

Header Builder

Further down, you』ll find the list of available Header Builder elements. Depending on the element type, some elements can be added more times. For example, you can add two separate 「HTML」 elements with different codes to your header.

Also, you can use a larger number of certain types of elements with Astra Pro. In addition, some elements are not available with Astra Theme only.

You can find more details on header options and each header element in this article.

Astra ThemeAstra ProSite Identity & Logo Site Identity & Logo + 1 extra optionPrimary MenuPrimary MenuSecondary MenuSecondary Menu1x Button2x Button + up to 102x HTML2x HTML + up to 102x Widget4x Widget + up to 10SearchSearch + 1 extra optionSocial ShareSocial Share + up to 10WooCommerce CartWooCommerce Cart + 1 extra optionEDD CartEDD Cart + 1 extra optionOff-Canvas Menu (on Mobile & Tablet)Off-Canvas Menu 1 + extra options (on Mobile & Tablet)Account Account + extra options 3x Divider + up to 10Language Switcher [NEW]Toggle Button (for Desktop) [NEW]

Footer Builder

Similarly to Header Builder elements, you will find available footer elements in the table below. Here, you』ll notice that available element types and a number of elements are adjusted to footer requirements.

You can find more details on footer options and each footer element in this article.

Astra ThemeAstra ProFooter MenuFooter Menu 1 + extra options Social Share Social Share 1 + up to 102x HTML2x HTML + up to 10 4x Widget4x Widget + up to 10CopyrightCopyright + extra options2x Button + up to 10 3x Divider + up to 10Language Switcher [NEW]

Global Container – Astra Theme

A container is an area where we display the content. In general, the container encloses the whole page.

The content area and the sidebar are parts of the container. The content area is technically called as the primary container, whereas the sidebar is the secondary container.

You can apply container layouts globally for the entire website through the Customizer option at Appearance > Customizer > Global > Container.

Different containers can be applied for individual pages and posts from meta settings. These are page-specific settings that have high priority than customizer settings.

Container Width

Content will be display within this width. You can try width in combination with container layout to create different views.

Container Layout

Astra offers 4 types of Containers Layout. These are global containers that will be applied to the entire website. But you can set different containers』 layout for different post types with Dedicated Container Layout. To have more control over container layout on each page you can refer page meta settings.

All container layout types are explained in the following links –

BoxedContent BoxedFull Width / ContainedFull Width / Stretched

Dedicated Container Layout

The above 4 types of container layouts are separately available for the following post types. That means if you choose default layout as Full Width/Stretched, and for Archives you choose the Boxed option, then the entire site except archive pages will have Full Width/Stretched layout while Archive pages will have Boxed layout.

Page Layout – For only pagesBlog Post Layout – For blog archive and single blog post pages Archives Layout – All archives

Astra has integration with a few popular plugins. When those plugins are installed you will get dedicated container layout options for those plugin pages too. Below is the list of plugins that has integration with Astra –

WooCommerceLifterLMSLearnDashEDD (Easy Digital Downloads)

Note:

We provide more advanced options in dedicated modules of Astra Pro Addon plugin. And such options are available in dedicated modules of Astra Pro Addon plugin. For e.g.

Container layout can be overridden by the page meta settings. The priority of the meta settings is higher than the customizer settings. Read more about Meta Settings here.The width of the container depends on the Site Layout settings.

EDD Integration Overview in Free Astra Theme

Astra integrates nicely with Easy Digital Downloads. All Easy Digital Downloads elements automatically adapt to the rest of your Astra powered website and take colors, fonts out of the box from the theme customizer settings. That way, you can have your shop up and running immediately with minimum setup. Let』s take a look!

Note: Astra Pro extends the options with Easy Digital Downloads Addon. You can refer to our article to know more about the features you get within this EDD addon.

Layout Settings:

Please be sure you have the Easy Digital Downloads plugin installed and activated. Once you have it installed, you will find a dedicated tab for it in customizer settings.

Easy Digital Downloads Tab: 

Under the Easy Digital Downloads tab, you will find further options categorized into further tabs.

Product Archive: 

Here you can control how your archive page looks. Archive page can be Product categories or Product tags pages. You can control:

Archive Columns: The number of columns for each device.Product Structure: Structure of products where you can move elements or disable them. Display or hide product information. Just click on the eye icon.Cart Button Text: Set a custom text for Add To Cart button.Variable Product Button: If you have enabled variable pricing and set options for it use this setting.Archive Content Width: Set the width for the archive page.

Refer: How to Add Download Archive Page to Menu?

Single Product:

Enable or disable Product Navigation from appearing on the single product page.

Cart Icon in Menu:

You can display the cart icon in the menu. Refer an article about How to Add EDD Cart in Header?

Container Setting:

You can control the container independently on Easy Digital Downloads pages. The option you set at Appearance > Customize > Global > Container will affect the EDD single product page.

Please note, you can override container settings for individual pages through meta settings.

Also, you can separately set the width of your Porduct Archive page. You will find this option at Appearance > Customize > Easy Digital Downloads> Product Archive

Sidebar:

You can control the sidebars independently on Easy Digital Downloads pages such as archive and a single product by navigating to Appearance > Customize > Sidebar.For further control on Single Products, we have provided its own sidebar setting so you can have a totally different sidebar there.

You can add widgets in any sidebar from Customizer by navigating to Appearance > Customize > Widgets

Again, please note, you can override the container setting for individual pages through meta settings.

Base Color & Typography:

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, all Easy Digital Downloads elements automatically adapt with the rest of your Astra-powered website and take colors, fonts out of the box from the theme customizer settings at Appearance > Customize > Global.

Related Articles –

1. How to Disable EDD Inbuilt Styling?2. How to Add Download Archive Page to Menu?3. How to Add EDD Cart in Header?

Import / Export Astra Customizer Settings

All customizer settings set with Astra can be exported and then imported into another site. In this way, you can move all layout, color& background, typography and other settings from one site to another.

You can do this with a plugin Import / Export Customizer Settings which is available on wordpress.org for FREE. If you own Astra Pro, this plugin will export/import Astra Pro addons settings. This plugin will copy theme customizer settings as well as activated/deactivated Astra addon settings.

Note: Import / Export Customizer Settings plugin will only work with the Astra theme. You will need to have the Astra theme installed and activated on your website.

How to use Import / Export Customizer Settings plugin?

Install this plugin on both sites. To install the plugin, download zip from plugin link – Import / Export Customizer Settings. From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Upload a zip and activate it.Navigate to Appearance > Astra Options.Export the file from the first site.Visit another site, open Appearance > Astra Options > Import Settings and choose the above file to import.

Once your settings are imported, new customization settings will be upload in customizer and Astra Options page will be updated with Astra Pro addons settings.

Note: If you have set any Page Meta settings, then customizer settings will not be applied. As the page meta settings have a higher priority than customizer settings. Read about page meta settings here.

Related Articles –

Import / Export Custom Layouts and Page headers

How to Disable Title on Posts, Pages, or Other Post Types?

The title is the name of your post, page, or other post types you might have on your website. The title appears in the frontend and can be disabled with Astra Settings or with the custom code

Method 1 – Page/Post Astra Settings

Page/Post meta settings or Astra Settings are available for each individual post or page. Thus, using the Astra Settings you can decide for each post, page, or post type to disable the Title where needed. You can find these settings by accessing your post/page backend editor (e.g Dashboard > Posts > 「Edit」) – check the menu on the right side and scroll down to 「Astra Settings」:

If you wish to apply this setting to a larger number of pages or posts, then editing every page and updating the above setting can be time-consuming. In this case, you can use Astra Bulk Edit plugin. This will allow editing the above settings on multiple pages.

Method 2 – Custom Code

You can also do this using a custom code. This can be a great solution if you want to disable titles on all posts, pages, or other post types.

You can add the following custom code to the functions.php file of your Child Theme:

/**
* Disable title on all post types.
*/
function your_prefix_post_title() {
$post_types = array('page','post');

// bail early if the current post type if not the one we want to customize.
if ( ! in_array( get_post_type(), $post_types ) ) { return; }

// Disable title.
add_filter( 'astra_the_title_enabled', '__return_false' );
}
add_action( 'wp', 'your_prefix_post_title' );

If you don』t have your Child Theme installed, please check this article on how to do it. 

If you are not sure how to add this code, please check this article.

This code will remove titles on all of your pages and posts. You can apply this code only to pages, posts, any of your other post types, or all of them by modifying the bolded part of the code above. Here are the examples how this should look like:

To remove titles on all your posts only:

$post_types = array('post');

To remove titles on all your pages only:

$post_types = array('page');

To remove titles on all pages, posts and example custom post type. This is the example which you can use to add any other post types you want the above code to be applied:

$post_types = array('page','post','custom-type-1');

Disable All Meta Settings of Page/Post by Default

Astra meta settings are page-specific settings. These settings allow you to disable Astra sections on a particular page/post.

In addition, you can disable all Astra meta settings on pages and posts by default (all boxes checked) by using a custom code.

Hence, to do this, add the following filter to the child theme』s functions.php file.

add_filter( 'astra_meta_box_options', 'default_disable_options' );

/**
* Default disable the Meta Options
*
* @param array $meta_option Page Meta.
* @return array
*/
function default_disable_options( $meta_option ) {

$meta_option['ast-hfb-above-header-display'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['ast-main-header-display'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['ast-hfb-below-header-display'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['ast-hfb-mobile-header-display'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['footer-sml-layout'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['footer-adv-display'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['site-post-title'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['site-sidebar-layout'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['site-content-layout'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['ast-featured-img'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);
$meta_option['ast-breadcrumbs-content'] = array(
'default' => 'disabled',
'sanitize' => 'FILTER_DEFAULT',
);

return $meta_option;
}

Not Valid License – Starter Templates

While importing a site template or a single page template, you might observe a button that says – 『Not Valid License』. In this article lets see a possible reason for the notice and how this can be fixed.

As Premium Starter Templates need a license while importing, you will always see this notice with 『Premium』 templates.

Why?

As you know starter templates with 『Premium』 tag are available with – Astra Essential Bundle and Growth Bundle.

While purchasing Astra Essential Bundle you get a choice of a one page builder addon. You can choose either – Ultimate Addons for Elementor or – Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder

In case you have purchased the Essential Bundle with a choice of 『Elementor』 page builder addon but trying to import a starter template designed with Beaver Builder, you will see 『Not Valid License』 notice. That means you have a license for Elementor Agency templates while you are trying to import the Beaver Builder Premium template. OR vice versa.

How to Fix?

In case this is not intentional you can switch to the desired page builder and continue importing the Premium starter template. But if this is intentional and you want to import Premium template with another page builder (in the above case, with Beaver Builder)-

Upgrade to Astra Growth Bundle – You can upgrade your current Essential Bundle to Astra Growth Bundle. For this, you will just need to pay a difference amount between both packages (read more here).

Astra Growth Bundle gives you access to all Premium templates including templates built with both Elementor and Beaver Builder.

In case of any query, get in touch with our support team from the link here.

Astra Theme Walkthrough

Welcome to Astra Theme Walkthrough!

If you just installed the theme for the first time or you』re exploring all of the possibilities of the Astra theme, this guide will help you get started. All the same, if you』re an experienced user but you need to understand some options better, feel free to explore this extensive walkthrough.

Astra Theme Walkthrough Docs:

Astra Theme Walkthrough (currently reading)This Is Your CustomizerStyle Your Website With Global SettingsBuild Your HeaderFind the Way With BreadcrumbsSet Up Your BlogAdd Your SidebarsBuild Your FooterHost Google Fonts Locally – Performance Is the KeySee Other Customizer OptionsHow To Build Quick Sites With Astra?Getting the Most Out of Astra Theme

Astra Theme Introduction

Astra is a multi-purpose WordPress theme developed by Brainstorm Force for great performance and with SEO in mind. Being a multi-purpose theme means that it is suitable for building any type of website. 

Astra theme comes fully integrated with a default WordPress builder, the Blocks Editor (Gutenberg), and with free Brainstorm Force plugin Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg that extends its capabilities even further (you can activate it at Dashboard > Appearance > Astra Options). 

It works seamlessly with all page builders including Elementor, Beaver Builder, and so on. In addition, the Astra theme provides integrations with plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LearnDash, Lifter LMS, and compatibility with many other plugins.

To help get you started as fast as possible, we constantly work on adding new templates to our Starter Templates library. Feel free to skip forward to the next chapter of Astra Theme Walkthrough and check how you can create your website quickly using Starter Template.

Quick Installation and Setup

Astra Theme is a free WordPress theme available directly from the WordPress repository.

To install the theme on your website, navigate to Dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Add New. In the search box (right side of a screen) type in 「Astra」, hover over the theme, and click on 「Install」.

Alternatively, you can manually install the theme by downloading the file from our website and uploading it to your website using your Dashboard (Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme), or via FTP. 

Astra Child Theme 

What is child theme?

As the name suggests, a Child theme is a sub-theme of the Parent theme. Your Astra theme serves as a parent theme and holds all of the functionality and features. You could think of the Child theme as an outer layer around your parent theme (Astra) containing only your customizations.

Why we need it?

Child theme stores all your changes to the website and has no influence on your website performance. Its role is to enable you to add modifications to your website safely without making any changes to the actual files of your Astra theme.

Also, its role is to preserve any custom code or modifications when updating the Astra theme, as updating the theme replaces all theme files with the new updated ones.

Although you don』t need to have a Child theme installed to make a website, in time, you might need to do some custom changes to your website, and a Child theme will come in handy. Thus, it』s advisable to install the Child theme in the mere beginning.

How to use it?

The Child theme can』t work on its own as it has no functions and relies on its Parent theme – the Astra theme. Thus, you need to have both Astra (parent) theme and Child Theme installed.

To use the Child theme, select the Child Theme as your active theme (this will have you using both Astra and Child theme at the same time).

The child theme doesn』t need updating. Thus, you need to update only your Astra (parent) theme when the new theme versions are released.

How to generate and install child theme?

If you decide to use the Child theme, check details on how to generate and download it, as well as how to set it up in this article.

Switching to Astra Theme

You already have a website or have you started building one, and you』re thinking about switching to the Astra theme?

This process should be easy and ensure that you don』t lose your design or content. Astra theme works best with Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Brizy, and if you created your website using any of these Page Builders, the switch will go even smoother.

Before continuing with Astra Theme Walkthrough, please see more details on some tips that can help you when switching to the Astra theme.

Next: This Is Your Customizer

How to Switch to Astra from Another Theme?

Have you already created any layouts built with Page Builders? Have you completed part of your website? And now want to switch to Astra to make your site super fast!

You might be wondering what will happen if you deactivate your current theme and activate Astra. What will happen to the layout of the site?  This document will help to set your site after switching your current theme with Astra.

You can do this using –

Astra Bulk Edit

Astra Bulk Edit

You can switch to the Astra theme by bulk updating your meta settings of posts/pages in Bulk.

Here』s a detailed article that explains How to Bulk Edit Astra Meta Settings on Multiple Pages & Posts at Once?