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MainWP marks plugins and themes as “Possibly Abandoned” when the author has not released an update for a specified period. By default, this threshold is 365 days. Items without an official release for this duration appear in the Abandoned Plugins and Abandoned Themes sections of your Dashboard.

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Why This Matters

Abandoned plugins and themes can create problems for your sites:
RiskImpact
Security vulnerabilitiesNo patches for discovered security issues
Compatibility issuesMay break with newer WordPress or PHP versions
Missing featuresNo improvements or bug fixes
Support unavailableDeveloper may no longer provide assistance

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How MainWP Detects Abandonment

MainWP checks the last-updated date on wordpress.org for each plugin and theme. If no update has been released within your configured threshold, the item is flagged as possibly abandoned.
MainWP can only check items listed on wordpress.org. Premium plugins and themes or those delisted from wordpress.org cannot be detected as abandoned.

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Where to View Abandoned Items

Find abandoned items at:
  • MainWP > Updates > Abandoned Plugins
  • MainWP > Updates > Abandoned Themes

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What to Do with Abandoned Items

  1. Assess the risk - Consider if the plugin is critical and if alternatives exist
  2. Check GitHub - Some plugins have active development on GitHub even without wordpress.org updates
  3. Find alternatives - Search for actively maintained replacements
  4. Plan migration - Replace abandoned items before they cause issues

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Adjust the Threshold

To change the number of days or disable this check, see How to change tolerance for Abandoned Plugins and Themes.