How to use The Events Calendar

Events are created and edited in the same way as normal WordPress posts, with a few additional fields to handle information about the event - date/time, location, event URL, etc.

Jump to a section:

• Add a new event
• Update an event
• Remove an event
• Add an event to the newsletter
• Remove an event from the newsletter
• FAQs

Add a new event

From the WordPress backend move your mouse over “Events”⁽¹⁾ then click “Add New”⁽²⁾ from the list.

Alternatively, click on “Events”⁽¹⁾, then the “Add New”⁽²⁾ button in the top left.

Enter the title⁽³⁾ of the event and the (optional) body⁽⁴⁾ content, which may included additional information and/or images.

Note, the specific details of the event (date, time, location, etc) are added in another field.

Select the start and end dates⁽⁵⁾ for the event - this can be set to all day by ticking the “All Day Event” box, or display specific times which will default to the site’s timezone and can be changed by clicking “Time Zone”.

Select an existing venue⁽⁶⁾, or create a new one. To create a new one simply type the name and either click the create button that appears, or press enter on your keyboard. This will display address and contact fields that can be filled out. You also have the option to display the location on a map, simply untick the “Show Map” box if you don’t want this to appear.

The same can be done for the event organiser(s)⁽⁷⁾, if you need more than one, click the “Add another organiser” button and another field will appear. To remove them, click the trash can icon to the right of them.

Enter an event URL⁽⁸⁾ - this is optional and can be used to provide a link to the event’s ticket page or signup details.

Enter an event cost⁽⁹⁾ - this is optional, if you don’t want it to appear or the event is free, leave it empty and it will remain hidden.

By default, when an excerpt is shown for the event, it will be generated automatically using the first couple of lines of the body (unless that’s empty). If you want to add an excerpt manually, fill in the “Excerpt”⁽¹⁰⁾ field, otherwise skip this step.

You can assign any tags⁽¹¹⁾ or categories⁽¹²⁾ in the sidebar - this is optional, but organises the events on your site and can help visitors find similar events they may be interested in.

You’ll also find a field in the sidebar to set a featured image⁽¹³⁾, this will appear at the top of the page when the event is viewed and, depending how your website has been set up, in a thumbnail in calendars or event sliders.

Once you’ve entered everything, you can use the “Publish” area to preview⁽¹⁴⁾ the event and make sure everything looks good on the front end, schedule⁽¹⁵⁾ the event to go live at a specific time (if required, otherwise it appear immediately), and publish⁽¹⁶⁾ the event.

Note, the “Publish” button⁽¹⁶⁾ will say “Schedule” if you’ve selected a publish date in the future.

If you would like to add an event to the newsletter please follow the steps in the section below.

Update an event

In the back end, open the event you wish to update.

Note, the “Add a new event” section of this article outlines what each of the fields are used for.

When you’ve made your updates, use the “Publish” area to preview changes⁽¹⁾, then click the “Update”⁽²⁾ button to apply them.

Remove an event

When removing an event from the front end, you can either change it’s status to “Draft”, or “Trash” it. Changing the status to “Draft” will remove it from the front end, but keep the event in the system for future reference. “Trashing” an event will move it to the “Trash” folder, then permenantly delete it after 30 days.

Note, you can restore a “trashed” event by clicking on the “Trash” link above the list of events and clicking the “Restore” option below the appropriate event.

From the event page in the backend

You can use the “Publish” area to “Move to Trash”^(1a) or change the status to “Draft”^(1b) - see the differences above. If you decide to change the status to “Draft”, click the “Update”⁽²⁾ button in the “Publish” area to apply the change.

From anywhere in the WordPress backend

Click on the “Events”⁽¹⁾ tab to go to the list of events.

Move the mouse over the desired event, options should appear beneath the title. You can either trash^(2a) the event.

Or you can click “Quick Edit”^(2b) and change the event’s status from “Published” to “Draft”.

If you change the status to “Draft”⁽³⁾, click the “Update”⁽⁴⁾ button to apply the change.

Add an event to the newsletter

When adding events to the newsletter, the event with the start date furthest in the future will be displayed on the newsletter template when it shares the same newsletter position as another event.

Note, the structure of these position tags is usually an abbreviation of the site name, followed by “_newsletter_event_x” where the “x” is the position in the newsletter template.

From the event page in the backend

Locate the “Newsletter Positions”⁽¹⁾ field in the event page backend

Select one of the newsletter positions⁽²⁾, you can search “event” in this field to filter the tags.

Click the “Update”⁽³⁾ button in the “Publish” area to apply the change.

From anywhere in the WordPress backend

Click on the “Events”⁽¹⁾ tab to go to the list of events.

Move the mouse over the desired event, options should appear beneath the title, click on “Quick Edit”⁽²⁾.

Select a newsletter position⁽³⁾ from the list, you can search “event” in this field to filter the tags.

Click “Update”⁽⁴⁾ to apply the change.

Remove an event from the newsletter

From the event page in the backend

Locate the “Newsletter Positions”⁽¹⁾ field to set a position on the newsletter template and click on the “x”⁽²⁾ next to the position.

Click the “Update”⁽³⁾ button in the “Publish” area to apply the change.

From anywhere in the WordPress backend

Click on the “Events”⁽¹⁾ tab to go to the list of events.

Move the mouse over the desired event, options should appear beneath the title, click on “Quick Edit”⁽²⁾.

Click on the “x”⁽³⁾ next to the position to remove it.

Click “Update”⁽⁴⁾ to apply the change.

FAQs

If your question isn’t listed below, please send an email to material requesting assistance - include as much information as you can to ensure they can understand the problem and help you as quickly as possible.

An event I've just added isn't displaying on the newsletter template