How to Use the White-Label Update Manager

Who gets it

It is included with every paid VIP Access Pass, yearly and lifetime. It appears in My Downloads on your account dashboard automatically, listed as White-Label Update Manager. Current members are included. Trial passes do not include it.

Update keys work exactly as they do with the 99Plugs Update Manager. A VIP pass key covers it. A client site you manage uses your key.

Install it

1. Log in to your account dashboard on 99plugs.com and go to My Downloads.
2. Find White-Label Update Manager and download the zip.
3. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the zip and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate.
5. Go to Tools → Update Manager and enter your update key on the Update Keys tab.

It works just like the 99Plugs Update Manager from here on: updates arrive in the WordPress dashboard, and the Plugins and Themes tabs work the same. It also updates itself.

Switching from the 99Plugs Update Manager

You do not need to uninstall anything first. Install and activate the White-Label Update Manager on a site that already runs the 99Plugs one.

Only one update manager can run at a time, so the new copy pauses and shows a notice: Two update managers are active. This copy is paused.

1. Click Use this copy instead in that notice.
2. The 99Plugs Update Manager is deactivated and you land back on the Plugins screen, with the White-Label Update Manager running.
3. Delete the 99Plugs Update Manager if you no longer want it.

Your update keys and settings stay. Both copies share them, so nothing needs entering again, and deleting the old copy after the switch keeps them. Switching back works the same way.

Branding settings

Go to Tools → Update Manager → Settings. The Branding section holds these fields. Fill in what you want, leave the rest empty, and click Save Changes.

• Title. The name in the Tools menu, the page title, the page heading and the name on the Plugins screen. Up to 60 characters. Empty means Update Manager.
• Button URL. Adds a button to the page header that opens this link, for example your support page. A site on a trial key uses it for the Upgrade button too. Leave it empty for no button.
• Button label. The text on that header button. Empty means Support.
• Author. The “By” name on the Plugins screen. Leave it empty to show none.
• Author URL. The link on that author name.
• Logo URL. An image in the page header, shown at most 48px high. Type or paste any image URL, or click Choose image to pick one from the Media Library. Leave it empty to show the title only.

Both URL fields take http:// or https:// links only.

A field that shows greyed out with Set in wp-config.php under it is set by a constant in your site’s configuration. Change it there, as described at the end of this article.

Only I can see these settings

Tick Only I can see these settings under Visibility and save. From then on the Branding section shows only to you. Other administrators, your client included, see no Branding section at all.

Everything else stays visible to every administrator: the Update Keys, Plugins and Themes tabs and the rest of the settings. Only the branding is hidden. Untick it and save to show the section to everyone again.

If your account is removed from the site, or it is no longer an administrator, the lock lets go by itself and the Branding section shows to every administrator again. You do not need to do anything before you hand a site back.

The lock is a courtesy, not a security control. An administrator who can edit the site’s files can always change the branding.

wlabel.txt: brand every site before you install

Setting up the same branding on many sites? The plugin ships with a file called wlabel.txt in its folder. Fill it out once, and every site you install that copy on picks up your branding with no clicks.

Every key is there, with an empty value. One key = value per line, and a line starting with # is a comment:

title = Acme Updates
button_url = https://example.com/support/
button_label = Get help
author = Acme Web Studio
author_url = https://example.com/
logo_url = https://example.com/logo.png
owner_email = [email protected]
hidden =

• title, button_url, button_label, author, author_url and logo_url are the Branding fields above.
• owner_email locks the Branding section to the administrator with that email address, the same as ticking Only I can see these settings for them. If that account does not exist yet, the first administrator with that email to open the dashboard becomes the owner, and until then the section is not locked. Empty means no owner.
• hidden = yes hides the Branding section from every administrator, the owner included. Use it when nobody on the site should change the branding. Empty, or any other value, leaves it visible.

How to use it

1. Unzip the White-Label Update Manager, open update-manager/wlabel.txt and fill in the values you want.
2. Zip the update-manager folder again and install that zip on your sites.
3. The branding is applied when the plugin is activated, or on the next dashboard page an administrator opens.

On a site that already runs it, you can instead upload the filled-out file to wp-content/plugins/update-manager/wlabel.txt by FTP or your host’s file manager. It is applied on the next dashboard page load, with no reactivation.

When a file is applied, and when it is not

• A file is applied when it is filled out and has changed since the last one applied. It is applied as a complete set: a key left empty puts that field back to its default.
• The same file is never applied twice. Changes you make later in the Branding section stay, even if you install the same zip again.
• A blank file is ignored, always. Every update ships a blank wlabel.txt, so updating never touches your branding.

Unlocking hidden settings

Once hidden = yes is applied, or the owner is someone you cannot reach, nobody can open the Branding section from the dashboard. To unlock it, upload a new filled-out wlabel.txt:

1. Fill in the branding values you want to keep. The file must have at least one value, or it is ignored.
2. Leave hidden empty.
3. Set owner_email to the administrator who should own the section, or leave it empty for no owner.
4. Upload it to wp-content/plugins/update-manager/wlabel.txt and open any dashboard page.

wp-config constants (optional)

If you prefer to set branding in wp-config.php, these constants set the same fields. Add only the ones you need, above the line that says to stop editing:

define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_TITLE', 'Acme Updates' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_BUTTON_URL', 'https://example.com/support/' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_BUTTON_LABEL', 'Get help' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_AUTHOR', 'Acme Web Studio' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_AUTHOR_URL', 'https://example.com/' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_LOGO_URL', 'https://example.com/logo.png' );
define( 'UPDATE_MANAGER_HIDE_SETTINGS', true );

A field set this way wins over the Branding section and over wlabel.txt, and shows read-only with Set in wp-config.php. UPDATE_MANAGER_HIDE_SETTINGS set to true hides the Branding section from everyone for as long as it is defined. No constant unlocks the Only I can see these settings lock: that is what a new wlabel.txt is for.

Related: Installing the 99Plugs Update Manager and Does the Update Manager need its own update key?