I have been making websites for clients for 12 years and I have never been able to understand using maintaining Envato products. I would love it if someone could explain the following please.
I purchased a WordPress plugin via CodeCanyon. Some months later it stopped working and after many hours of troubleshooting including purchasing more support time with the author, it turns out the plugin had an update that I was not aware of and when I updated it, it worked again. So I am left trying to figure out how to avoid this again.
The author also honestly did not understand how the process of end-users keeping plugins updated but thought I should have received an email from Envato, which I do not see in my inbox although I get other emails from Envato. Even if I did, it seems like a clumsy process.
Specific questions.
I did not receive an email about an update. Do I have to continue to pay for ongoing support for a plugin to receive access to updates? My understanding is I should get updates forever, but maybe I am wrong.
I saw there was an Envato Market WordPress plugin that I could use. So I installed that in the website and created and installed the token, but at the top of the plugin page it now says, “Your OAuth Personal Token has been verified. However, there are no WordPress downloadable items in your account.” So now what? Is that saying it recognizes I have the latest version of whatever plugin I have installed and so nothing to download; or more likely that it does not recognize that I have any plugin purchases? And if so, then what? I logged into CodeCanyon and went to the page where the plugin is, and it says “You have 1 license for this item. Download”. So it seems I clearly have access. And I went to the download page and it shows there also, see attached image. Does “Envato Market” include Code Canyon?
Even if I do not get emails, and the Envato Market plugin do not work, how am I supposed to know when a plugin update is available? I cannot see anywhere a version number for the plugin to compare to what version I have installed currently.
Is it possible that the plugin author is not doing something properly to indicate there is an update or to indicate the plugin version on their product page or CodeCanyon Download page or to properly make it so it is compatible with the Envato Market plugin?
Any other advice given my obvious confusion?
PS. Even getting help from Envato on this was confusing. There is a help page help.market.envato.com which asks what I need help with, but only knowledgebase type answers and no indication of help options if those do not answer my question. Although, it does say at the top of the page,
" We’re currently experiencing a high volume of enquiries and our response time could be up to 7 days . We apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience."
which makes me think that there is actually some way to make a direct enquiry, but there is no indication as to how to do that. Confusing. Frustrating.
So here I am trying my luck on the forum.
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