Help

Backups, updates and removal

What to back up, how updates change the database, restoring, deactivating, and deleting the plugin with or without its data.

What to back up

A full backup of WordPress (all database tables and the uploads folder) includes everything Flavonto Forms keeps. If your backup tool lets you choose, make sure it includes:

What	Where
Forms, versions, entries, answers, notes, labels, files list, payments, jobs, exports list, parts and the log	The 16 database tables whose names start with your table prefix and `flvf_`, for example `wp_flvf_entries`
Settings, saved keys for services, and the encryption key if you have not set your own	Options whose names start with `flvf_` in the options table
Uploaded files and export files	`wp-content/uploads/flavonto-forms-private/` (or the folder set in Settings, Files)
Your own encryption key, if you set one	`FLVF_ENCRYPTION_KEY` in `wp-config.php`

Keep the encryption key safe. Encrypted answers and encrypted files can only be read with the key they were encrypted with. If you set FLVF_ENCRYPTION_KEY in wp-config.php, keep a copy of it somewhere other than the site. See Privacy and data.

Updates

Updates arrive in Dashboard, Updates when a licence key is active, or you can upload a newer ZIP through Plugins, Add New Plugin, Upload Plugin and choose to replace the installed version. See Licence and updates.

Take a backup before updating. When an update needs a change to the database tables, the plugin makes it on the first request after the update (a visit or a dashboard page), one process at a time; Forms, Diagnostics shows "Database tables: All present" with the schema version afterwards. If a table or a column is missing (for example after an incomplete restore), the check that runs on dashboard pages recreates it.

Restoring

A form you changed: open it, select History, and restore an earlier version. No backup is needed; every publish and every restore is kept.
Entries in the trash: open Entries, Trash and restore them. Entries deleted permanently need a database backup.
The whole site: restore the database tables and the private files folder from the same backup, together with FLVF_ENCRYPTION_KEY if you use one. Then open Diagnostics and select Check again.

To go back to an earlier version of the plugin, restore the backup you took before updating. Installing an older ZIP over a newer one is not tested and is not supported when an update changed the database. (1.0.0 is the first release, so there is no earlier version yet.)

Deactivating

Deactivating keeps all forms, entries, files and settings. While the plugin is inactive:

forms are not shown: a shortcode appears as plain text on the page and a Flavonto Form block shows nothing,
background work stops (scheduled tasks are removed and come back when you activate the plugin again),
nothing is sent to Flavonto or any other service.

Activating again brings everything back as it was. This was checked on a live host with 10,000 entries.

Deleting the plugin

Deleting the plugin through Plugins removes its files. What happens to your data depends on one setting:

Settings, Data, Delete all Flavonto Forms data when the plugin is deleted	Result
Off (the default)	Forms, entries, files and settings stay in the database and the private folder, ready if you install the plugin again
On	The 16 tables, the plugin's options and user settings, its private files folder and its capabilities are deleted. The site's licence activation is released first. This cannot be undone without a backup.

Posts and user accounts that forms created stay in WordPress either way. On a multisite network, deleting the plugin applies the setting of each site.