Self Service Guide
What to do when you need help Regarding DotStore WooCommerce or WordPress Plugins?
As you have landed on our self-service guide page, you must be having some issues in using or getting started with DotStore plugin(s). If so, there are a few ways to solve your problem:
1. Check the documentation or other online resources
Before raising a support ticket, it is always suggested to go through the product documentation, how-to guides and other online resources, available for you. To do so, you can open the product description page in the DotStore and search for the link for our documentation.
Similarly, you can search our store or run a search query through your favorite browser to check if there is enough information to resolve your query or not.
Following the above procedure is highly efficient at solving problems faster, and saving you from waiting for ticket resolution. No matter how fast we resolve tickets, it will still be slower than these self-help steps.
2. Use Live chat Option [for those, who have a DotStore account already]
If you are a DotStore customer already, you must have credentials for logging in to the DotStore dashboard. Use those credentials and in the dashboard, you will find the option to start a live chat with our support representatives. Initiate the chat and tell us your issue. We will be immediately available to help you.
3. Raise a ticket or email us
You can always raise a ticket using this form or email us at support@thedotstore.com when the self-help resources are not sufficient to resolve your problem. We will try responding to you at the earliest. We are available at your service from Monday to Friday [10:00 AM to 7:00 PM (IST)]. Our team tries resolving the problem within 12 to 24 hours, generally (provided we are operational and not congested with queries).
Common Solutions
i. Update WordPress/WooCommerce Website’s Components if not done already
There is a chance that you didn’t have updated a few plugins, your theme or the PHP version of your website/shop. And hence, our plugin is not working the way it should.
To check if that’s the case, go to Dashboard > Updates. On reaching this page, figure out if anything needs to be updated. Make the needed updates, and recheck if the issue persists.
For WooCommerce websites, you should also check the WooCommerce > System Status page. See if there are any notifications in red, or updates that you must follow. If so, perform whatever is required before moving further.
If the problem is still there, contact our support through ticket, email, live chat or our available mediums of contact.
ii. Plugin/Theme Conflicts
Though we ensure compatibility and smooth functionality in most of the cases, increased code complexity may create trouble in a few cases. So, it is probable that our plugin is conflicting with any of the third-party themes/plugins that you have installed on your WooCommerce or WordPress website.
To troubleshoot in this scenario, follow these steps:
Switch to the default WP theme (e.g. Twenty Seventeen, or so.) for a few minutes.
Check if the problem is gone or not, and follow these instructions:
a. If it is gone, switch back to your previous theme and check if you are using its outdated version. Update the theme, if so. Otherwise, contact the theme developers.
b. If the problem persists even after changing the theme, move to the next step.
Next comes, disabling the plugins from your website, in order to check if there is any plugin-related conflict. Only disable the third-party plugins. Leave the WooCommerce and DotStore plugins untouched. If the problem is resolved now, disable each third-party plugin one by one & find out which plugin is responsible for the issue. Contact the plugin developers & tell them about the problem.
If you have tried the above procedure and your problem is still unresolved, then send us an email or raise a ticket, which has the following information –
1. When did said the problem occurs for the first time?
2. Have you recently updated the code or components of your website? If so, what are those modifications?
3. What changes - functional or design – were made on your website that you think may have initiated the issue?
4. Is the issue specific to a few devices or browsers?
5. Is there any error message appearing on the screen?
6. Have you changes your theme recently? Were there any similar issues before that?
7. Have you installed any new plugin on your website recently? Was there any similar issue before that?
8. What solutions have you already tried?
Sending your query with these details (whichever available) will help us resolve your problem faster.
iii. A few Troubleshooting Ideas
There are a few tricks that may resolve your issue, such as –
1. Try deactivating and then, re-activating the installed DotStore plugin.
2. Open your browser’s console and check if it is showing any errors. For example, you can press Ctrl + Shift + J to open the console tab in the Chrome browser. In the opened tab, check if the error information is of any help.
3. If the website is showing an error message on loading, after the plugin is installed, follow the error path or try to understand the error message. Check if you can do anything in this regard.
4. In your cPanel, check the error log file. It may reveal important information, helping you in troubleshooting the issue faster.
5. There is a probability that your site has become too heavy and hence, is suffering from performance-related issues. The same may have caused a problem in the DotStore plugin’s functionality. So, before anything, try optimizing your website’s speed and performance. It may resolve the problem you are facing.
6. Try creating a test replica of your website through any free plugin and check if the DotStore plugin is working well with it or not. Doing so will help you clearly understand the issue because the third-party themes or plugins won’t interfere now.