[Greg LaScala]

After doing some searching I am somewhat becoming more and more disappointed in this plugin. Originally it was purchased with the purpose to organize a bunch of businesses in a directory to be easily searchable and filterable on a township website. All the businesses are listed in an Excel CSV file, over 200+ are put into the file with contact info, addresses, type of business, etc. However going through and manually adding each individual business using the Connections plugin would take days. Maybe even weeks depending on the work load. I was pointed in the direction of purchasing the CSV import plugin. Just for that one simple function? Then with the businesses imported in order to properly sort them there are radio buttons on the left side of the page with different categories. From what I understand there is a plugin needed to change that into a drop down as well. But also in order to use that plugin we need to purchase another ‘theme’ I just want to know the easiest and cheapest way to get what I am looking for as an organizational solution to having over 200+ businesses listed on a website.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Greg

re: I was pointed in the direction of purchasing the CSV import plugin. Just for that one simple function?

Yes, some features are broken out and sold as optional premium add-ons. These sales are what makes it possible to continue to develop and support a feature rich plugin such as Connections. Keep in mind what is simple to you is not simple, or even needed, by most. In fact many, many thousand of others use Connections as is because it meets their needs with the included free feature set.

re: I just want to know the easiest and cheapest way to get what I am looking for

It appears that you have purchased a template, Market, and the Extension Pro Pack which includes just about all the available optional features.

A template combined with the Extension Pro Pack is likely the easiest and cheapest way to get nearly all of the available optional features for Connections.

re: Then with the businesses imported in order to properly sort them there are radio buttons on the left side of the page with different categories. From what I understand there is a plugin needed to change that into a drop down as well. But also in order to use that plugin we need to purchase another ‘theme’

First, just so we’re on the same page…

A theme is not a template. A theme is the style applied to your WordPress site and does not really have anything to do with Connections as all templates and extensions are designed to be compatible with any theme.

A template is for Connections and controls how your directory appears, very similar to how themes function for WordPress.

With the terminology out of the way…

You did purchase the Market template which, yes, displays the categories as radio options. This is exactly as shown on the product/demo pages when you made the purchase. There is no way to change these radio options into a drop down.

I think is what you really wanted was the cMap template, not the Market template as one of the primary feature differences is that the categories are listed in a drop down rather than as a radio group.

It has been a month since you purchased the Market template. Normally exchanges are limited to a much smaller window of time. In this case I am more than willing to exchange the Market template for the cMap template as that seems like the feature you are asking about… unless I missed another.

please let me know and I process the exchange right away.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions.

[Greg LaScala]

Hello,
Thank you for the offer of exchanging for the cMap template. I would like to go ahead with it as long as it has the few things that we need.

-Able to upload all of our businesses via CSV upload.

-Drop Down menu for easy organization

-Responsive

-User friendly/easy to use

As long as it has these core things then lets go ahead and proceed.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Greg

re: Able to upload all of our businesses via CSV upload.

This is not a function of the cMap template. That is a function of the CSV Import extension which you already have as part of the Extension Pro Pack.

re: Drop Down menu for easy organization

The drop down is for the category selection for the user. I assume this is what you mean by easy organization?

re: Responsive

Yes, cMap is responsive theme friendly.

re: User friendly/easy to use

I personally believe the cMap template is the easiest to use for you because it uses the Template Customizer for configuration. The Template Customizer offers a live preview as you change it options. It basically functions exactly like the theme you are using in WordPress (if it uses the Customizer that is).

I’m processing the exchange right now. You will receive an updated sales confirmation email shortly.

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