Table of Contents
Import
Each connected account has a Max setting (Max Medias, Max Videos, Max Photos, Max Posts, Max Tweets): how many of the newest posts the plugin asks the network for, 30 by default, up to 200. The plugin fetches that many, creates one Social Item per post and queues its image for download.
Only new posts are added on later syncs. A post that already exists as a Social Item is not updated: a changed caption, a new like count or a deleted post on the network does not change the item. To re-import an account from scratch, click Purge Cache on it in Settings → Social Feeds; this deletes its Social Items and imports them again.
Unsplash is the exception: its photos are never stored as Social Items or files. They are hot-linked from Unsplash with the required attribution, and the list is refreshed every three hours.
Storage
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Posts | Visual Portfolio → Social Items, a post type of its own (vp_social_item). Not public; visitors only see them inside galleries |
| Images and videos | wp-content/uploads/visual-portfolio-pro/<network>/, registered in the Media Library as the item’s featured image. The Media Library’s filter dropdown gets a Social entry once one exists |
| Account data | Visual Portfolio → Social Profiles (username, profile URL, bio, avatar; the avatar is downloaded too) |
| Settings | The Social Feeds settings tab |
Until an image has been downloaded the item shows the Placeholder Image from Settings → General.
Instagram video links expire after a while. The plugin downloads a local copy and, during sync, refreshes links that are within a day of expiring, so Reels keep playing.
When the sync runs
| Trigger | What runs |
|---|---|
| Saving the Social Feeds settings | An import of every account that is new, changed or still empty, right away |
| WP-Cron, every 2 hours | Every account whose last sync is older than 2 hours, five accounts per run, the rest a minute later |
| WP-Cron, every 5 minutes | A refresh of one account whose data is older than 3 hours (1 hour for RSS) |
| Sync All Accounts on the Social Items screen | Everything, now |
Item creation and downloads are background jobs that the site triggers by calling itself (loopback requests). If WP-Cron is disabled without a real cron, or the host blocks loopback requests, imports stay queued. See CRON.
Instagram access tokens last 60 days and are renewed daily when fewer than 10 days remain; Twitch tokens are renewed hourly. Both renewals are scheduled the first time the settings are saved.
Removing and excluding
- Trash a Social Item: it disappears from galleries and is skipped by future syncs. Restore it to include it again.
- Delete permanently: the next sync imports the post again, unless you also tick Recreate deleted items off. To keep a post out for good, leave it in the Trash or use Exclude from Sync.
- Bulk actions on the Social Items list: Exclude from Sync, Include in Sync.
- Remove an account in Settings → Social Feeds: its Social Items are deleted; the downloaded files stay in the Media Library.
Page caches
When new images have been downloaded, the plugin purges the pages that contain a social gallery from LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, WP Super Cache and WP Rocket. Other caches need a manual purge or a short TTL for those pages.
Upgrading from versions before 3.5.0
Feeds cached the old way (in the options table) are migrated to Social Items automatically, in batches of 20 every two minutes, account by account. Galleries keep showing the old cache until an account’s migration is complete. Nothing to do.