Adding Extensions using Magento Connect – Steps to Follow

Let it be for any eCommerce business you own, Magento serves to be an absolute platform to rely on, for building your online store successfully. One great point about Magento is, it has a built-in functionality for automatically installing additional extensions for your online store. With a corresponding extension’s key, the script will install it for you in just few clicks.Below detailed are the steps that follow on how to install Magento extensions via Magento Connect. You’ll also find the instructions to upgrade existing extensions for Magento.

1. Log in to the Magento Administrator area. Then, go to System – -> Magento Connect -> Magento Connect Manager.
2. You need to enter your admin credentials again on the new page that is displayed.
3. Having logged in you will be seeing two sections, (i) Extensions and (ii) Settings. Begin with the Settings section first.
4. There are a lot of options in the Settings section to configure.  However, leaving the default values as they are, is highly recommended.
5. There is an option for Preferred State, where you can find three states which are  Stable, Beta and Alpha. Stable option is for live sites. Beta and Alpha states allow you to check the latest versions of the extensions. But, both of these states are barely recommended since extensions in Beta and especially in Alpha state might have bugs that could disrupt the functionality of your online store in someway, sometime.
6. Creating a backup prior to downloading extensions or extension upgrades, falls to be a widely important concern. Any issue that occurs after downloading and installing an extension, can be restored by having a working backup.
7. Having created the backup, proceed with Magento Connect Manager -> Extensions tab. Click on the link, Magento Connect.
8. A new window will be displayed, where you can browse the available extensions. The modules are separated in different categories and can be searched using the search functionality that is included.
9. There are several extensions available in either free and paid prices. Whenever you download an extension from Magento Connect, a registration process should be completed to get the extension key and the instructions for the registration process may vary for few extensions.
10. Having chosen an extension, select on the Install Now button and select the Magento Connect version. If you are using Magento 1.5 or newer, you need to select version 2.0, otherwise leave Magento Connect 1.0.  Now agree the terms and conditions  and finally, click the Get Extension Key button.
11. Use this key in the installation procedure and proceed further.
12. You can now see the new extension getting automatically downloaded and installed. If there is any problem with the installation, the relevant information about the problem will be displayed and hence you’ll understand the mechanism to resolve it. Once the extension is appropriately installed, a screen for a successful installation will appear.
13. After the finishing the installation, go back to Magento admin and adjust its options as per your requirements. In addition to that, ensure whether your online store is properly functioning without any errors.

Steps to upgrade an existing Magento Extension

Following are the instructions to upgrade an existing Magento extension.

1. To start with, log in to the Magento admin area -> System -> Magento Connect -> Magento Connect Manager. Click on ‘Check for Upgrades’ option found on the Extensions Tab.
2. The Magento Connect manager automatically connects to the server and check for available upgrades. If it has found an extension that has a published upgrade, it gets colored in yellow , so that you can apply the upgrade to your Magento extension. Prior to applying the upgrade, it is recommended to create a back up your Magento online store.
3. After creating a backup select the needed upgrade version from the Actions drop-down menu and then click Commit Changes to go forward with the upgrade.
4. Now the picked out upgrade will be automatically downloaded and put on.
5. Once the extension is upgraded, try refreshing the page once and check whether the  yellow color status of your upgraded extension has been removed and the installed column has been changed to the version number you just installed.
6. Click Return to Admin and check if any new Configuration Settings for your Extension are available. It is also quite important to ensure that your online store functions properly without any issues.