Uninstalling & Data
What Logo Carousel stores, what happens when you deactivate or delete it, and how to leave without losing work.
Deleting a plugin is one of the few things in WordPress you can't undo with a click. This page explains exactly what's stored, what disappears and what to back up first, so nothing comes as a surprise.
Deactivate vs delete
These are not the same thing.
| Deactivate | Delete | |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin files | Stay on the server | Removed |
| Your logos, views, templates and settings | Untouched | Kept, unless clean-up is on (see below) |
| Blocks on your pages | Stop showing. Their settings stay in the page. | Same |
| Classic shortcodes | Show as plain text, like [logocarousel id="42"] | Same |
| Page-builder elements | Stop showing | Same |
| Can you undo it? | Yes. Reactivate and everything returns. | Only from a backup, if clean-up was on |
Deactivating is safe
If you're troubleshooting or just pausing the plugin, deactivate it. Nothing is deleted, and reactivating brings every showcase back exactly as it was.
What happens when you delete the plugin
By default, only the plugin's files are removed. Your logos, views, Saved Templates and settings stay in the database, so if you reinstall later, everything is where you left it.
That changes only if you turn on Clean-up Data on Deletion in Logo Carousel → Settings → Advanced. It's off by default.
With it on, deleting the plugin from the Plugins screen removes:
- every classic logo under All Logos, with its link and details (the images themselves stay in your Media Library)
- every classic view under Manage Views
- every Saved Template
- all of these including items in the Trash and their revisions
- every Logo Category
- the plugin's settings: Advanced options, Control Assets, Additional CSS & JS, and integration switches
- your block and module switches from the dashboard
- the license record and the plugin's version bookkeeping
- the analytics table, with all view and click history
- the Logo Showcase Placements report, cached data, and each user's Ready Patterns favorites
- the classic widget settings
- the plugin's scheduled background tasks (the weekly license check and diagnostic report)
Even with clean-up on, these are not removed:
- Blocks placed in your pages and posts. Their settings and logo lists stay in the page content. They stop showing, and come back if you reinstall.
- Your images in the Media Library. The plugin never deletes them.
- Shortcodes and page-builder elements in your content. They stay where they are, so a deleted plugin can leave raw
[logocarousel id="…"]text on pages. Remove those before deleting, or reinstall. - Your AI provider settings, including your encrypted API keys. Remove the keys under Settings → AI Configuration with Remove key before deleting if you don't want them left behind.
- The cached copy of the Ready Patterns list in
wp-content/uploads/logo-carousel-pro/. It's safe to delete that folder by hand.
Clean-up is permanent
There's no confirmation beyond WordPress's own "Are you sure?" prompt, and no undo. Classic logos, views and Saved Templates are gone, and so is your analytics history. Take a database backup first. Every host offers one, and it takes a minute.
Multisite: each site decides for itself
On a multisite network the clean-up switch is per site. Deleting the plugin only wipes the data of sites where Clean-up Data on Deletion was on. The others keep their data.
Free and Pro on the same site
If Logo Carousel Pro's files are still on the site, deleting the free plugin never runs clean-up, because both editions share the same data. Your Pro showcases are safe.
Before you remove the plugin
A short checklist, worth ten minutes:
- Back up the database. This is essential if clean-up is on.
- Export your classic logos and views. Use Settings → Import & Export to save a JSON file you can import elsewhere. CSV works for logos only.
- Save anything you need from Saved Templates. There's no export for them. Open each one, copy its blocks, and paste them into a draft page if you might need them later.
- Find where showcases appear. Logo Carousel → Getting Started lists every page using a block, shortcode, template or builder element under Logo Showcase Placements. Use it to see which pages will change.
- Deactivate your license under Settings → License Key if you'll use the key on another site. Do this before deleting, because you can't reach the button afterwards.
- Deactivate first, look at your site, then delete. Deactivating shows you exactly which pages are affected while it's still one click to undo.
Moving to a new site
If you're relocating rather than leaving, the order matters:
- On the old site, deactivate the license, and export classic logos and views from Settings → Import & Export. If you've lost access to the old site, free the activation from your ShapedPlugin account.
- On the new site, install the plugin, activate the license and import your file. Keep the old site online while you import, because imported logos download their images from it.
- Update classic shortcodes. Imported views get new IDs, so copy each new shortcode from Manage Views and update the pages that use it.
- Bring your media with your pages. Block showcases travel inside the page content in a normal WordPress export and import, but they point to images in your Media Library. If an image doesn't come across, the logo shows an Image Missing card. Fix it with Replace, as described in Missing images.
What the plugin stores
This is useful if you're auditing your database or writing a privacy policy.
| What | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| Block showcases, including each block's logo list, titles, links and categories | Inside the content of the page they're on. There's no separate record. |
| Logo images | Your WordPress Media Library, as normal images |
| Classic logos | sp_logo_carousel posts, with links in post meta |
| Classic Logo Categories | The sp_logo_carousel_cat taxonomy |
| Classic views | sp_lc_shortcodes posts, with their options in post meta |
| Saved Templates | sp_lc_template posts |
| Plugin settings | The _sp_lcpro_options option |
| Block and module switches | The sp_lcpro_blocks_visibility and sp_lcpro_modules_visibility options |
| License status | Options refreshed weekly against ShapedPlugin's license server |
| AI provider settings and API keys | The sp_lcpro_ai_settings option. Keys are encrypted. |
| Analytics | The {prefix}sp_logo_tracking database table: logo, view or click, date, and the visitor's IP address |
| Placements report | An option, refreshed when you click Sync placements |
| Ready Patterns favorites | User meta, per user |
| Ready Patterns list | A cached file in wp-content/uploads/logo-carousel-pro/ |
| Duplicate-upload checks | A file fingerprint saved on each logo image (attachment meta) |
| Cached data | Transients, which WordPress expires on its own |
Data about visitors and data that leaves your site
- Analytics is off until you turn on Logo Analytics. Once it's on, the plugin records the IP address of each visitor who sees or clicks a logo. Mention this in your privacy policy. See Analytics.
- Google Fonts. If a block uses a Google font, visitors' browsers load it from Google's servers.
- Build with AI sends your prompt and the block's design settings to the AI provider you chose, and only when you click to generate. Your logos aren't sent. See AI Builder.
- Ready Patterns downloads pattern designs from ShapedPlugin's pattern server when you open the library. No site content is sent.
- Diagnostic data is sent only if you agree to it, either in the setup wizard or in the admin notice that asks. When you do, a weekly report goes to ShapedPlugin with your WordPress, PHP and plugin versions, your theme and active plugins, your site URL and language, the Logo Carousel blocks you use, and your site's admin email address. If you don't want this, uncheck the box on the setup wizard's last step and dismiss the notice.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Raw [logocarousel id="…"] or [lc_template id="…"] text on pages | The plugin is deactivated or deleted. | Reactivate it, or remove those shortcodes from the pages. |
| Empty gaps where showcases used to be | The block settings are still in the page, but nothing displays them. | Reinstall the plugin, or delete the empty blocks. |
| You reinstalled and everything came back | Clean-up was off, which is the intended behavior. | Nothing to do. |
| You reinstalled and classic logos, views or templates are gone | Clean-up was on when you deleted. | Restore from a backup, or import your export file. |
| Analytics history is gone after a reinstall | Clean-up removes the analytics table. | Restore from a backup. There's no analytics export apart from the CSV on the Analytics screen. |
| The license won't activate on the new site | It's still active on the old one. | Deactivate it there, or free the activation from your ShapedPlugin account. |
Related
- Dashboard → Settings: where the clean-up switch lives
- Settings → Import & Export
- Installation
- FAQ