Restrict Past Content
The Restrict Past Content add-on for Restrict Content Pro lets you restrict content published prior to a membership’s start date. This is useful for membership sites that want customers to only access content published after their membership starts, and not content published before they signed up.
Restrictions are defined per membership level, and content can be excluded from the restrictions.
Installing the Restrict Past Content add-on
Download and install the plugin from your account dashboard here. If you need help installing the plugin, refer to the WordPress plugin installation documentation.
To license the plugin, please view our “How Do I License iThemes Products on My Sites” article.
Configuring the Restrict Past Content add-on
Restrict Past Content must be turned on for each membership level whose customers you want to prevent from reading content published prior to their membership start date. To enable it, go to Restrict > Membership Levels, and either add a new membership level or edit an existing one.
Membership Level settings
There are two settings on the membership level. They are:
- Enabled – turns on the Restrict Past Content feature for the current membership level.
- Exception Period – allows you to define an exception period, where members can view content published prior to their join date. The exception period is defined as days. For example, if you want to allow customers to view content published one week prior to their join date, you would enter a 7.
Content settings
There may be cases where you want certain content to always be excluded from the restrictions. To do that, we’ve included an option on the post/page edit screen that lets you exclude the content from the restrictions. Simply check the checkbox and the customer will be able to view the content regardless of his or her membership start date.
How it works
When a customer registers for a membership on your site, Restrict Content Pro stores the date internally that tracks when he or she signed up for that particular membership level. Restrict Past Content uses this date and compares it to the content’s published date, and the exclusion setting shown above, to determine if the customer should have access to the content. If the customer does not have access to the content, the restriction message defined in your Restrict Content Pro settings is shown to the customer.
How does it work with multiple memberships?
If a customer has more than one membership then the one that gives them the most access takes priority.
For example, say a customer has two memberships that both have Restrict Past Content enabled: Membership A, started April 1st; and Membership B, started June 1st. This customer wants to view a restricted post that was published on May 1st. This customer will be able to view the post because their Membership A started before that date. If at least one of the memberships meets the criteria then the customer will be able to access the content.
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