Advanced & Tools

Tab: Advanced
Option stored: bffs_advanced_setting
Admin path: WB Plugins > BP Friend & Follow > Advanced

This tab provides settings export/import, email template reinstallation, and data reset tools. Most of the underlying performance and cache settings have fixed defaults that are automatically applied and are not exposed in the UI.

Default settings applied automatically

When you save this tab, the following values are always written to bffs_advanced_setting regardless of what was stored before. These are not configurable from the UI but are documented here for reference:

Setting	Value
cache_settings[enable_cache]	1 (on)
cache_settings[cache_duration]	3600 seconds (1 hour)
cache_settings[cache_type]	object if an external object cache is active, otherwise transient
cache_settings[clear_on_profile_update]	1 (on) - cache clears when a member updates their profile
debug_settings[enable_debug]	0
debug_settings[log_errors]	1
data_retention[enable_auto_cleanup]	0 (off - no automatic deletion)
data_retention[analytics_retention]	365 days
performance[batch_size]	50
performance[max_suggestions]	100

The cache type is auto-detected: if your hosting uses Redis or Memcached, object is chosen automatically. Otherwise, WordPress transients are used.

Export Settings

Downloads your current plugin settings as a JSON file. The file includes:

• bffs_general_setting - matching algorithm configuration
• bffs_display_setting - display and appearance settings
• bffs_notifications_setting - notification and digest settings
• bffs_ux_setting - UX behavior settings (dismissal duration, swiper, etc.)
• bffs_advanced_setting - advanced/tools settings

Analytics data (bffs_analytics_data) is not included in the export. The file is named bffs-settings-[timestamp].json.

Use this before migrating settings to another site, before a major reconfiguration you might want to undo, or to back up a configuration that took time to tune.

Email Templates

Reinstall Email Templates

Removes the three plugin email templates from the BuddyPress email system and recreates them from the plugin’s bundled defaults. The three templates are bffs-new-suggestion, bffs-daily-digest, and bffs-weekly-digest.

This will overwrite any custom edits you have made to the email templates through the BuddyPress email editor. A confirmation prompt appears before the action runs.

Use this if:

• Email notifications stopped sending and you suspect a corrupted template.
• A plugin update changed the template token format and old templates have broken variables.
• You want to revert to default email content after customization.

Danger Zone

These two actions are permanent and cannot be undone. Both show confirmation prompts before executing.

Reset to Defaults

Deletes the following WordPress options:

• bffs_general_setting
• bffs_display_setting
• bffs_notifications_setting
• bffs_ux_setting
• bffs_advanced_setting

Also clears the suggestion cache. Analytics data is preserved. After the reset, all settings return to their factory defaults on next page load.

Use this when you want a clean start on configuration without affecting analytics or member data.

Clear All Data

Deletes everything Reset to Defaults removes, plus:

• bffs_analytics_data (all analytics history)
• All per-user metadata with the prefix bffs_ - this includes each member’s dismissed suggestions list and email frequency preference
• All suggestion cache transients
• The weekly digest WP-Cron schedule

To run this action, type DELETE (all caps) in the confirmation prompt. This resets the plugin to the same state as a fresh installation.

Do not use Clear All Data if you need to preserve member opt-out preferences or analytics history. Use Reset to Defaults instead.

No save button

This tab does not have a visible save button because the performance/cache settings are applied automatically. Export and reinstall actions work via AJAX and show a result toast notification. The danger-zone actions reload the page after completing.