Overview
Uncanny Groups for LearnDash is designed to work on any modern WordPress installation that meets the requirements below. Review these before installing the plugin or upgrading an existing setup.
End-User Requirements
Learners and Group Leaders accessing the front-end Group Management page need a modern browser. The following are supported:
- Google Chrome (latest)
- Mozilla Firefox (latest)
- Microsoft Edge (latest)
- macOS Safari (latest)
WordPress and Server Requirements
Minimum Requirements
| Component | Minimum version |
|---|---|
| PHP | 7.4 |
| WordPress | 5.8 |
| LearnDash | 4.2 |
| WordPress memory limit | 256 MB |
| WooCommerce | 4.5 (only required if using WooCommerce-based group sales) |
| WooCommerce Subscriptions | Any compatible version (only required for subscription-based group licensing) |
| Permalink structure | Post Name |
Important: Permalinks must be set to Post Name (/%postname%/). Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin and confirm this is selected. Other permalink structures will cause the front-end Group Management pages to function incorrectly.
Recommended for Optimal Performance
- PHP 7.4 or higher — this is also the minimum, so any supported version is fine; newer PHP releases deliver better performance.
- A WordPress-optimised host such as WP Engine or Pressidium for the best page-load times on front-end group pages.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce integration is optional. You only need WooCommerce if you plan to sell group licenses through your site’s store. For sites that manage groups without ecommerce (for example, manual group creation or Uncanny Automator-powered enrollment), WooCommerce does not need to be installed.
WooCommerce Subscriptions is additionally required only if you want group licenses sold as recurring subscriptions.
Installing on an Existing LearnDash Site
Uncanny Groups installs alongside your existing LearnDash setup — you do not need to reinstall or reconfigure LearnDash. Any existing LearnDash groups on your site can be upgraded to Uncanny Groups after installation.
Performance Note
Since version 6.1.2, Uncanny Groups stores certain plugin data outside the WordPress autoload cache. This reduces the amount of data loaded on every page request across your site, which can improve overall site performance — particularly on larger installations with many groups.
Related Articles
- Install and Set Up Uncanny Groups — Step-by-step installation and initial configuration.
- Uncanny Groups for LearnDash – Plugin Overview — What Uncanny Groups does and how it fits into a LearnDash site.
- Upgrade Existing LearnDash Groups — Convert pre-existing LearnDash groups to fully managed Uncanny Groups.
- Frequently Asked Questions — Common compatibility and configuration questions.
Hi.
Can I install Groups to an existing LearnDash site without reinstalling LearnDash?
Thanks
Bryan
Of course! That’s how it’s mostly typically used.
WordPress prerequisite of WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on (additional purchase $) is required if one plans on using subscription.
Excellent point, thanks, a few other updates were made as well to reflect the latest guidance.
Hi,
Does this group integrate with buddypress groups? If not, can you make it so? How about peepso group integration?
Alexander
I’m afraid we do not support integration with either BuddyPress or Peepso Groups. BuddyPress integration is something we’ve built for clients, but as of now we don’t have plans to include that type of functionality in the public plugin, at least partly because we can’t always control how users are added to LearnDash Groups. An example is user uploads, where in some cases we can’t intercept the user additions to keep things in sync between plugins, and dealing with possible sync issues would be difficult for us to support for all plugin users.
Hi,
Is there a possibility to work along with Thrivecart instead of Woocommerce?
Br,
John
Sorry John, right now it’s not possible. We have a lot of Woo dependencies for ecommerce support. In a few months there might be some things you can do with Automator to integrate Thrivecart with our Groups plugin, but for now Woo is a hard requirement (if you need ecommerce, it’s not needed if you don’t use ecommerce with the plugin).
Hi Ryan,
when you say it’s not needed you mean just using the plugin for assigning licenses internally without selling them?
When the Automator roughly is going to be released? Is there any page/post I could more on that?
Br,
John
Hi John,
Automator is available now at https://automatorplugin.com, the problem is that for this solution you’ll need the 2.x architecture with Groups support, which will be available later this summer.
In the description of the product, it says “Group Leaders can add and invite users, send password reset emails, and even easily mass email all students in the group.” I can’t see anyplace it does this. I have version 3.4.1. Is that option not in my version?
We believe that allowing Group Leaders to email users by default is too risky, so admins must turn this feature on using an attribute in your uo_groups shortcode. Have a look at https://www.uncannyowl.com/knowledge-base/group-management-page/#Emailing_Group_Members for more information about enabling the option for your Group Leaders.
Do I need to have woocommerce for uncanny groups or can I use the e-commerce facilities in Memberpress?
Out of the box, without requiring additional plugins, group sales with our plugin definitely require WooCommerce. They have dependencies on some custom Woo product types that our plugin sets up.
Theoretically you could use Uncanny Automator to connect group creation to purchases from non-WooCommerce platforms. You would definitely lose the Add Course and Add Seats features for group created by WooCommerce, but for simple group setup it would work (including with MemberPress, as long as you can capture a group name and seat count).