Title: Smarter Archives
Author: rob1n
Published: September 16, 2007
Last modified: August 17, 2020
---
Search plugins
This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.
# Smarter Archives
By [rob1n](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rob1n/)
[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/smarter-archives.3.2.5.zip)
* [Details](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/#description)
* [Reviews](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/#reviews)
* [Installation](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/#installation)
* [Development](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/#developers)
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/)
## Description
When you use the `[smarter-archives]` shortcode anywhere in a post or a page, it
gets replaced by a listing of every year since you started posting, with a list
of links to each month for that year. However, the plugin is smart enough to know
if you didn’t create any content in any given month, and doesn’t make a link for
that month. See the **Screenshots** section for an example of it in action.
See the **Usage** section for a complete list of the arguments the shortcode takes,
and how you can use them to customize your archives listing.
The month names are [internationalized with the WordPress translation API](https://codex.wordpress.org/I18n_for_WordPress_Developers).
A POT file is included, and if you want to translate please feel free to do so and
[submit a new pull request](https://github.com/robinadr/smarter-archives/pulls)
on GitHub. If you do not know how to use GitHub, you can also [contact me directly](http://robinadr.com/contact).
Here are the translations that have been done so far:
* Dutch (nl_NL)
* French (fr_FR)
* German (de_DE)
* Italian (it_IT)
* Spanish (es_ES)
* Russian (ru_RU)
The original concept for this plugin comes from a plugin by Justin Blanton.
### Usage
The `[smarter-archives]` shortcode takes these arguments (default values included):
* `mode` (default: `output`) — if it’s set to `output`, the plugin prints the listing.
Set it to `false` to return the value
* `wrapper_class` (default: `smart-archives`) — class given to the tag wrapped
around the listing (`` by default)
* `wrapper_tag` (default: `div`) — tag wrapped around the listing
* `year_link_class` (default: `year-link`) — class given to each year links
* `year_tag` (default: `p`) — tag around each year group
* `year_class` (default: none) — class for the tag around each year group
* `after_year` (default: `:`) — value after the year and before the list of months
* `month_link_class` (default: `month-link`) — class given to each month link
* `month_tag` (default: `span`) — tag around each month
* `after_month` (default: ` `) — spacer between months
* `empty_month_class` (default: `empty-month`) — class applied to empty months (
can use this to gray them out)
* `order` (default: `DESC`) — order the years are shown in (`ASC` for ascending,`
DESC` for descending)
**Advanced Usage**
There is a function, `get_smarter_archives()`, that returns the raw array with the
years, months, and post counts. You can use this for ultimate customization.
**Example Usage**
```
[smarter-archives order="DESC" after_month="•"]
License
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
```
A full version of the license is included with the plugin in `license.txt`.
## Screenshots
* [[
* An example of the plugin in action on my website.
## Installation
1. Download the ZIP file and unzip it
2. Copy or upload the `smarter-archives` folder to your plugins folder (usually `wp-
content/plugins/`)
3. Activate _Smarter Archives_ in the admin
4. Put the `[smarter-archives]` shortcode where you want the listing to show
5. Enjoy.
## Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
## Contributors & Developers
“Smarter Archives” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.
Contributors
* [ rob1n ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rob1n/)
“Smarter Archives” has been translated into 6 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/smarter-archives/contributors)
for their contributions.
[Translate “Smarter Archives” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/smarter-archives)
### Interested in development?
[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/smarter-archives/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/smarter-archives/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/smarter-archives/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/smarter-archives/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).
## Changelog
#### 3.2.5
* Fix issue with setting default options in shortcode
* Updated compatibility up to WordPress 5.5
#### 3.2.4
* Added Russian (ru_RU) translation, thanks to [Alexander Tischenko](http://n-wp.ru/)
#### 3.2.3
* Added German (de_DE) translation, thanks to Jay Linski (@jaylinski)
#### 3.2.2
* Updated Italian translation
* Added Dutch (nl_NL) translation, thanks to Micha
#### 3.2.1
* Fixed bug involving [extra empty months](https://github.com/robinadr/smarter-archives/issues/2)
#### 3.2
* Fixed bug related to the new i18n changes in WordPress 4.0
#### 3.1.3
* [Fixed bug](https://github.com/robinadr/smarter-archives/issues/1) relating to
an extra quote in month links
#### 3.1.2
* Added French (fr_FR) translation, thanks to [Jean-Hugues Roy](http://jhroy.ca/)
This update is **optional**, the only change is the new French translation.
Also, note that development is now on [GitHub](https://github.com/robinadr/smarter-archives).
Releases will continue to be pushed through the WP plugin repository, however.
#### 3.1.1
This update is **optional** for everyone, unless you want the new Italian translation.
If not, feel free to skip it.
* New translation: Italian (it_IT) courtesy of [Marco Zambianchi](http://www.astronautinews.it/)
#### 3.1
* Only load textdomain if WPLANG is defined AND not empty
#### 3.0
* Backend is **completely rewritten: only 1 query compared to 12 for every year
before** (!!)
* Optimizations everywhere
* New option: `year_class` (see Usage for more info)
* Updated compatibility to WP 3.8
* Updated es_ES translation to include new strings
#### 2.6
* Standardized i18n calls — **fully translatable**
* Added a POT file for translating
* Added a lang folder
* **Spanish (es_ES) translation added** — thanks to [Andrew Kurtis of WebHostingHub](http://www.webhostinghub.com/)
* **New shortcode**: `[smarter-archives]`, see Usage for more details
* Fixed bug: `order` now actually does something
#### 2.5
[View changes for 2.5 here](http://robinadr.com/2013/04/smarter-archives-2-5).
#### 2.0.1
* Updated WordPress compatibility to 3.5.1
#### 2.0
* Updated WordPress compatibility to 3.5
* Main function’s output is now completely customizable
* i18n support added; English domain included
* Smarter Archives is now licensed under the GPL v2 license
#### 1.5
* Updated WordPress compatibility to 3.4.2
## Meta
* Version **3.2.5**
* Last updated **6 years ago**
* Active installations **100+**
* Tested up to **5.5.18**
* Languages
* [Dutch](https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/), [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/),
[French (France)](https://fr.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/), [German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/),
[Italian](https://it.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/), [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/),
and [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/).
* [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/smarter-archives)
* Tags
* [archive](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/archive/)[archives](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/archives/)
* [Advanced View](https://test.wordpress.org/plugins/smarter-archives/advanced/)
## Ratings
4 out of 5 stars.
* [ 1 5-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/?filter=5)
* [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/?filter=4)
* [ 1 3-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/?filter=3)
* [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/?filter=2)
* [ 0 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/?filter=1)
[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/#new-post)
[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/reviews/)
## Contributors
* [ rob1n ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rob1n/)
## Support
Got something to say? Need help?
[View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/smarter-archives/)