Folders for business directory listings
A business directory is never finished. Every week listings are added, renewed and expire, and the Directory list keeps every one of them.
Plathix PRO adds private folders to the Business Directory Plugin listings list. Group listings by area, by client or by renewal month, and open just the folder you need. Plans, categories and listing pages stay as they are.
Renewals, imports and expiries in one long list
Business Directory Plugin shows every listing on one screen. When a listing expires, the plugin turns it into a draft: it leaves the site but stays in the list.
The list can filter by directory category and by listing status. It cannot show “the listings one colleague looks after” or “the ones we imported last week”, and a directory category for that would appear on the site.
Folders can, in wp-admin only.
Listings pile up for years. Few of them ever leave.
People who run business and member directories describe the same moment. The list keeps every listing they ever had, and tidying it by hand takes a long time.
We want to keep about 2,000 listings. Deleting the other 150,000 by hand takes a long time.
Members who stop renewing should go to an archive. Right now they just stay in the list.
A group of listings expired at once. We did not want to open each one by hand.
We imported a new file, and now the same business is in the list twice.
Folders do not delete or renew listings. They give members who stopped renewing, new imports and your own working groups a place of their own in wp-admin, so you open just that group.
Folders for a directory that keeps growing
Renewals by month
Put the listings that expire this month in one folder. Check them and remind the owners before they turn into drafts.
By area
North, South, City centre: group listings by the area a colleague looks after, without a public category for it.
Imports to check
After a CSV import, keep the new listings in their own folder until someone has checked them.
By client or sales rep
Listings sold by one rep or brought in by one partner, together in one folder.
Expired, by year
Expired listings are drafts now. File them by year: out of the way, but easy to find if the owner comes back.
The folder panel on Directory Content
A folder tree next to your listings
The panel sits beside the listings list, Directory → Directory Content. Click a folder and the list shows only its listings.
Expired drafts are counted
A folder counts what the All view shows: published, scheduled, pending, draft and private listings. Expired listings are drafts, so they count. Trash does not.
A Folder column
Every row shows its folder, along with Categories and Expires on.
A link for each folder
The address changes when you open a folder, so this month’s renewals are one bookmark away.
Your directory never sees your folders
| What you do | What changes | What stays as it is |
|---|---|---|
| Put a listing in a folder | Its Plathix folder | Plan, expiry date, categories, fields and listing page |
| Move an expired listing to “Expired 2025” | The folder tree in wp-admin | Its status: it stays a draft |
| Rename or move a folder | The folder tree in wp-admin | Every listing URL and the directory pages |
| Trash a listing, then restore it | Its Trash state | Its folder: it comes back to the same place |
| Turn Plathix PRO off | The list looks like plain WordPress | Your folders wait in the database and come back |
Folders have no URLs, are not directory categories, and never appear on the site.
How we test Business Directory Plugin
We run each check on a live site with Plathix PRO and the current Business Directory Plugin version, on the real Directory Content screen.
Status Planned
Results go to Plathix Lab. Each row turns into a link once it has run.
| Check | What we verify | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Enable listings | Turn on Directory (wpbdp_listing) in Enabled Sections; the panel and the Folder column appear on the list. | Planned |
| Expiry | A listing that expires turns into a draft and stays in its folder and its count. | Planned |
| Status links | Expired, Pending Renewal and the other status links with a folder open. | Planned |
| Category filter | A folder together with the All categories dropdown. | Planned |
| Directory unchanged | Listing pages, categories and search on the site look the same. | Planned |
| Trash and restore | A trashed listing comes back to its folder. | Planned |
Business Directory folders FAQ
Do folders change my directory?
What happens to a listing in a folder when it expires?
Can I use folders as directory categories?
Will a folder renew or hide a listing?
Is this in Plathix Free?
Related pages
Let the directory keep growing. Keep your listings in folders.
Listings grouped by area, client or renewal month. Nothing changes for visitors.