Activate, validate, and move a Pro license

Prepare the WordPress website

Install and activate the matching Free core before Pro. Drecha Forms Pro requires Drecha Forms; Drecha Events & Bookings Pro requires Drecha Events & Bookings.

Sign in to WordPress as an Administrator. Keep the complete license key ready, but do not paste it into a public support ticket or screenshot.

Activate Pro in WordPress

For Drecha Forms Pro:

1. Open Drecha Forms > License.
2. Paste the key into License key.
3. Select Activate license.
4. Confirm that the screen shows Status: Active and License active.

For Drecha Events & Bookings Pro:

1. Open Events & Bookings > License.
2. Paste the key into License key.
3. Select Activate license.
4. Read the returned status message and confirm that Pro controls are available.

Activation requires an outbound HTTPS connection to drecha.com. The request contains the key, plugin product, a random installation identifier, website URL, and current Pro version when relevant. Drecha Forms explicitly does not send form content or entry data during license requests.

Understand validation

After activation, the plugin stores the key and validation status in WordPress options. Trials refresh their status more frequently than paid licenses because they have a fixed expiry.

Validation requires the same active installation identifier and normalized website URL. Changing the WordPress home URL can therefore require a new activation.

For a temporary licensing-service outage:

• Ordinary Free processing remains local and continues.
• Drecha Forms Pro keeps a last-known-good paid entitlement available during the outage; a trial never receives that outage fallback.
• Drecha Events & Bookings Pro can reuse a recent valid paid result for up to seven days. Existing event content remains available if verification later fails.
• A first activation always needs a successful response.

An explicit invalid, revoked, expired, or mismatched response is not treated as a network outage.

Fix assignment and activation-limit errors

“The license is assigned to a different website” means the license has a fixed website assignment that does not match the current non-local host. This commonly applies to a trial, which is tied to the submitted trial URL.

“The production activation limit has been reached” means another non-local installation is still active. A paid key normally permits one production activation.

Recognized local/private URLs do not consume that production slot. Public staging domains are not automatically recognized as local.

Move a paid license to a new website

Release the old production activation before activating the replacement site.

From the old WordPress site, use Deactivate on its plugin License screen. If the old site is unavailable:

1. Sign in to the verified Drecha customer account.
2. Open the relevant license.
3. Find the old URL under Activated websites.
4. Select Deactivate.
5. Confirm the destructive action.

Then on the replacement website:

1. Install and activate the same Free core and Pro add-on.
2. Open the Pro License screen.
3. Paste the paid key.
4. Select Activate license.
5. Confirm the active status and run a small functional test.

The portal retains released activations in Activation history. Deactivation does not delete forms, entries, events, bookings, or saved Pro configuration from the old website.

Review local and production activations

The portal shows the active website URLs and the number of activations against the license limit. The licensing service separately marks recognized local/private installations so they do not increase the production count.

Do not assume a URL named staging.example.com is exempt. The implemented detection is based on localhost-style suffixes and private/reserved IP addresses, not the word “staging”.

Troubleshoot validation

The key is reported as inactive

Confirm that the key belongs to the selected plugin product, the order was fulfilled, the trial has not expired, and no refund or revocation occurred. A Forms key cannot activate Events, and vice versa.

Deactivation says no active installation was found

The current WordPress installation identifier no longer matches an active record, or the site was already released. Check the customer portal for the remaining active URL and release it there if needed.

A security plugin blocks activation

Allow outbound HTTPS POST requests to https://drecha.com/api/wordpress-plugins/. Check WordPress Site Health and the host firewall. Do not disable security protections site-wide merely to test.

A trial expired unexpectedly

Read the exact UTC or local expiry shown on its order page. A trial lasts seven days from issuance, not seven separate days of use, and cannot be paused or moved.

Free features appear after Pro becomes invalid

That downgrade-safe behavior is intentional. Keep Free active. Your stored data remains; Pro-only creation and services require valid access again.