MPRO Portfolio

A structured WordPress portfolio and case-study manager with reusable card styles, native archives, Elementor integration, shortcodes, REST-ready metadata, and Rank Math SEO support.

Current version: 1.1.0
Release date: July 1, 2026
License: GPL-2.0-or-later

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Overview

MPRO Portfolio adds a dedicated Portfolio content type to WordPress while preserving the familiar post-editing workflow. Each portfolio item can contain full editor content, a native Featured Image, an independent Cover Image, structured project metadata, categories, tags, display settings, and optional Elementor templates.

The plugin is designed for:

• Product design case studies
• UI/UX portfolios
• Digital product showcases
• Agency work archives
• Selected work sections on landing pages
• Project libraries that need structured metadata

Version 1.1.0 introduces a rebuilt architecture focused on predictable WordPress behavior, maintainability, migration safety, and removal of duplicated taxonomy menus.

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Table of Contents

• Key Features
• Requirements
• Installation
• Updating from an Earlier Build
• Admin Menu Architecture
• Portfolio Content Model
• Built-in Card Styles
• Styles Settings
• Shortcodes
• PHP Template Helpers
• Elementor Integration
• Rank Math SEO Integration
• Single and Archive Templates
• Theme Overrides
• URLs and Rewrite Rules
• REST API and Metadata
• Admin List Features
• Data Compatibility and Migration
• Data Safety and Uninstall Behavior
• Project Structure
• Testing and Verification
• Staging Acceptance Checklist
• Known Verification Limits
• Development Workflow
• Versioning
• Changelog
• Security
• License

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Key Features

WordPress-native portfolio management

• Dedicated public mpro_portfolio post type
• Full block/classic editor content support
• Excerpt support
• Featured Image support
• Revisions
• Author, comments, trackbacks, custom fields, and page attributes
• Public archive and single portfolio pages
• REST API support

Structured project metadata

• Short description
• Separate Cover Image
• Client or company
• External project URL
• Implementation date
• Structured duration value and unit
• Role in project
• Repeatable tools
• Repeatable collaborators with name, role, and URL
• Repeatable custom metadata rows
• Featured portfolio flag
• Per-item card style
• Per-item single template

Taxonomies

• Hierarchical Portfolio Categories
• Non-hierarchical Portfolio Tags
• Public taxonomy archives
• REST-enabled terms
• Admin filters and list-table integration

Frontend presentation

• Three built-in card styles
• Built-in single portfolio template
• Built-in archive and taxonomy template
• Responsive grid rendering
• Manual portfolio selection
• Featured portfolio queries
• Category and tag filtering
• Pagination
• Theme template overrides
• Optional Elementor saved-template rendering

Integrations

• Elementor Portfolio Grid widget
• Rank Math and Rank Math PRO compatibility
• Rank Math replacement variables
• REST-ready metadata
• PHP helper functions for theme development

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Requirements

Requirement	Minimum / Status
WordPress	6.0 or newer
PHP	7.4 or newer
Elementor	Optional
Rank Math SEO	Optional
Rank Math SEO PRO	Optional

The plugin remains operational when Elementor or Rank Math is not installed or inactive.

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Installation

Install from a ZIP file

1. Download the plugin ZIP package.
2. In WordPress, open Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.
3. Select the ZIP file.
4. Click Install Now.
5. Activate MPRO Portfolio.
6. Open Portfolio → Styles and review the default display settings.
7. Create a test portfolio item.
8. If portfolio URLs return a 404 response, open Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes once.

Manual installation

1. Extract the package.
2. Upload the mpro-portfolio directory to:

/wp-content/plugins/

3. Activate MPRO Portfolio from the WordPress Plugins screen.

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Updating from an Earlier Build

Before replacing an earlier MPRO Portfolio build:

1. Create a full database backup.
2. Back up the existing plugin directory.
3. Deactivate the previous build.
4. Upload version 1.1.0.
5. Choose Replace current with uploaded when WordPress displays the replacement prompt.
6. Activate the new version.
7. Open Settings → Permalinks and save once.
8. Verify the Staging Acceptance Checklist.

Version 1.1.0 includes compatibility readers for metadata created by:

• The earlier MPRO Portfolio build
• A compatible alternative 1.0.x build using _mpro_pf_* metadata keys

When an existing portfolio item is saved, the plugin writes the canonical version 1.1.0 metadata structure.

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Admin Menu Architecture

The admin menu is intentionally controlled by one component only.

WordPress automatic menu registration is disabled for:

• The Portfolio post type
• Portfolio Categories
• Portfolio Tags

The plugin then creates one top-level Portfolio menu and exactly five submenus:

1. All Portfolio
2. Add Portfolio
3. Tags
4. Categories
5. Styles

This single-owner architecture prevents the duplicated Categories and Tags issue that can occur when automatic and manual submenu registration are mixed.

The plugin targets the fourth visible admin-menu position and attempts to place Portfolio before another menu containing mpro in its slug.

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Portfolio Content Model

Native WordPress fields

Field	Description
Title	Portfolio or case-study title
Editor content	Full project content using normal WordPress editing tools
Excerpt	Optional summary and fallback card description
Featured Image	Native WordPress thumbnail
Publish date	Native WordPress publication date
Author	Native WordPress author
Revisions	Native WordPress revision history
Comments	Optional native comments
Page attributes	Supports menu order and related attributes

MPRO project fields

Field	Storage type	Description
Short Description	String	Concise project summary used by cards and SEO variables
Cover Image	Attachment ID	Independent project cover; falls back to Featured Image when empty
Client or Company	String	Client, organization, or product owner
Project URL	URL	External link to the project
Implementation Date	Date	Date the project was implemented or delivered
Duration Value	Numeric string	Project duration amount
Duration Unit	String	Days, weeks, months, or years
Role	String	The author’s role in the project
Tools	Array	Repeatable list of tools used
Collaborators	Array	Repeatable name, role, and URL entries
Additional Details	Array	Repeatable label and value rows
Featured	Boolean	Marks the project for featured queries
Card Style	String	Per-item card presentation override
Single Style	String	Per-item single-page template override

Canonical metadata keys

_mpro_portfolio_short_description
_mpro_portfolio_cover_id
_mpro_portfolio_client
_mpro_portfolio_project_url
_mpro_portfolio_implementation_date
_mpro_portfolio_duration_value
_mpro_portfolio_duration_unit
_mpro_portfolio_role
_mpro_portfolio_tools
_mpro_portfolio_collaborators
_mpro_portfolio_meta_details
_mpro_portfolio_featured
_mpro_portfolio_card_style
_mpro_portfolio_single_style

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Built-in Card Styles

Version 1.1.0 includes three reusable card styles:

Identifier	Name	Intended use
clean	Clean	Minimal, balanced portfolio grids
editorial	Editorial	Case-study and content-led layouts
immersive	Immersive	Image-forward featured work sections

A card uses the Cover Image first. When no Cover Image is set, it falls back to the native Featured Image.

Card style priority:

1. Explicit style passed by shortcode, PHP, or Elementor
2. Per-item card style
3. Global default card style

An explicitly enabled Elementor saved template can also become a card style using an internal identifier such as:

elementor:123

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Styles Settings

Open Portfolio → Styles to configure:

• Default Card Style
• Archive Card Style
• Archive Columns
• Default Single Template
• Elementor saved templates explicitly allowed as card styles

Elementor templates are not automatically exposed as card styles. An administrator must opt in to each template on the Styles screen. This prevents unrelated Elementor templates from appearing in portfolio style selectors.

Published Elementor templates can be selected as single-page templates without being enabled as card templates.

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Shortcodes

Main portfolio grid

[mpro_portfolio]

Default behavior:

• Nine published items
• Ordered by publish date
• Descending order
• Three desktop columns
• Two tablet columns
• One mobile column
• Global or per-item card style

Shortcode attributes

Attribute	Default	Accepted values	Description
ids	Empty	Comma-separated post IDs	Manually selected items; supplied order is preserved
featured	false	true / false	Restrict results to featured portfolio items
category	Empty	Comma-separated slugs or term IDs	Filter by Portfolio Category
tag	Empty	Comma-separated slugs or term IDs	Filter by Portfolio Tag
style	Empty	clean, editorial, immersive, or an enabled Elementor style	Force one card style; empty uses item/global resolution
columns	3	1–6	Desktop columns
columns_tablet	2	1–4	Tablet columns
columns_mobile	1	1–2	Mobile columns
count	9	1–100 or -1	Number of items; -1 returns all matches
posts_per_page	Empty	Same as count	Compatibility alias for count
orderby	date	date, implementation_date, title, menu_order, rand, modified, ID	Query ordering field
order	DESC	ASC / DESC	Query direction
pagination	false	true / false	Enable query-string pagination
page_var	mpro_page	Valid query-variable name	Unique query parameter for pagination

Examples

Latest portfolio items

[mpro_portfolio count="9" style="clean" columns="3"]

Manual homepage selection

[mpro_portfolio ids="12,45,67" style="editorial" columns="3"]

The order of the supplied IDs is preserved.

Featured work

[mpro_portfolio featured="true" count="6" style="immersive" columns="2"]

Filter by category

[mpro_portfolio category="product-design" count="12"]

Filter by category and tags

[mpro_portfolio category="product-design" tag="saas,fintech" count="12"]

When both category and tag filters are present, they are combined with an AND relationship.

Order by implementation date

[mpro_portfolio orderby="implementation_date" order="DESC" count="12"]

Show all matching items

[mpro_portfolio category="case-study" count="-1"]

Enable pagination

[mpro_portfolio count="12" pagination="true" page_var="work_page"]

Use a unique page_var when multiple paginated grids appear on the same page.

Featured compatibility shortcode

[mpro_portfolio_featured]

Without explicit IDs, this displays six featured portfolio items.

Manual selection is also supported:

[mpro_portfolio_featured ids="12,45,67" style="editorial"]

Single card shortcode

[mpro_portfolio_single id="123" style="clean"]

Compatibility aliases

The following shortcode names are registered:

[mpro_portfolio]
[mpro_portfolio_grid]
[mpro_portfolio_featured]
[mpro_portfolio_single]

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PHP Template Helpers

The plugin exposes public helper functions for themes and custom templates.

Return one card

$card = mpro_portfolio_get_card( 123, 'immersive' );
echo $card;

Print one card

mpro_portfolio_the_card( get_the_ID(), 'editorial' );

Return a grid

$grid = mpro_portfolio_get_grid(
    array(
        'category' => 'product-design',
        'style'    => 'clean',
        'columns'  => 3,
        'count'    => 9,
    )
);

echo $grid;

Print a manually curated grid

mpro_portfolio_the_grid(
    array(
        'ids'            => array( 12, 45, 67 ),
        'style'          => 'editorial',
        'columns'        => 3,
        'columns_tablet' => 2,
        'columns_mobile' => 1,
    )
);

Passing an empty card style allows the item/global style resolution to run. Passing item explicitly requests the per-item style and then falls back to the global default.

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Elementor Integration

When Elementor is active, the plugin registers:

MPRO Portfolio → Portfolio Grid

The widget uses Elementor’s current widget registration hook:

elementor/widgets/register

Widget sources

• Latest Portfolio
• Manual Selection
• Featured Portfolio