Welcome to the setup and feature guide for Airbridge. This guide will help you understand how to decouple your content management from the WordPress admin and leverage spreadsheets as your primary command center.
The “WordPress Gravity Well” is killing your margins
If you manage a fleet of websites, you aren’t just a developer—you’re a high-stakes babysitter. Every time a client logs into the WP-Admin to “tweak a price,” they are one misclick away from nuking a layout or triggering a support ticket.
Airbridge is the escape velocity. The plugin stops the “fiddling” by moving the entire content management layer to Google Sheets, Excel, or Airtable.
The Ingestion Deck: Sync from Anything
Airbridge is source-agnostic; as long as your data source can provide a CSV, it can be bridged. Common sources include:
- Google Sheets: Use File > Share > Publish to Web as a CSV for a live, real-time syncing URL.
- Microsoft SharePoint/Excel: Generate a direct CSV download link via Office 365.
- Airtable: Create a “Shared View” and use the CSV download link.
- Zoho & Coda: Use their native CSV export URLs to maintain a rich source of truth.
How it Works: The “Handshake”
Airbridge uses a Two-Stage Handshake to ensure the right row always updates the right content, even if you change titles or slugs.
Stage 1: The Detective Phase (Initial Match)
When you first sync, Airbridge looks for “Natural Clues”:
- Posts/Pages: Matches by Title or Slug.
- WooCommerce: Matches by SKU.
- Comments: Matches by Author + Content Snippet.
Stage 2: The Married Phase (Persistent Link)
Once a match is found, Airbridge issues a “Hidden ID Card” (_airbridge_source_id). From then on, you can change the Title, the Text, or the Price in your spreadsheet. Airbridge ignores the “clues” and follows the ID Card, making the link unbreakable.
Key Features
- Universal Sync: Supports Posts, Pages, WooCommerce Products, Comments, and Reviews.
- Automated Scheduling: Set-and-forget with Hourly, Daily, or Weekly intervals powered by a robust WP-Cron engine.
- Smart Sideloading: Paste an image URL in your CSV; Airbridge downloads it, attaches it to the Featured Image, and prevents duplicate library bloat.
- Hierarchical Support: Map Parent IDs to maintain complex page structures or product categories automatically.
- Intelligent Metadata: Automatically detects custom fields from plugins like Yoast SEO, Salient, and WooCommerce.
- Detailed Logging: A comprehensive log system tracks every success and provides clear error messages for troubleshooting.
The Ultimate Content Firewall
WordPress databases can be fragile, but Airbridge isolates your state from potential local site issues:
- Update Mode: Overwrite existing records to maintain a perfect mirror of your sheet.
- Skip Mode: Protect manual client edits by ignoring records that already exist.
- State Isolation: Restore a hacked site in minutes by reconnecting your Airbridge URL and hitting Sync.
Data Formatting Guide
To ensure a seamless sync, format your spreadsheet columns as follows:
| Field Type | Correct Format | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
2026-02-25 09:00:00 |
| Booleans | 1 (True) or 0 (False) |
1, 0, True, False |
| Status | Lowercase slug | publish, draft, pending |
| Prices | Number only | 19.99, 500 |
| Media | Fully qualified URL | https://site.com/image.jpg |
Installation
- Upload the airbridge folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
- Click on the Airbridge menu item in your sidebar.
- Click “Create New Bridge” to start your first sync.