Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between the free plugin and Pro?

The free plugin is a complete logbook with no limits on levels, clinic types, interventions or entries. It includes:

• The treatment entry form ([dclb_entry]) and the student overview ([dclb_overview]).
• The full program catalogue: levels, clinic types, interventions, requirements, and clinic minimums with Hard evidence enforcement.
• Private on-server evidence storage, served only to the student who owns it and to administrators.
• Read-only Logbook Entries and Reflections admin screens (with entry voiding), plus the Activity Log.
• Voice dictation for reflections, optional offline draft autosave, and an optional student login redirect.
• WordPress privacy export and erasure support.

Dantian Clinical Training Logbook Pro is a separate add-on for programs that run cohorts and trainers. It adds:

• Student allocations and cohorts, with allocation gating and locking.
• The Trainer Workspace.
• Full admin reports with exports, plus reassigning and deleting entries.
• Cohort Progress and Usage Analytics.
• Two-track evidence review, Soft and Reminder chain enforcement, and reflection feedback.
• Bunny CDN and Google Drive storage.
• Weekly reminder emails.
• The student journal ([dclb_journal]) and usage ([dclb_usage]) shortcodes.

Pro needs the free plugin installed and active. Pro doesn’t change or put a price on anything students already use in the free plugin.

Will activating Pro lock students out?

No. Pro’s allocation gating only starts once the first active allocation exists on your site. Until then, students log entries exactly as they did before. Once you start using allocations, each student needs an active allocation for a level to keep logging against it. See Student allocations.

Does Pro stop working if my licence expires?

No. The licence only controls automatic Pro updates. Without an active licence, every Pro feature keeps working, and administrators see a dismissible reminder on the plugin’s own screens. See Licensing and updates.

What disciplines does it support?

You define the catalogue, so the plugin isn’t tied to one discipline. You set the levels, clinic types and interventions (techniques, diagnostics, advice and case details) to match your program. The built-in wording (“Treatment”, “Client”) suits hands-on allied-health and complementary-medicine training, such as massage, myotherapy, acupuncture, naturopathy and similar programs.

Do students need a special role?

No. In the free plugin, any logged-in user can open the entry form and their own overview. The plugin doesn’t check roles there. The Eligible student roles setting (Plugin Settings → Site Setup, Subscriber by default) decides who counts as a student in admin lists, the login redirect and, with Pro, allocations and reminders. To limit who can log entries, restrict the pages themselves, or use Pro allocations. See User roles and permissions.

Can I use it with an LMS such as Tutor LMS?

Yes, side by side. The logbook has no built-in LMS integration: it doesn’t read courses, enrolments or grades from any LMS. It works alongside one because it uses ordinary WordPress accounts. The student screens don’t need any particular capability, so custom roles such as Tutor LMS’s tutor_student can use them. Tick that role under Eligible student roles so those students appear in admin lists and (Pro) can be allocated. Course delivery stays in your LMS, and practice logging happens in the logbook.

Where is student data stored?

• Entries are stored in your site’s own database, in the plugin’s own tables.
• Evidence files are stored privately on your own server. By default they go in a folder above the public web root. If that isn’t writable they go in a protected folder inside uploads, and the plugin checks regularly that it can’t be reached from the web. Files never get a public address: every download is checked against the logged-in viewer.
• The free plugin doesn’t send student data to any third party.

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

If you choose Bunny CDN or Google Drive under Cloud Storage, new evidence files are uploaded to that service. Downloads still go through your site’s access checks. See Cloud storage.

See Evidence storage and privacy.

Are drafts saved in the student’s browser?

Only if you turn it on. Offline draft autosave is off by default (Site Setup → Offline draft autosave). When it’s on, an in-progress entry is kept in the student’s browser for up to 24 hours and deleted on submit or logout. Client name, age and sex are only kept in the draft if you also tick Also save client demographics (name, age, sex) in drafts. Browser storage isn’t encrypted, so leave autosave off for students who share computers.

What happens to my data if I uninstall the plugin?

By default, nothing is deleted. Entries, settings and evidence files are all kept, and reinstalling picks them up again. To remove data, turn on the options under Site Setup → Data management before you delete the plugin:

• Delete this plugin’s data — its database tables and settings — when it is uninstalled
• Also delete all uploaded evidence files when the plugin is uninstalled. This one works on its own, even if the first is off.

Saved cloud credentials and the encryption key are always removed. Deactivating the plugin deletes nothing. The front-end pages the plugin created are left in place for you to delete.

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

Pro has its own Delete data on uninstall option under Licensing. It covers cohorts, allocations, audit logs, evidence records and Pro settings, and also removes cloud-stored evidence on a best-effort basis. If you uninstall Pro while the free plugin is still installed, Pro also deletes its data when the free plugin’s Delete this plugin’s data option is on. Pro’s licence details and reminder opt-out flags are always removed. The Clinical Trainer role isn’t removed.

See What happens on uninstall.

Can a student’s personal data be exported or erased?

Yes. The plugin works with WordPress’s privacy tools under Tools → Export Personal Data and Tools → Erase Personal Data. An export includes the student’s entries. An erasure deletes their entries and the evidence files attached to them.

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

Pro also exports and erases the student’s allocation history and the reflection feedback left for them. Evidence in Bunny or Google Drive is deleted as well. If the Google Drive service account only has Content manager access, erased files go to the Drive trash instead of being deleted permanently. Pro’s treatment audit log of administrative actions is kept for accountability, and the erasure report says so.

What happens to a student’s entries if I delete their WordPress account?

On the Delete Users screen, WordPress offers to attribute the user’s content to another user. If you choose that, their logbook entries move to that user too. If you choose to delete all content, their entries and evidence files are deleted. Deleting users from the network admin of a multisite network isn’t covered.

Can students delete their own entries?

No. Students can edit their own entries but can’t delete them. In the free plugin, an administrator can void a duplicate or mistaken entry from Logbook Entries. It stays visible, marked as void, and stops counting towards progress. With Pro, administrators can also delete or reassign entries.

Is Bunny.net or Google Drive required?

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

No. If neither is set up, evidence uses the plugin’s private on-server storage, which is what the free plugin always uses. Pro lets you send new uploads to Bunny CDN or Google Drive instead.

Can I keep cloud credentials out of the database?

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

Yes. Define them in wp-config.php: DCLB_GDRIVE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON for Google Drive, and DCLB_BUNNY_STORAGE_ZONE, DCLB_BUNNY_REGION, DCLB_BUNNY_API_KEY, DCLB_BUNNY_PULL_ZONE and DCLB_BUNNY_PULL_TOKEN for Bunny. When a constant is defined, the matching field is locked and the screen tells you so. Credentials saved in the database are encrypted. Define DCLB_SECRET_KEY to keep the encryption key out of the database as well. See Settings reference.

How do reminder emails decide what to include?

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

The weekly digest goes to students with a current active allocation. It lists entries where evidence the clinic type requires is missing: no notes upload, an empty reflection, or a reflection below the clinic type’s minimum word count. It follows the same rules as the student overview. Students can unsubscribe using the link in the email, and you can opt individual students out under Notifications & Review. See Reminder emails.

Why can’t a trainer see one of their students?

🔒 Pro feature — requires the Pro plugin.

Trainers only see students with an active allocation in a cohort the trainer is named on. Students allocated without a cohort are invisible to every trainer. See Students without a cohort.

Does voice dictation send audio anywhere?

The plugin never receives or stores audio. Dictation uses the browser’s own speech recognition. Some browsers, for example Chrome, send the audio to the browser maker’s servers to turn it into text. Dictation is optional, and students can always type instead.

Is it accessible?

Accessibility was part of the plugin’s design. The plugin provides:

• Keyboard operation and visible focus indicators.
• Screen-reader announcements for content that updates on the page.
• Support for reduced-motion and forced-colours (high-contrast) settings.
• Touch targets of at least 44 pixels on the main student controls.

Accessibility also depends on your theme and on the content you add, such as helper text, so test your own site with your users.

Can it be translated, and does it support right-to-left languages?

Yes. All on-screen text can be translated. Both plugins ship a translation template (.pot) in their languages folder. The interface is laid out to mirror correctly for right-to-left languages. Text you enter yourself, such as level names, helper text and email templates, appears exactly as you type it.

Does it work on WordPress multisite?

The plugin is built for single-site installs and has no multisite-specific features. Each site keeps its own settings and data, and network-level user deletion isn’t handled. If you need a network, test it thoroughly on a staging copy first.

What are the requirements?

WordPress 6.7 or later and PHP 8.1 or later, for both the free plugin and Pro. See Requirements and installation.