If the Cointacted Social Terminal does not show up where you placed it, this guide helps you identify and fix the issue quickly.

The terminal should appear anywhere you add the shortcode:

[cointacted_social_terminal]

If nothing appears — or the space is blank — follow the steps below.

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🔹 1. Check That the Core Plugin Is Activated #

Go to:

WP Admin → Plugins

Make sure:

• Cointacted Social Terminal is installed
• It is Activated

If the plugin is inactive, the shortcode will produce nothing.

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🔹 2. Verify You Placed the Correct Shortcode #

The only correct shortcode is:

[cointacted_social_terminal]

Common mistakes:

❌ [cointacted-terminal]
❌ [cointacted_social]
❌ [terminal]
❌ [cointacted_social_terminal ] (extra space)

If unsure, copy it from:

WP Admin → Cointacted → General Settings

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🔹 3. Ensure You Are Editing the Correct Page Builder Area #

Depending on your theme:

• Gutenberg: add a Shortcode block
• Elementor: add “Shortcode” widget
• Divi: add Shortcode module
• Bricks/Oxygen/Beaver: Shortcode block

Make sure you’re not placing the shortcode into:

• Theme header
• Theme footer
• A global template where shortcodes are disabled

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🔹 4. Your Theme or Builder May Disable Shortcodes #

Some FSE themes or custom templates block shortcodes inside:

• HTML blocks
• Template parts
• Custom code widgets

Try placing the shortcode temporarily in a normal WordPress page editor.
If it appears there, the theme builder was blocking shortcode rendering.

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🔹 5. Make Sure JavaScript Is Loading #

The terminal requires its JS file to run.

In your browser:

1. Right-click → Inspect
2. Open Console
3. Reload the page

If you see errors like:

cointacted-social-terminal.js failed to load

or:

Uncaught ReferenceError: CointactedSocialTerminalTerminal is not defined

This means:

• Script optimization plugin blocked it
• Theme deregistered scripts
• CDN blocked loading
• Wrong file permissions on server

Try disabling plugins like:

• WP Rocket
• Autoptimize
• LiteSpeed Cache
• NitroPack
• Elementor “Optimized DOM”
• Any “Defer All JS” setting

Then reload the page.

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🔹 6. Check if Your Theme Removed jQuery or Footer Scripts #

While the terminal itself does not require jQuery,
some themes block all footer scripts.

Make sure:

• Footer scripts are enabled
• wp_footer() is present in your theme’s footer.php
• You are not using a “minimal JS” experimental mode

Without footer scripts, no terminal will appear.

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🔹 7. Check for Security Plugins Blocking the Terminal Script #

Some security plugins mistakenly block terminal scripts because they include words like:

• command
• execute
• terminal

Check:

• Wordfence
• Defender
• Sucuri
• iThemes Security
• Ninja Firewall

Whitelist:

cointacted-social-terminal.js
cointacted-social-terminal-public.css

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🔹 8. Shortcode Ignores Inside Some Block Themes (FSE) #

Some block themes do not run shortcodes inside:

• Template Parts
• Reusable Blocks
• Query Loops
• Site Editor blocks

Try placing the shortcode in:

Pages → Sample Page → Shortcode Block

If it appears there, the theme is blocking shortcode execution in other areas.

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🔹 9. Check For Plugin Conflicts #

Disable all plugins except:

• Cointacted Social Terminal

Reload the page.

If the terminal appears:

• Re-enable plugins one-by-one
• Identify the one breaking shortcode rendering or script loading

Common offenders:

• Page speed optimizers
• Builders that modify frontend scripts
• Scripts-in-header plugins

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🔹 10. Confirm No PHP Errors Are Occurring #

If the shortcode silently fails, PHP might have thrown an error.

Go to:

wp-content/debug.log (if WP_DEBUG is enabled)

Look for:

PHP Fatal error

or errors related to cointacted-social-terminal.

If the plugin hit a fatal error, shortcode output may stop.

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🔹 11. The Terminal Works but Is Hidden by CSS #

Inspect the shortcode area.

If you see the terminal in the DOM but it’s invisible, the theme may have added:

• display: none
• zero height
• overflow hidden
• z-index issues
• absolute positioning issues

Fix by adding:

.cointacted-social-terminal {
    display: block !important;
    position: relative !important;
    visibility: visible !important;
}

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🎯 Summary #

If the terminal does not appear:

✔ Check plugin activation #

✔ Confirm the shortcode #

✔ Ensure JS is loading #

✔ Disable aggressive caching/optimization #

✔ Try on a clean page #

✔ Check theme shortcode support #

✔ Inspect for CSS hiding the terminal #

✔ Look for plugin conflicts #

✔ Check debug.log for PHP errors #

These steps fix 99% of cases.