How to Check if Cron Jobs are Working on Your Site

Our plugins, Feedzy and Visualizer, rely on WP-Cron to import posts and update charts according to scheduled cron jobs. If imports or updates are not working as expected, there may be an issue with cron jobs on your WordPress site.

This guide will help you check whether your site's cron jobs are running correctly.

Understanding WP-Cron

WordPress uses WP-Cron to handle scheduled tasks such as publishing scheduled posts, checking for updates, and other time-based activities. WP-Cron is triggered when someone visits your site. If your site has low traffic or issues with scheduled tasks, cron jobs may not run properly.

Check WP-Cron Status

1. Using a Plugin (Recommended)

You can use a plugin like WP Crontrol to check and manage cron jobs.

1. Install & activate the WP Crontrol plugin from the WordPress repository.
2. Go to Tools → Cron Events.
3. Look for cron events related to Feedzy (they usually start with feedzy_). If you are using the Visualizer plugin, check visualizer_schedule_import and visualizer_schedule_refresh_db
4. Check the Next Run column:
   • If it shows a future time, cron is scheduled properly.
   • If it shows a past time or says "Now", cron may not be working correctly.

Manually Trigger WP-Cron

If you suspect the cron is not running, try manually triggering it.

1. Using WP Crontrol

1. Find the cron job (e.g: feedzy_cron or visualizer_schedule_import) in WP Crontrol.
2. Click Run Now to manually execute the import.

2. Using the WP-Cron URL

1. Open a new browser tab.
2. Visit:https://yourwebsite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron
3. If cron is working, you should see a blank page or no error message.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

• Cache Plugins: Sometimes, cache plugins can interfere with WP-Cron. Please try disabling your cache plugin temporarily to see if it resolves the issue.
• Hosting Environment: Some hosting providers disable WP-Cron by default and recommend setting up a real cron job. Check with your hosting provider if other solutions are not working. 
• Low Traffic: WP-Cron relies on site traffic to trigger. If your site has low traffic, consider setting up a real cron job on your server.

If you’ve tried all the steps and still experience issues, please reach out to us here.