If an item installed, activated, and the premium features simply don’t exist in the menu (they’re not locked, not grayed out, not there), the case is usually this: the Activator is missing, a companion plugin that comes as a separate item in the catalog.
Notice the detail that distinguishes this scenario from the others: an item with a pending license shows the options and complains; an item without the Activator doesn’t show the options.
Why it exists separately
Some manufacturers concentrate premium features behind their own verification, embedded in the plugin. The Activator is a small plugin that responds to this verification locally, within your site. It doesn’t come bundled in the item’s ZIP because it’s a separate project, with its own updates.
How to find it
Search the site for the manufacturer’s name followed by Activator. They exist for several: YITH Activator, WPC Activator, wpDiscuz Activator, WP-Statistics Activator, among others. The plugins area has the search at the top.
If the search returns nothing with the manufacturer’s name, that item probably doesn’t use this mechanism, and your case is one of the other five described in My license won’t activate.
How to install it
Like any plugin: download the ZIP and upload it in Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Activate it. It sits alongside the main item, without replacing it: both need to be active.
After that, reload the dashboard and look for the premium options again. They usually appear right away.
One Activator serves multiple items from the same manufacturer
This is the case with YITH, for example: a single Activator covers the brand’s entire plugin line. You don’t need one per item: install it once and every item from that manufacturer starts working.
I installed it and I still don’t have the options
Two quick checks: is the Activator actually active (appearing in the list isn’t enough), and is its version recent. An old Activator with a new item sometimes doesn’t communicate.
If it still doesn’t work, the item probably validates on the manufacturer’s server, which is a different scenario with no local solution. It’s described in the article on the five scenarios.
