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Fixing Flashing Icons and Missing Submenu Arrows in Ultimate Addons for Elementor

22 threads Sep 7, 2025 Plugin → Ultimate addons for elementor

Content

Many users of the Ultimate Addons for Elementor plugin encounter issues where submenu icons, cart icons, or other Font Awesome-based graphics fail to load correctly. Instead of the expected design, they see flashing question marks, exclamation points, or random letters and codes (like F002). This guide explains the common causes and provides tested solutions to resolve these frustrating display problems.

Why Do These Icon Issues Happen?

The root cause is almost always a conflict in how Font Awesome icon files are loaded and rendered by WordPress. The Ultimate Addons for Elementor plugin relies on this library to display its icons. When another plugin or theme alters how Font Awesome is loaded, or when the wrong version is prioritized, the icons break. Common specific causes include:

  • Font Awesome Version Conflicts: Other plugins or themes may be loading a different version of Font Awesome, which can override the one Ultimate Addons expects.
  • Elementor's Inline Font Feature: A specific feature in Elementor's settings called "Inline Font Icons" can sometimes interfere with icon rendering.
  • Missing Font Awesome 4 Support: Some older icon sets in the plugin require support for Font Awesome 4 to be explicitly enabled.
  • SVG Upload Issues: Attempting to upload a custom SVG icon in a widget that did not yet support it (though this has been added in more recent versions).

How to Fix Missing or Broken Icons

Try the following solutions in order. Most issues are resolved by the first two steps.

Solution 1: Enable Font Awesome 4 Support in Elementor

This is the most common fix for missing submenu arrow icons.

  1. Navigate to your WordPress Dashboard.
  2. Go to Elementor > Settings.
  3. Click on the Advanced tab.
  4. Find the option labeled Load Font Awesome 4 Support.
  5. Change the dropdown to Yes.
  6. Click Save Changes.
  7. Clear your website and browser cache, then check your site to see if the icons appear.

Solution 2: Disable Elementor's "Inline Font Icons" Feature

If the first solution didn't work, this one often resolves the issue, particularly for users of the Font Awesome plugin.

  1. Navigate to your WordPress Dashboard.
  2. Go to Elementor > Settings.
  3. Click on the Features tab.
  4. Look for the Inline Font Icons feature and toggle it to Inactive.
  5. Click Save Changes.
  6. Clear all caches and check your site again.

Solution 3: Check Your Font Awesome Plugin Settings

If you use a dedicated Font Awesome plugin, its configuration can override other settings.

  1. Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
  2. Find the settings for your Font Awesome plugin.
  3. Look for a Technology or similar section.
  4. Ensure the method is set to Web Font (not SVG).
  5. Save the settings and clear your cache.

Solution 4: Hide Unwanted Icons with CSS (A Workaround)

If you simply want to remove submenu icons entirely because you cannot get them to display correctly or you want to avoid loading the Font Awesome library, you can use custom CSS. Add the following code to your theme's Customizer under Additional CSS or in your child theme's stylesheet.

span.hfe-menu-toggle.sub-arrow {
    display: none;
}

When to Suspect a Different Problem

If the solutions above do not work, consider these possibilities:

  • User Role Settings: In one case, icons were only visible to logged-in users because the header template's visibility was accidentally set to 'Logged In' instead of 'All'. Check this in your Elementor header template settings.
  • Wrong Widget: Ensure you are using the correct "Navigation Menu" widget from the "Header Footer for Elementor" (HFE) category, not a similar widget from a different addon.
  • Plugin Conflict: A general plugin or theme conflict could be the culprit. To test this, temporarily switch to a default theme like Hello Elementor and deactivate all plugins except Elementor and Ultimate Addons. If the icons work, reactivate your plugins one by one to find the one causing the conflict.

By methodically working through these solutions, you should be able to resolve most icon display issues and get your menus looking sharp again.

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