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Resolving Conflicts Between Members Plugin and Gravity Forms Add-Ons

25 threads Sep 11, 2025 Plugin → Members – membership & user role editor plugin

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Many WordPress administrators use the Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin to manage user capabilities. A common issue reported across various support forums involves conflicts with Gravity Forms and its numerous add-ons. This guide will explain why these conflicts happen and provide the most effective solutions to resolve them.

Understanding the Problem

The core function of the Members plugin is to manage user roles and capabilities. When activated, it takes over the responsibility of assigning what users can and cannot see or do within the WordPress admin area. Gravity Forms and its ecosystem of add-ons rely on specific capabilities (special permissions) to display their menus and settings pages.

The conflict arises because some Gravity Forms add-ons use custom capabilities that are not automatically recognized or granted by the Members plugin, even to administrators. When the Members plugin is active but the necessary capability is missing from a user's role, the corresponding Gravity Forms menu item, settings tab, or button will disappear or become inaccessible. Common symptoms include:

  • Blank or white screens on Gravity Forms settings pages.
  • Specific Gravity Forms add-on menus or tabs not appearing.
  • Inability to save certain Gravity Forms capabilities (like gravityforms_view_entries).
  • Buttons like "New Form" or "Survey Results" vanishing.

How to Fix the Conflict

Based on numerous community reports, the solution almost always involves manually verifying and granting the correct capabilities within the Members plugin interface. Here is the step-by-step process to resolve the issue.

Solution 1: Check and Grant All Capabilities (Most Common Fix)

  1. Navigate to Members → Roles in your WordPress admin dashboard.
  2. Click the "Edit" link for the user role experiencing the issue (most commonly Administrator or Super Admin).
  3. On the role editing screen, you will see a comprehensive list of capabilities.
  4. Locate the section for Gravity Forms. It is crucial to grant ALL capabilities listed under Gravity Forms and any related Gravity Forms Add-Ons section. This often includes capabilities like gravityforms_edit_forms, gravityforms_view_entries, and many others.
  5. Scroll down and click "Update" to save the changes.

After updating, check if the missing Gravity Forms feature has reappeared. This resolves the vast majority of reported conflicts.

Solution 2: Add a Missing Custom Capability

Some specialized or premium Gravity Forms add-ons require a unique, custom capability that may not appear in the standard list within the Members plugin. If granting all standard capabilities doesn't work, you may need to add this custom capability manually.

  1. Go to Members → Roles and edit the relevant role.
  2. At the top of the capabilities list, you will find a "Grant Custom Capability" text field.
  3. You will need to identify the exact name of the required capability. This typically requires consulting the documentation for the specific Gravity Forms add-on or contacting its support team.
  4. Enter the capability name (e.g., gravityforms_utility) into the field and click "Grant".
  5. The new capability will appear in the list. Ensure the checkbox next to it is selected.
  6. Click "Update" to save the role.

Solution 3: Investigate PHP Error Logs

If the problem persists and no menus appear even after granting capabilities, a deeper PHP error might be occurring. Enable WordPress debugging and check your server's PHP error logs. Any fatal errors logged there can provide critical clues for further troubleshooting and should be reported to the appropriate plugin's support channel.

Conclusion

The conflict between the Members plugin and Gravity Forms is not a bug in the traditional sense but a fundamental interaction between two powerful plugins. The Members plugin is working exactly as designed by enforcing a strict capabilities system. The solution is to ensure that every user role, including Administrators, has been explicitly granted every capability required by the Gravity Forms plugins you are using. By carefully managing capabilities in the Members → Roles section, you can enjoy the powerful features of both plugins without conflict.

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