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Stella Cookies - Complete Documentation & User Guide

Stella Cookies: Premium Cookie Consent for WordPress

Welcome to the official documentation for Stella Cookies. This guide covers every feature, and setting available in both the Free and Pro versions of the plugin.

1. Installation & Setup

Installing the Free Version

  1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard.
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
  3. Search for "Stella Cookies".
  4. Click Install Now and then Activate.

Installing the Pro Version

Important: The Free version must remain active. The Pro plugin acts as an add-on.

  1. Purchase a license and download the stella-cookies-pro.zip file.
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
  3. Select the zip file, click Install Now, and Activate.
  4. Navigate to Stella Cookies > License to enter your key.

2. General Settings Tab

This tab contains the core behavioral controls for your cookie banner.

Basic Settings

  • Enable Cookie Banner: Toggle this on to display the banner on your website.
  • Clear Cookies on Decline: When enabled, if a user clicks "Decline", the plugin will actively attempt to delete any non-essential cookies currently stored in their browser.
  • Enable Iframe Blocking: Automatically blocks external iframes (like YouTube or Vimeo embeds) and shows a "Consent Required" overlay until the user accepts marketing cookies.
  • Consent Version: A numeric value (e.g., 1.0). If you update your privacy policy or add new trackers, change this number. It will force all returning visitors to re-consent.
  • Block Scripts (Keywords): Enter keywords (comma-separated) found in scripts you want to block prior to consent (e.g., analytics.js, fbevents.js, gtag). Any script containing these strings will not load until consent is granted.

Cookie Declaration & Policy

  • Policy Page Content: Add introductory text that will appear above your cookie table when using the shortcode.
  • Cookie List (Declaration): A manual entry table where you can define exactly what cookies your site uses, their duration, category, and purpose.
  • Show Cookie List on Policy Page: Toggle whether the table renders when the shortcode is used.

Pro Compliance Features

  • Enable CCPA (Do Not Sell) [PRO]: Adds a dedicated "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link to the banner for California compliance.
  • Show Banner Only in EU/EEA [PRO]: Enables Geo-Targeting. Visitors from outside Europe will not see the banner.
  • Sync with GTM DataLayer [PRO]: Pushes consent events to window.dataLayer so you can trigger Google Tag Manager tags based on user choices.
  • Detect Global Privacy Control (GPC) [PRO]: Automatically detects the GPC signal from browsers like Brave or DuckDuckGo and rejects marketing cookies automatically.
  • Enable Consent Analytics [PRO]: Activates the Analytics dashboard tab.

Data Management

  • Delete Data on Uninstall: If checked, all Free plugin data is wiped upon deletion.
  • Delete Pro Data on Uninstall [PRO]: If checked, all Pro data (including Consent Logs) is wiped upon deletion.

3. Design & Content Tab

This tab controls exactly how your banner looks and reads. It includes a real-time Live Preview on the side of the screen.

Appearance & Layout

  • Theme: Choose between Light, Dark, Aurora, and Eco presets.
  • Positioning: Choose where the banner anchors: Bottom, Top, or Inline.
  • Banner Max Width (px) [PRO]: Restrict the banner width on large desktop screens.
  • Font Family [PRO]: Choose from 10 premium Google Fonts (e.g., Inter, Poppins) loaded locally for zero performance bloat.
  • Colors: Full hex-color controls for Background, Text, Primary Button, Secondary Button, and Link colors.
  • Enable Banner Logo [PRO]: Toggle to display your brand logo. Includes a URL field and Logo Position options (Top Left, Top Center, Inline).
  • Advanced Custom CSS [PRO]: Inject raw CSS directly into the banner wrapper.

Content & Strings

  • Banner Description: The main text displayed to users when they arrive.
  • Privacy Policy URL: The link to your site's privacy page.
  • Button Texts: Customize the labels for the "Accept All", "Decline All", and "Manage Preferences" buttons.

Preference Manager Configuration

Controls the secondary popup where users can granularly choose cookie categories.

  • Enable Preference Manager: Toggles the existence of the "Manage" button.
  • Enable "Accept Necessary": Adds a button to accept only essential cookies.
  • Necessary Category: Customize the Title, Badge Label, and Description for essential cookies (users cannot disable these).
  • Statistics Option: Toggle visibility, and customize the Title and Description for analytics cookies.
  • Marketing Option: Toggle visibility, and customize the Title and Description for advertising/tracking cookies.

4. Scanner Tab [PRO]

Automate the discovery and categorization of cookies on your website.

Scan Controls

  • Manual Scan: Click this button to immediately dispatch a background bot to crawl your website for hidden cookies.
  • Scheduled Auto Scan: Choose to run scans automatically on a "Daily" or "Weekly" basis.
  • Scheduled Scan Behavior: Choose "Auto-apply" to instantly push new cookies to the live declaration, or "Review first" to stage them for your approval.

Scan Configuration

  • Scan Request Timeout: Set how long the scanner waits per page (default is usually 10-30 seconds).
  • Scan Include Paths: Force the scanner to check specific subdirectories (e.g., /shop/).
  • Scan Exclude Paths: Prevent the scanner from crawling sensitive areas (e.g., /checkout/ or /account/).
  • Scan Extra URLs: Force the scanner to check external or specific hard-to-reach URLs on your domain.

Notifications & Results

  • Email Alert for New Cookies: Toggle email notifications when an automated scan discovers unclassified cookies.
  • Notification Email: Specify where alerts should be sent. Includes a "Test Notification" button.
  • Staged Scan Results: A table showing newly discovered cookies awaiting your approval and categorization.
  • Scan History: A log of every time the scanner ran and how many cookies were found.

5. Analytics Tab [PRO]

Visualize how users interact with your privacy banner.

  • Consent Metrics Dashboard: Displays real-time charts showing your total Acceptance Rate vs. Decline Rate.
  • Granular Insights: View exactly how many users accepted "Marketing" vs "Statistics" only.

6. Consent Logs Tab [PRO]

Maintain cryptographic proof of user consent for legal audits.

  • Consent Log Retention (days): Define how many days logs should be kept in your database before automatic deletion (e.g., 365 days).
  • Log Table: Displays the Date, User Action (e.g., "Accepted All", "Declined"), and an anonymized IP address.
  • Automatic IP Anonymization: IP addresses are hashed using HMAC encryption. You can mathematically verify an IP address during a legal audit, but a hacker cannot read the IPs if your database is breached.
  • Export to CSV: Click this button to instantly download your entire consent log for legal or reporting purposes.

7. License Tab [PRO]

Manage your Stella Cookies Pro subscription.

  • License Key: Paste your purchase key here.
  • Activate/Deactivate License: Validate your key to enable Pro features, automatic updates, and premium support access.

8. Integrations & Shortcodes

Privacy Policy Shortcode

Paste the following shortcode onto your Privacy Policy or Cookie Policy page:

[stella_cookies_policy]

This shortcode will output:

  1. Your custom "Policy Page Content".
  2. A button allowing users to reopen the Preference Manager to "Revoke or Edit Consent".
  3. Your dynamic Cookie Declaration table (if enabled in General Settings).

9. Troubleshooting

Scripts are still loading before consent is given!

  • Go to General Settings > Block Scripts (Keywords).
  • Ensure your keyword is accurate. For example, if your script src is https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js, you should use the keyword gtag.
  • Clear your site cache. Script blocking relies on output buffering; cached pages might bypass the block.

The banner looks broken on mobile devices.

  • Ensure you haven't set a massive "Banner Max Width" or injected broken CSS into the Advanced Custom CSS field.

The scanner isn't finding any cookies.

  • Ensure your site isn't blocking loopback requests or blocking the server from crawling itself (often caused by strict firewalls or Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode).
  • Increase the Scan Request Timeout in the Scanner settings.