No individual import

[Marcus Stenberg]

Hi, under the settings tab for importing I have listed all pages I want to import from automagically.

However, I still want to be able to import a single event now and then from fb manually but when looking under the “Facebook” tab, where I could do this previously, there is just a long list starting to add up with “Events from Facebook organizations or pages you’ve added:”

It says in the description: “You can also import any specific event by entering Facebook event IDs in the text area below.”

But there is no text area anymore. Just a long list of events from the fb-pages. Where has the text area gone?

Also: Some of the dates have unchecked boxes that I can check but there is no button to then Approve/upload. What is this functionalty to just be able to check the boxes?

[Geoff]

Hey Marcus, thanks for reaching out and I hope you had a great weekend!

How strange — there should be a box at the very bottom of the Events > Import > Facebook screen at the end of the list of imported events and scheduled imports. I see the screenshots you sent, but it looks like you are not seeing that box at all. Is that correct? Here’s a screenshot of it on my test site as an example of how it should appear.

Let’s confirm that before we dig much deeper. If you’re not seeing that box at all, then we will likely start by updating the plugins and running a check for conflicts.

Thanks!
Geoff

[Marcus Stenberg]

Hi, thanks for replying. There is no text area or import button. Just a list of events and then nothing at the end. Sometimes I can’t even view the list because of a 500 error:

Request Timeout

This request takes too long to process, it is timed out by the server. If it should not be timed out, please contact administrator of this web site to increase ‘Connection Timeout’.

My host says the timeout is set to 5 minutes which should be more than enough for just viewing the facebooktab.

All my plugins are updated. I tried deactivating them all and then activating them 2 at a time. I tried reinstalling the events calendar.

I also noticed now that none of the imported events via facebook have a venue/city/address specified even though that info can be seen on facebook. Maybe this is related?

I will post a private reply with login info in case you want to view.

[Marcus Stenberg]

This reply is private.

[Geoff]

Thanks so much for this, Marcus!

Can you confirm a couple of things for me:

• Exactly how many Facebook pages are scheduled for import?
• Does anything change if you drop the number to something like 10 pages?

My hunch is that you are using a number of feeds that is greater than the plugin can handle — and admittedly that we may not have tested for — so the answers to the questions will help us see if that’s the issue and to what degree the plugin is not properly scaling.

Thanks!
Geoff

[Marcus Stenberg]

I had 299 pages to start with. I downsized to 10 and it is working now so good call by you! But disappointing that I can’t import more than that, not really a need for the plugin for me then, 10 pages I can do manually. Is there a workaround for this?

[Geoff]

Dang, that is definitely a disappointment.

I did some more digging on this and found that we do have a ticket for this in our system. That’s good news in that it’s on our radar and that I am able to (and have) added this thread to the ticket so we can continue to follow up with you as progress is made.

The bad news is that there currently no timeframe for fixing this. In fact, we’re actively working on a new product that will solve this entirely called Event Aggregator and that will actually release in about a month: https://theeventscalendar.com/wordpress-event-aggregator/

I really wish I had a workaround to offer in the meantime, but I’m afraid the best thing would be to run the import for each Facebook page in batches of 10-20 at a time.

I know that is not ideal at all. That said, I see that you just purchased the Facebook Events plugin on 8/10 and I would be happy to refund the purchase for you — I understand how this can be a deal breaker and want to make sure you have that offer on the table. Let me know and I can do that for you.

Thanks so much for hanging with on this — it’s a super frustrating issue.

Geoff

[Marcus Stenberg]

Thanks Geoff for good help and fast reply. It would be super good to get a refund on the plugin. Sounds like Event Aggregator is the plugin for me. 299 fb pages was just the start anyways 🙂 so doing 10-20 at a time is not an option I am afraid.

If I get a refund I will buy the Event Aggregator the day it is released.

Thanks again.

[Geoff]

Sure thing, Marcus! I went ahead and submitted the refund and the funds should be back in your account within 5-10 business days.

Thanks so much for working with me on this! I never like giving bad news but I really appreciate your positivity and willingness to stick with us — you’re the best! 🙂

Cheers,
Geoff

[Marcus Stenberg]

Thanks!!

[Geoff]

My pleasure! Have a great day. 🙂

[Geoff]

Hey Marcus,

Great news! After a lot of work and effort, we were able to make release what we believe is a great solution for the issue of events not importing from Facebook due to timeout limitations.

Since this thread was opened, not only has Facebook updated it API, but we have developed a new product called Event Aggregator that is fully compatible with it and overcomes the importing issues that Facebook Events encountered. In particular, Event Aggregator is not a plugin, but a service that is already available in The Events Calendar 4.3 and, when purchasing a license to activate it, it uses the power of our servers here at Modern Tribe to handle much larger imports than Facebook Events ever could running on a typical shared server.

Event Aggregator is now available and you should even have a complimentary license for it in your account.

In addition, we’ve put together a handy guide that outlines best practices for importing events using Event Aggregator to help get the most out of your imports:

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/plugin/event-aggregator/

Thanks so much for your patience while we worked on this. We know it has been a long-running item everyone’s wishlist and we couldn’t be more excited to finally get it into your hands.

Cheers,
Geoff

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