Creating Metatable for Member Directories

Ultimate Member, starting from version 2.1.3, offers the ability to create and utilize a custom database table, enhancing the performance of member directories. If you're encountering speed issues with your member directory or are using multiple filters that could potentially slow down your website, we recommend enabling this feature.

The new database table contains essential user data for searching, filtering, and sorting, significantly improving member directory performance, which is particularly beneficial for large and heavily loaded databases.

To create the custom table, follow these steps:

1. Backup: Create a full backup of your website and database through your hosting provider's control panel.
2. Enable Feature: Go to wp-admin > Ultimate Member > Settings > Advanced > Features, then check the "Enable custom table for usermeta" checkbox.

   

3. Run Update: Click the "Run" button and wait for the upgrade process to complete.
   

   

This process updates the database table {$table_prefix}um_metadata, which was created when the plugin was activated, and copies all user data into this table. The data in this custom table is a duplicate of the data stored in the default database tables {$table_prefix}users and {$table_prefix}usermeta. The plugin automatically updates the data in this custom table whenever the data in the default tables is updated.

If you notice any issues with searching and filtering in the member directory, you can manually update this custom table. Simply turn off the feature, save the changes, then turn the feature back on and run the update process again.