A Social Feed carousel normally carries its own arrows and dots. The Carousel Remote widget lets you move them — into a heading row, a sidebar, a different column, anywhere on the same page.
The two widgets find each other through a string you type into both of them.
Requirement – This widget is a part of The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro, make sure it’s installed & activated to enjoy all its powers.
Before You Start
- Edition: Pro — Social Feed ships only in The Plus Addons for Elementor Pro. With Pro deactivated the widget does not render at all, and there is no free version of it.
- Prerequisite: Elementor (free) installed and active.
- Widget to enable: go to The Plus Addons > Widgets, search for Social Feed and turn its toggle on.
- Second widget to enable: in the same screen, search for Carousel Remote and turn its toggle on. It is Pro-only too.
- Prerequisite: your server must be able to make outbound HTTPS requests. The feed is fetched server-side while the page renders, not by the visitor’s browser.
- Prerequisite: a Social Feed that already works. Set the feed up first and confirm the posts appear, then add the remote.
Connect the two widgets
- In the Social Feed widget, set Layout to Carousel under Content > Content Feed.
- Fill the Social Feeds item as usual, so the carousel has slides.
- Go to Style > Carousel and type a unique string into Unique Carousel ID — something like social-wall. The field is empty by default.
- Drop a Carousel Remote widget wherever you want the controls to live, on the same page.
- In its Content tab, type the same string into Unique Connection ID, and leave Remote Type on Carousel.
- For arrows, open Prev/Next and make sure Next/Prev Button is on — it is on by default.
- For dots, open Dots and turn Dots on. It is off by default. Add one dot item per slide you want to jump to.
The two fields that must match
| Widget | Field | Where | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Feed | Unique Carousel ID | Style > Carousel | empty |
| Carousel Remote | Unique Connection ID | Content | empty |
| Carousel Remote | Remote Type | Content | Carousel (the others are Switcher and Horizontal Scroll, for different widgets) |
| Carousel Remote | Next/Prev Button | Prev/Next | Show |
| Carousel Remote | Dots | Dots | Hide |
How It Behaves
- The pairing is the string, nothing else. The widgets do not need to be near each other in the layout; they only need the same value in the two fields.
- The remote renders its own controls. With the ids matched, the remote drew a Prev / Next pair and a dot row, while the feed carousel initialised with one slide per post.
- Remote Type must be Carousel. Switcher and Horizontal Scroll are for other widgets and will not drive a feed carousel.
Limitations
- Turn the carousel’s own navigation off. Two sets of arrows and dots on the same slider is confusing. Hide the built-in ones in Style > Carousel once the remote is working.
- The dots do not count themselves. The remote’s Dots section takes a list of dot items that you add by hand, so if your feed has eight slides you have to add eight dots.
- One id, one carousel. Reusing the same string on two feeds on one page means the remote has two targets; give each carousel its own id.
- Filter Option and Columns Manage disappear in the Carousel layout. Both sections are hidden when Layout is Carousel; the carousel has its own column settings under Style > Carousel.
Not verified
So you know exactly what has and has not been checked:
- Whether the remote’s buttons move the carousel. The remote rendered with working Prev and Next controls and a dot row, and the feed carousel initialised with eight slides, but no click was measured.
- Remote Type = Switcher and Horizontal Scroll. Neither was exercised with a Social Feed carousel.
- The dot list. Dots were switched on and the row rendered, but no dot item was configured with an icon or image, and no dot was clicked.
- Styles 2, 3 and 4, and the Style tab as a whole. Only Style 1 and Style 2 were rendered, and no styling control other than Unique Carousel ID was exercised.
- Responsive behaviour. Only one 390px load of the grid was checked; the tablet and mobile column and gap settings were not exercised one by one.
Troubleshooting
The remote does nothing
Compare the two strings character for character — Unique Carousel ID in the Social Feed and Unique Connection ID in the remote. A trailing space counts. Then check Remote Type is Carousel, and that the feed’s Layout really is Carousel and not Grid.
The remote is invisible
Both Next/Prev Button and Dots can be off, which leaves the widget with nothing to draw. Turn at least one of them on.
There are two sets of arrows
The carousel’s own navigation is still on. Switch it off in Style > Carousel.
The Carousel Remote widget is not in the panel
Turn it on in The Plus Addons > Widgets, the same screen where you enabled Social Feed.
