---
title: "Countdown Widget: Settings Overview"
url: https://theplusaddons.com/docs/countdown-widget-overview-in-elmentor/
date: 2024-01-16
modified: 2026-09-26
lang: en
author: "Aditya Sharma"
description: "The Countdown widget does more than count to a date. It can run a separate timer for every visitor, fake a stock counter, swap sections in and out of a..."
image: https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Countdown-Widget_-Settings-Overview-1024x536.jpg
word_count: 1452
---

# Countdown Widget: Settings Overview

## 

- The Plus Addons for Elementor Countdown widget includes Normal Countdown, Scarcity Countdown (Evergreen), and Fake Numbers Counter, and the free plugin covers a fixed Launch Date, three Countdown Style presets, and Inline Style.
- Special Option controls the end state with Select Action choices of None, Message, Template, or Page Redirect, plus Expiry Message, Template, and Page Redirect Url fields.
- Style 1 reads the deadline in the site’s timezone and waits for the next page load at zero, while Style 2 and Style 3 act instantly when the timer runs out.
- Extra Option adds Track User Data with Local Storage Based behavior, Enable Loop, Reset Time for Scarcity (Evergreen), and Class Based Section Visibility for Normal and Scarcity setups.

The **Countdown** widget does more than count to a date. It can run a separate timer for every visitor, fake a stock counter, swap sections in and out of a page, and hand over to a message, a template or another URL when it finishes.

This page is the map: every control, what it does, what it starts at, and which parts need Pro.

***Requirement - This widget is a part of The Plus Addons for Elementor, make sure it's installed & activated to enjoy all its powers.***

[LIVE WIDGET LINK](https://theplusaddons.com/elementor-widget/countdown-timer/?utm_source=tpae&utm_medium=docs&utm_campaign=text)

## Before You Start

- **Edition:** the **Countdown** widget itself is in the free plugin, but this page uses a **Pro** setting (see the next line).- **Free:** a countdown to a fixed **Launch Date**, the three **Countdown Style** presets, and **Inline Style**.- **Pro:** **Scarcity Countdown (Evergreen)**, **Fake Numbers Counter**, the **Days** / **Hours** / **Minutes** / **Seconds** switches, everything under **Select Action**, **Reset Time**, **Track User Data**, **Class Based Section Visibility** and **WooCommerce Single Connect**.- **Prerequisite:** [Elementor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor/) (free) installed and active.- **Widget to enable:** go to **The Plus Addons > Widgets**, search for **Countdown** and turn its toggle on.

## Content > Layout

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ------------ | ------- |
| **Countdown Setup** | **Normal Countdown** ends at one fixed moment for everyone. **Scarcity Countdown (Evergreen)** starts a separate timer for each visitor. **Fake Numbers Counter** is not a clock at all — it is a number that drifts towards a target. | **Normal Countdown** |
| **Countdown Style** | **Style 1** is a number over a label. **Style 2** is a flip-clock face. **Style 3** is a set of progress rings. Hidden for **Fake Numbers Counter**. | **Style 1** |
| **Launch Date** | The date and time a **Normal Countdown** ends, read in your WordPress timezone. Hidden when **WooCommerce Single Connect** is on. | One month ahead |
| **Inline Style** | Puts the four units on one line. Only shown with **Style 1**. | Off |

![The Countdown Setup dropdown with its three options in the Elementor panel.](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/countdown-countdown-setup.webp)

## Content > Content Source

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ------------ | ------- |
| **Days**, **Hours**, **Minutes**, **Seconds** | Show or hide each unit. The switch reads **Show** / **Hide**. | All on |
| **Show Labels** | The words under the numbers. Off leaves just the digits — measured, that takes the widget from 124 px tall to 96 px. | On |
| **Tag** | The HTML tag used for each label. | **h6** |
| **Days Section Text** and the other three | The label wording. Changing them works: setting them to Dias / Horas / Min / Seg rendered *02 DIAS 01 HORAS 57 MIN 04 SEG*. | **Days**, **Hours**, **Minutes**, **Seconds** |

## Content > Special Option

This is where you decide what happens when the clock runs out. Note the section name is **Special Option**, singular.

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ------------ | ------- |
| **After Expiry Action** | Master switch for the end-of-countdown behaviour. | On |
| **Select Action** | **None**, **Message**, **Template** or **Page Redirect**. | **None** |
| **Expiry Message** | The plain text shown instead of the timer. | **Countdown Has Ended** |
| **Template** | A saved Elementor template to render instead of the timer. | None selected |
| **Page Redirect Url** | Where to send the visitor. | Empty |

![The Select Action dropdown under Special Option, set to Message.](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/countdown-select-action.webp)

## Content > Extra Option

The name is **Extra Option**, singular. What you see here depends on **Countdown Setup**.

| Setting | Applies to | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ---------- | ------------ | ------- |
| **Theme Color** | Style 2 | **Dark**, **Light** or **Mix** for the flip-clock face. | **Dark** |
| **Theme Change Time** | Style 2, Mix | How often the theme alternates, in seconds. | **3** |
| **Reset Time** | Scarcity (Evergreen) | How many minutes each visitor's timer runs. | **99** |
| **Track User Data** | Scarcity, Fake Numbers | **No** or **Yes(Local Storage Based)**. Only the second one remembers the visitor across page loads. | **No** |
| **Enable Loop** | Scarcity, Fake Numbers | Start over once the timer or the counter has finished. | On |
| **Delay Minute** | Scarcity | Wait this many minutes before looping. | **0** |
| **Initial Number** | Fake Numbers | Where the counter starts. | **500** |
| **Final Number** | Fake Numbers | Where it stops. | **99** |
| **Number Range** | Fake Numbers | The largest random step it takes each time. | **10** |
| **Change Interval (In Seconds)** | Fake Numbers | How often it steps. | **1** |
| **Fake Message** | Fake Numbers | The sentence around the number. Use `{visible_counter}` where the number should go. | **Showing {visible_counter}** |
| **Class Based Section Visibility** | Normal, Scarcity | Show one tagged section while the timer runs and another after it ends. | Off |
| **During Countdown Class** / **After Expiry Class** | Normal, Scarcity | The two CSS class names. Both must be filled in. | Empty |

## Content > WooCommerce

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| ------- | ------------ | ------- |
| **WooCommerce Single Connect** | Takes the deadline from the product instead of from **Launch Date**. Needs the **WooCommerce Countdown** extension switched on under **The Plus Addons > Extensions**, which adds a **WooCommerce Countdown** box to the product edit screen. | Off |

## The Style tab

The style sections that appear are **Counter**, **Label**, **Dark Theme**, **Light Theme**, **Dot**, **Style 3**, **Expiry Message**, **Fake Message**, **Fake Number**, **Background** and **On Scroll View Animation**. Which ones you see depends on the setup and style you picked.

![The Countdown widget](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/countdown-1024x359.png)

## Watch it being set up

Adding the Countdown widget and working through its content settings.

The **Content Source** section, where the four units and their labels live:

The Content Source section of the Countdown widget.

And **Special Option**, which decides what happens at the deadline:

The Special Option section and the Select Action dropdown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdPTAGc3PMY

## How It Behaves

- The timer updates once a second. Measured on a published page: 50 hours out it read **02 DAYS 01 HOURS 58 MINUTES 14 SECONDS** and four seconds later **...58 MINUTES 10 SECONDS**.- **Inline Style** changes the widget from 124 px tall to 37 px, with the four units on one row.- A **Scarcity Countdown (Evergreen)** starts at the full **Reset Time** for each new browser and, with **Track User Data** set to **Yes(Local Storage Based)**, carries on across reloads.- All four after-expiry behaviours — message, template, redirect and the class swap — were confirmed working, but see the first limitation below for *when*.

![The countdown in its default block layout on a published page.](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/countdown-result-block.webp)

![The same countdown with Inline Style on, a single line high.](https://theplusaddons.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/countdown-result-inline.webp)

## Limitations

- **With Style 1 nothing happens at the moment the clock hits zero.** This was watched on published pages: with **Style 1** the timer reaches **00 00 00 00** and stays there for as long as the visitor leaves the page open — the message, the template, the page redirect and the class swap all wait for the **next page load**. With **Style 2** and **Style 3** the same settings do act the instant the timer runs out. Since **Style 1** is the default, assume the change happens on reload unless you have deliberately chosen another style, and never write copy promising visitors that the page will change in front of them.- **Style 2 and Style 3 read the deadline in the visitor's timezone; Style 1 reads it in your site's.** This was isolated with a controlled test. One **Launch Date**, nothing else changed: from a browser five and a half hours ahead of the site, **Style 1** showed **02 DAYS 01 HOURS 56 MINUTES** left while **Style 2** and **Style 3** showed **1 Day 20 Hours 25 Minutes** — short by exactly that offset. Repeating it with the browser set to the site's own timezone made all three agree. So on a live site a **Style 2** or **Style 3** sale ends at a different real-world moment for every visitor, and for visitors far enough ahead of your site it can be over before it starts. If the exact end time matters, use **Style 1**.- **Launch Date is only accurate to the minute.** The date picker stores hours and minutes; seconds are dropped. A deadline set for 10:30 fires at 10:30:00, so do not build anything that depends on a particular second.- **Class Based Section Visibility does nothing with Style 3.** The feature is skipped for the **Style 3** preset, and it is skipped for the **Fake Numbers Counter** setup. Use **Style 1** or **Style 2** with **Normal Countdown** or **Scarcity Countdown (Evergreen)**.- **The evergreen timer is per browser, not per person.** The deadline is kept in the browser's local storage, so a private window or another device starts over.- **Turn Elementor's element cache off for this widget.** Elementor's **Element Cache** is on by default and stores rendered markup for a day, which can serve a stale deadline. Set **Advanced > Layout > Cache Settings** to **Inactive** on the Countdown widget, or disable it site-wide under **Elementor > Settings > Performance**.

## Troubleshooting

### I cannot find the Countdown widget in Elementor

Turn it on under **The Plus Addons > Widgets**. A widget whose toggle is off is not offered in the panel.

### A control I read about is not in my panel

Two possible reasons. It may belong to a different **Countdown Setup** — the **Extra Option** section changes completely between the three. Or it may be a Pro control; in the free plugin those are replaced by an upgrade notice.

### The timer shows a time I did not set

Check **Settings > General > Timezone**, and check which **Countdown Style** you are using — Style 2 and Style 3 do not read the deadline the same way Style 1 does.

## Not verified

So you know exactly what has and has not been checked:

- **The Style tab control by control.** Only the rendered presets were measured; no colour, typography or spacing control was exercised individually.- **Tablet and mobile breakpoints.** Everything was measured at a 1200 px viewport.- **Enable Loop and Delay Minute running through a full cycle.**- **Behaviour behind a page cache or CDN.**

## Related Docs

- [How to Create an Evergreen Countdown Timer in Elementor?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/evergreen-countdown-timer-in-elementor/)- [How to Show Custom Text Message After Countdown Timer Ends?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/show-custom-text-message-after-countdown-timer-ends/)- [How to Style Elementor Countdown Timer in Block or Inline Style?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/style-elementor-countdown-timer-in-block-or-inline-style/)- [How to Change Website Content When Countdown Timer Ends?](https://theplusaddons.com/docs/change-website-content-when-countdown-timer-ends/)