Events Search & Filter Bar for The Events Calendar

Description

Give your visitors a real way to find events instead of scrolling a long event calendar.

Events Search & Filter Bar is a free event search plugin and events filter bar for The Events Calendar. Visitors type an event name, narrow it to a date range, and see matching events on the same page — with a shareable URL for every filtered view.

Front-end event search and filtering is normally a paid feature in the events calendar ecosystem. This event calendar addon gives you a real, working one for free.

👉 View the live demo

An events calendar addon, not another event calendar plugin

This plugin does not replace your WordPress event calendar — it makes the one you already have findable. If you run The Events Calendar to manage events, conferences, webinars, workshops, classes, gigs or local meetups, and your events page has grown into a long list, this adds the search and filtering layer that list is missing.

It works on any WordPress site running The Events Calendar (free or Pro), with any theme, and with the block editor, Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Bricks and WPBakery — because the bar is placed with a simple shortcode.

What you get, free

• Event search that runs on the server. Keyword search matches the event title, paginated and bounded — your event catalogue is never dumped into the browser.
• Type-ahead event suggestions. Instant results as visitors type, in a keyboard-driven dropdown — and, when the bar has a results list to hand them to, a “See all results” row that takes them there.
• A date filter with presets. Today, Tomorrow, This weekend, This week, Next week, This month, Next month — or a custom date range. Multi-day and recurring events are matched correctly, in your site’s timezone.
• Filtered event lists on the same page. Place the results region where you want it and the bar drives it — event count, active-filter chips, Load more, and helpful empty states that offer a way out (“Clear search”, “Search past events too”, “Browse past events”).
• Events grid or events list, the visitor’s choice. Pick the default; visitors can flip between the two from the results toolbar, and re-sort — soonest first, latest first, or by title.
• Event cards you control. Show or hide the image, title, date, venue and cost, set the number of columns and the card scale, and choose how the event date reads.
• Shareable, bookmarkable URLs. Every search, date range, sort and page is in the address bar, so a filtered event view can be linked, shared and crawled — and the browser’s back and forward buttons behave.
• Put your search bar on the default events page. On The Events Calendar’s List view, swap out its search box, its List/Month/Day links and its date navigation, and put your bar there instead. It keeps rendering its own event results — your search and date filter drive them.
• Add a heading to the events page. The events archive is not a normal WordPress page, so there is nowhere obvious to title it. Type one line and it appears above the bar; leave it blank and nothing changes.
• Make it match your site. Accent, text and background colours (six ready-made palettes, including two dark ones), two bar frames, six search-button treatments, a control-size scale and a corner-radius slider. A theme-proof control reset keeps the bar clean on themes that restyle every input.
• Accessible by design. A proper combobox/listbox keyboard pattern, focus that never leaves the input while arrowing through suggestions, polite screen-reader announcements — and a plain form fallback that still searches with JavaScript switched off.
• Light on your site. Event queries are cached, public requests are rate-limited, and the CSS and JS load only on pages that actually render a bar.

Add the event search bar with a shortcode

Drop this on any page, post or widget area:

[events-calendar-search]

Out of the box that’s an event search box with type-ahead suggestions. Turn on the date filter and a results region in the settings panel, and the panel writes the shortcodes for you — including the second tag that marks where the filtered event list appears:

[events-calendar-search facets="search,date" results-mode="inline" target="events"]
[events-calendar-search-results target="events"]

You never have to type either by hand. Design the bar in the panel, then copy both tags with one click.

Shortcode attributes

Every attribute below is optional. Leave one out and it inherits your saved setting, so a bare [events-calendar-search] follows the settings panel and you only add an attribute where one placement should differ.

[events-calendar-search] — the search bar

What the bar contains and does

• facets — which filters the bar shows. search, date, or search,date. Category, tag, venue, organizer and location filters are Pro.
• search-fields — which field the keyword matches. title. Description, venue name and organizer name are Pro.
• typeahead — the suggestions dropdown. dropdown (default) or off.
• results-mode — where events appear. inline (a results block on this page) or none (dropdown suggestions only). A separate results page is Pro.
• target — an id that links this bar to its results region, e.g. target="events". Use the same value on both shortcodes.
• filters-visibility — where the filters sit. expanded (all options on show, the default) or bar_inline (inside the bar’s keyword row). Behind a Filters button, or permanently below the bar, are Pro.
• filter-style — how a filter trigger looks. text. Pill, dropdown and filled styles are Pro.
• placeholder — the text inside the empty search box.

How the bar looks

• bar-template — the bar frame. unified (default, one joined bar) or detached (separate field and button).
• button-style — the search button. solid_icon (default), solid, outline, icon, text or none.
• accent-color, text-color, bg-color — hex colours, e.g. accent-color="#0f766e".
• control-size — the control scale as a percentage, 80–140 (default 100).
• corner-radius — corner rounding in pixels, 0–24 (default 8).

The event list

• view — grid (default) or list.
• per-page — events per page, 1–50 (default 12).
• columns — grid columns, 2–5 (default 3).
• card-size — card scale as a percentage (default 100).
• card-fields — which parts of an event card show, from image, title, date, venue, cost, e.g. card-fields="image,title,date".
• date-format — how the event date reads. site (default, your WordPress format), long, medium, dmy or iso.
• template — the card design. clean. The Modern card design is Pro.

[events-calendar-search-results] — a standalone event list

Place this wherever the filtered events belong; it shares state with the bar through target. It accepts target, view, per-page, facets, search-fields, columns, card-size, card-fields, date-format, template, accent-color, text-color, bg-color, control-size and corner-radius — the same values as above.

Examples

A search box on its own, no event list:

[events-calendar-search results-mode="none"]

A search box with a date filter, and the event list below it in a two-column grid:

[events-calendar-search facets="search,date" results-mode="inline" target="events"]
[events-calendar-search-results target="events" view="grid" columns="2"]

A compact bar in a sidebar widget, matching your brand:

[events-calendar-search bar-template="detached" button-style="icon" accent-color="#0f766e" control-size="90"]

Events as a plain list, 24 per page, showing only title and date:

[events-calendar-search-results target="events" view="list" per-page="24" card-fields="title,date"]

Upgrading from version 1.x? The old layout, show-events, disable-past-events and content-type attributes are still accepted and mapped onto the new engine, so shortcodes already published on your site keep working untouched.

Events Search & Filter Bar Pro

Everything above is free and stays free. If you need more than a keyword box and a date filter, Events Search & Filter Bar Pro adds:

• Wider event search — match event description, venue name and organizer name, not just the title.
• More event filters — category, tag, venue and organizer facets.
• A location filter in the bar — match city, state/region or country from your venues.
• More filter placements — behind a “Filters” button, or permanently below the bar, plus pill, dropdown and filled trigger styles.
• A separate events search results page — send the bar’s submissions to a dedicated page instead of a region on the same one.
• The Modern card design — a date badge on the event image.
• Full takeover of the events page — replace The Events Calendar’s List view with your bar and your event results, instead of swapping only its controls.

Pro keeps the same shortcodes, the same settings and the same CSS class names, so upgrading doesn’t mean editing your pages.

More Addons To Enhance Your Events Website

If you are using The Events Calendar plugin to manage events, conferences, webinars, workshops, or local meetups, you can extend its functionality with professional event calendar addons built specifically for event websites. These addons help you improve event layout design, event listing display, search and filtering options, and overall event management on your WordPress website.

• Event Single Page Builder for The Events Calendar:
  Replace the default event template with a fully custom single event page. Design professional event pages using Elementor and showcase event schedule, venue details, maps, speakers, sponsors, ticket booking buttons, countdown timers, and call-to-action sections. You can also use it on non-Elementor websites using ready-made templates.

• Events Widgets for Elementor:
  Looking for an event widget for Elementor? This addon provides widgets to show event list, grid, and carousel. You can display events in different layouts and customize event meta fields such as date, venue, organizer, and ticket links.

• Events Shortcodes for The Events Calendar:
  Display events anywhere on your website using flexible shortcodes. Show upcoming events, past events, featured events, or category-based event listings in list, grid, slider, timeline, masonry, accordion, and more.

• Events Speakers & Sponsors:
  Add dedicated speakers and sponsors sections inside your event pages. Showcase keynote speakers, guest presenters, partners, and sponsors with structured layouts to increase credibility and improve event promotion.

• Events Calendar Modules for Divi:
  Using Divi theme? Display The Events Calendar events inside Divi Builder using custom event modules and create stylish event list and grid layouts.

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Third-Party Services: This plugin contacts an external server in exactly two situations, both optional and both requiring your consent: the usage-tracking check-in, which runs only after you opt in and stops when you opt out; and the short feedback form shown if you deactivate the plugin, which sends only what you type. Nothing else leaves your site — the related-plugins panel in the dashboard reads a file bundled with the plugin, not a remote service, and no visitor or front-end data is collected at any time. For complete details, please review our Data Usage Policy, TOS, and Privacy Policy.

Disclaimer: Events Search & Filter Bar is developed by Cool Plugins and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the official team of The Events Calendar. Some links inside this plugin or its readme may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the authors of The Events Calendar plugin for creating a powerful and widely used event management solution for WordPress.