Hi,
This is AJ the plugin and Total theme developer.
If you want to have access to the settings you will need to register the post types via the plugin.
Now, the plugin registers the post types on the init hook in the default priority, which means if your CPT’s are also registered on the init hook but at a later time then your custom code will take priority so you would essentially just be using this plugin for the Total theme settings (in WordPress if the same post type is registered more then once it overrides).
One thing to mention is if you want to register your CPT’s using custom code, then it may also make sense to customize them using custom code. Any setting available in this plugin can be adjusted using code.
For example if you wanted to change the layout of your CPT you can do that with a filter – https://wpexplorer-themes.com/total/snippets/altering-layouts/ or if you want to assign a custom template for the cpt post display you can like such: https://wpexplorer-themes.com/total/snippets/define-dynamic-post-template-via-code/
Ultimately, if you use the plugin to register your CPT’s and then remove your custom code it’s probably best. This plugin isn’t necessarily for the Total theme, the extra settings are actually added in the theme itself, so the plugin can be used with any theme and in any other theme it will just display settings to register the type. It’s a very slim plugin without any added bloat and you can take it with you even if you decide to not use Total anymore (of course if you switch themes though you will need to redesign them but you’ll still be able to access them).
I wasn’t quite sure what you were asking so I hope this helps…Now, if what you really want is a method to “import” your existing CPT’s into the plugin (without having to do it manually), this doesn’t exist, but I could look into adding some sort of functionality to the plugin that would allow you to view currently assigned post types, check the ones you want to import and have them imported into the plugin. Was that what you wanted?
– AJ
