If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how using themes can save small business owners significant time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to easily upgrade themes in your admin area.
Updating Themes – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the checklist below before going through the upgrade process, to make sure that no theme settings or customizations are lost and your update goes smoothly.
1. Make A Complete Backup
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is essential. If something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you have installed, there may be a changelog file included with an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, security fixes or important changes in the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to upgrade.
3. Test Your Theme
If you can, it’s a good idea to check the theme before installing it on your site.
Typically, web service providers will set up a test site where they can test the latest version of an installed theme, track bugs and make sure that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying and activating it on a live site.
If you’re managing your own website, you can install a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain with the same configuration settings (e.g. plugins) and play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online and see if other theme users have reported any serious problems with the new theme version.
You can enter the theme name and version into Google, and search the theme developer’s support forum (many developers provide forums for premium themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized WordPress Themes
If you have made extensive changes to your existing theme files, updating your theme could result in your custom modifications being overwritten. To prevent losing your theme modifications, therefore, we recommend you learn how to create “child themes”.
A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality of another theme, called the parent theme, and allows you to modify, or add to, the functionality of that parent theme. When you update the “parent theme”, your customizations get preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with the use of child themes, especially if you use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or visit the WordPress Codex child theme page here:
As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is not complicated at all … a few simple clicks and you’re done! What can feel slightly bothersome is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are recommended “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is the website owner’s responsibility to protect their digital assets.
Upgrading Your Theme – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your themes in the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on what theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional notifications in your dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating WordPress themes from the WP dashboard is easy. You can update your theme using the “Themes” page, or the “Updates” area.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WordPress dashboard menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme …
Your theme is now updated …
Repeat the above process to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to bulk update multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme using the “Updates” section as shown below:
To view all themes installed on your website that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This opens up the Updates screen. Scroll down to the Themes section …
Select all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the bulk upgrade process …
WordPress automatically updates all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your WordPress themes from your admin dashboard.
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