If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how using a theme can be cost-effective and time-saving for small business website owners.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to upgrade your theme with just a few clicks inside your dashboard.
Upgrading WP Themes – Best Practices
We recommend going through the checklist below before attempting the upgrade process, to make sure that no theme settings or customizations are lost and that your upgrades go smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Site Fully
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is vital. If something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of 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 are using, there may be some release notes accompanying an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, bug fixes or important information pertaining to the new version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to update.
3. Test The 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 a theme, track bugs and check if the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before applying it to 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 plugins and configuration settings and play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live website.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online to see if anyone has reported any serious problems with the new theme version.
You can type the theme name and version into Google, and search the theme developer’s support forum (many developers offer this for paid themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Is Your Theme Heavily Customized? Use A Child Theme
If you have made extensive changes to your existing theme files, upgrading 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 the 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 plan on using a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or just 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.
Some people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while many upgrade without going through some or 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 solely the website owner’s responsibility to protect their online properties.
Updating Your WP Theme – Tutorial
Updating your themes from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your site, you may receive an occasional alert in your WP Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating a WordPress theme from the dashboard is very simple and easy. You can update your themes from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” section.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Themes” Section
To see which themes need to be updated, go to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WP admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over their thumbnail image …
Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” notice.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress will automatically update your theme in seconds …
Your theme is now updated …
Repeat the above process to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to update multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme using the “Updates” page as follows:
To view all themes in your site that need updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This opens up the Updates screen. Scroll down to the Themes section …
Check the box next to all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the bulk update process …
WordPress will automatically update all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your WP themes in your admin dashboard.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now