If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. We’ve written a comprehensive article that explains what WordPress themes are and how using themes can save online business owners significant time and money.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to upgrade your themes with just a few clicks inside the dashboard.
Updating Your WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating any themes, we recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below.
1. Back Up Your Website
Backing up your site before making any updates to your site is vital. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore your website to its former settings.
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 site backups here:
2. Check The Changelog
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you are using, there may be a changelog file accompanying an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, security 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 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 verify that the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before installing it on a live site.
If you manage your own website, you can set up a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain name using 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 do a quick search online to see if anyone has 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 offer this for premium themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized Themes
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 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 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! The part that takes the most time and effort to complete is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through some or all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your digital assets.
How To Update A Theme In WordPress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your themes from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your site, you may receive occasional notifications in your WP Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating WordPress themes from the WP dashboard is simple and easy. You can update your theme using the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” section.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Page
To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” screen …
WordPress 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” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress themes via the “Updates” section as shown below:
To view all themes on your website that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 automatically updates all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your WP theme from your 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