In a separate article, we provide a detailed explanation of what plugins are all about and how you can use plugins to add new features or functionality to your website with no software programming knowledge required.
To view this article, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn why WordPress plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to automatically upgrade and remove plugins, and discover some great plugin management tips if you manage multiple WordPress sites.
How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins
Why Many WordPress Plugins Need To Be Updated
The WordPress software is regularly updated (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities discovered in earlier software releases, as well as to improve existing features.
Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, you can expect to see at least some new new update notifications for plugins every.
The reason for this, is because most plugins for WordPress are created by third-party developers, so sometimes code or features in the new WordPress version conflict with plugins that were built for a previous version. Whenever this happens, there is a potential for conflicts to sometimes develop.
Fortunately, most WordPress plugin developers (and the WordPress developer community itself) are fairly proactive when it comes to ensuring that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if this is needed). All you have to do as a website owner, is maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon discover, is very easy and simple to do.
Keeping your WordPress plugins up-to-date and removing old plugins you no longer use is an essential aspect of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid conflicts or errors.
The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to automatically upgrade and delete plugins safely in WordPress without coding knowledge necessary.
How To Automatically Update And Delete WordPress Plugins – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress utilizes a number of different ways to let you know when your plugins need to be updated.
For example, you can tell immediately how many plugins need to be updated inside your Admin area by looking at the main “Plugins” menu.
In the screenshot below, nine WordPress plugins need to be updated …
You can also tell how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Admin Toolbar (as shown below, several plugins require updating) …
The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also tells you how many plugins need updating …
As well as providing information about plugins that have available updates, the Plugins page provides links to the plugin developer sites and gives you the option to update your plugin with one-click …
Let’s start by showing you how to update individual plugins.
How To Update Single WordPress Plugins
We recommend making a full backup of your website before updating your blog or website.
In your main menu, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins …
You will be taken to the “Plugins” page. This list of plugins can be quite lengthy depending on the number of plugins you have added to your site …
(Plugins Screen)
Notes:
If you have too many plugins and would like to reduce the number of plugins displaying on the screen, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins screen and enter a smaller number of items per page (all plugins show up on the screen by default, i.e. “999”), then click Apply …
Your Plugins section will now be reduced in size with a ’numbered pages’ feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Search Plugins” function …
You will see plugin information in different backgrounds depending on the status of your plugins (inactive vs. active and up-to-date vs. out-of-date) …
Plugins that need updating show the following notification message: “There is a new version of [Insert Plugin Name] available” …
Find the plugin that needs to be updated and click on the update now link …
WordPress has done away with the loading screen when updating plugins and streamlined the plugin updating process, so that the process of updating your plugins happens “behind the scenes” without leaving your Plugins screen …
Repeat this process for all plugins on your site that need to be updated, or refer to the section below if you have many plugins that are out-of-date and would like to upgrade all plugins in bulk.
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Now that you know how to upgrade one WordPress plugin at a time, let’s show you how to bulk-upgrade WordPress plugins.
Bulk-Updating WP Plugins
To bulk-upgrade WordPress plugins simultaneously using the automatic upgrade feature, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Click on the checkbox in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to upgrade by checking their individual boxes …
In the Bulk Actions dropdown menu above the list of plugins, choose Update …
And then click Apply …
The plugins you have selected will begin the update process …
After all plugins have been updated, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to the Plugins area, or select a different section of your dashboard …
Once your plugins are all up-to-date, the plugin notifications will disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” notices no longer display) …
You have updated all plugins on your site to their latest version!
(When plugins on your site are all up-to-date, the notification icons disappear)
Now that you know how to automatically update inside your admin dashboard, it’s time to learn how to uninstall plugins from your blog or website.
How To Remove WP Plugins
It’s a good idea to delete plugins that you no longer need or are no longer using on your site. This reduces server resources and eliminates potential problems.
In this section, we show you how to delete unused plugins from your site or blog.
Always create a full back up of your site before installing, upgrading or deleting plugins, in case something goes wrong and you need to recover data or restore your site.
To delete a plugin, go to your dashboard menu and click on Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins screen, find the plugin you want to delete and make sure it is deactivated.
Hint: Inactive plugins use a different background color than active plugins and show an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, click on Deactivate before continuing with your plugin deletion …
Click Delete …
If you would like to review a list of all the files that will be deleted before proceeding, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” section …
The entire list of files belonging to the plugin that you are about to remove will be listed on your screen …
If you are absolutely sure that you would like to go ahead and delete these plugin, then click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
Your plugins and related files will be deleted …
Deleting Multiple WordPress Plugins In Bulk
You can delete all inactive plugins at once, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be cleared.
Note: To delete any plugins that are presently active, you first need to deactivate them.
Go to the “Plugins” section and select all of the active plugins that you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their check box, or selecting the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins (warning: this will deactivate all plugins) …
Once you have done this, choose Deactivate from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click Apply …
All selected plugins will be deactivated …
To delete all or some of the inactive plugins, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Inactive link in the Plugins menu …
Select all of the plugins you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their checkbox, or click on the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select and delete all inactive plugins …
Once you have selected all the plugins that you want deleted, select Delete from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
A list of all selected plugins will show up in the Delete Plugins screen. Click on “click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” to review all the plugin files that you are about to delete, or click on the Yes, Delete these files button if you are sure that you would like to go ahead and delete all of the plugins listed …
The plugins will be deleted …
WordPress Management Tools For WordPress Plugins
In addition to the methods shown above, you can use a range of tools that help you manage your plugins.
Health Check & troubleshooting
This plugin provides comprehensive checks for your WordPress installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues. It also enables plugins and themes to add their own custom checks.
The debug section allows you to easily gather information about your WordPress and server configuration, which can be shared with support representatives for themes, plugins, or on the official WordPress.org support forums.
The troubleshooting feature allows you to initiate a clean WordPress session, where all plugins are disabled and a default theme is used, but only for your user account until you choose to disable it or log out.
The Tools section offers the ability to check for file tampering in WordPress, test email-sending functionality, and verify plugin compatibility with future PHP version updates.
For more details, go here: Health Check And Troubleshooting
Managing WordPress Plugins On Multiple Sites
As discussed earlier, when plugin updates are released, the best practice is to update the plugin as soon as possible to its latest version.
What if you run multiple WordPress sites using the same plugin?
Typically, you would need to log in to every site individually and update the plugin manually from the site’s admin dashboard.
If you manage or plan to manage multiple sites, this process can become very time-consuming, especially as plugins get updated quite often.
If you manage multiple WordPress sites, you can install, update, and delete multiple plugins on all your sites automatically and simultaneously using WordPress site management tools, like the one below:
WPMU DEV’s The Hub
The Hub lets you manage unlimited WordPress sites easily and effectively from one central command center.
The Updates section of The Hub shows you exactly what needs updating on each of your managed site(s), including plugins, themes, and core software updates.
The Hub’s Updates features display how many outdated components need updating on your site(s).
You can choose to either update all your plugins at once or update them individually with just a few clicks. Best of all, you don’t need to log into every site separately to perform your plugin updates.
Update everything at once or perform individual updates directly in The Hub with a few clicks.
This can be a real time-saver when managing multiple WordPress sites, especially when WordPress releases a new version and you have to update many plugins and themes to prevent potential issues from happening.
You can read our comprehensive article on managing multiple sites effectively using the Hub or visit WPMU DEV to learn more and try The Hub for free.
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