If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. We’ve written a comprehensive article that explains what themes are and how themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for online business owners.
This tutorial will show you how to update a theme with just a few clicks inside the admin area.
Updating Themes – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating any themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below.
1. Make A Complete Backup
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is essential. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its former configuration.
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 fully automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
When WordPress upgrades its software to a new version, this can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you have installed, there may be a changelog file included with an update listing any new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new theme 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 the theme, track bugs and verify that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before installing 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 name using the same configuration settings (e.g. plugins) and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online and see if other theme users have 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. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized WordPress Themes
If you have made extensive customizations to your existing theme files, upgrading your theme may 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 modifications are 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 to 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 simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their themes regularly, while many upgrade without going through all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are recommended “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is your responsibility to protect your digital assets.
How To Upgrade Your WordPress Theme – Tutorial
Updating your WP theme from the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on which theme(s) are installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your WordPress Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating themes in the dashboard is easy. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” screen, or the “Updates” page.
Updating Your Theme Using The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WordPress admin menu …
This opens up the “Themes” screen …
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” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress will automatically update the theme …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method below to bulk upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Screen
Update your WordPress theme from the “Updates” area as follows:
To view all themes installed in 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 will automatically update all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your WP theme from your admin dashboard.
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