If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how they can save website owners significant time and money.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to update themes to the newest version inside your dashboard.
Updating A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating any WordPress themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below to ensure that your update goes smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Files
Backing up your website before making any updates to your site is essential. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its previous settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid 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 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 theme version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should 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 a theme, track bugs and check to see if all plugins are working fine with the new theme 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 configuration settings (e.g. plugins) and play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main website.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online to see if other theme users have reported any issues 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 provide forums 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 WordPress 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”, all modifications are preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with using 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 official WordPress 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 preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Many 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 for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is solely your responsibility as a website owner to protect your digital properties.
Upgrading A Theme In WordPress – Tutorial
Upgrading your WordPress themes in your admin dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your site, you may receive occasional notifications in your WordPress Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a WordPress theme in your dashboard is a simple process. You can update your site’s theme from the “Themes” page, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating Your Themes Via The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need to be updated by going to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes in your WP admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” screen …
Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
Locate the theme that needs to be updated and click on the “Update Available” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method below to upgrade multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Updates” Section
Update your themes from the “Updates” page as shown below:
To view all themes installed in your website that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 update process …
WordPress automatically updates all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your theme from your admin dashboard.
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