If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how using themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for business owners.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to easily update a theme inside the dashboard.
Upgrading Themes – Best Practices
We recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below before going through the upgrade process.
1. Make A Full Site Backup
Backing up your site before making any changes to your site is essential. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their previous state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many 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
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 some release notes accompanying an update listing 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, you should update.
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 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 using the same plugins and configuration settings and test 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 other theme users have 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 WordPress Themes
If you have made extensive changes to your existing WordPress theme files, updating 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 are preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with 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 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.
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 “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your online assets.
How To Update WordPress Themes In Your Dashboard – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your theme from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your site, you may receive an occasional notification in your WordPress Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a theme from the dashboard is quite a simple process. You can update your themes via the “Themes” feature, or the “Updates” page.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need to be updated by going to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WP admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
WordPress 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” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above process to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Updates” Area
Update your WordPress theme from the “Updates” section as follows:
To view all themes on your website 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 automatically updates all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme in the WP dashboard.
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