If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. We’ve written a comprehensive article that explains what themes are and how using themes can save website owners time and money.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily update your theme in the admin area.
Updating A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the checklist below before attempting the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Everything
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is essential. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their previous state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you have installed, there may be a changelog file accompanying an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should 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 the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before applying and activating 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 with the same plugins and configuration settings 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 search online to 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 WordPress 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 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 that 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 using child themes, especially if you use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or just 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 step 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 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 properties.
Updating Your Theme – Tutorial
Upgrading your theme from the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a theme from your WP dashboard is easy. You can update your WordPress theme via the “Themes” page, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating Your Site Themes Using The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over their 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 automatically updates the theme in seconds …
Your 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 at once.
Updating Your Site Themes Via The “Updates” Page
Update your themes via the “Updates” page as shown below:
To view all themes installed 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 themes in the WP dashboard.
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