If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. The detailed article explains what themes are and how using themes can save business website owners time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to update your themes inside the admin area.
Upgrading A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below before going through the upgrade process, to make sure that no theme settings or customizations are lost and your upgrades go smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Website Fully
Backing up your website 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 former state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn 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 new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new theme version.
If the 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 a theme, track bugs and check if the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before applying and activating 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 using the same configuration settings (e.g. plugins) and play with the 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 anyone has 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 paid themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Is Your Theme Heavily Customized? Use A Child Theme
If you have made extensive customizations to your existing 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”, 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 just 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 step in the update process 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 online properties.
Upgrading WP Theme In The WP Dashboard – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your theme in your dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on which theme(s) are installed on your site, you may receive an occasional alert in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating WordPress themes from your dashboard is quite simple and easy. You can update your WordPress themes via the “Themes” feature, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Themes” Page
You can see which themes require updating by going to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” page …
Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over their 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 above process to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method below to update multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Screen
Update your theme from the “Updates” section as shown below:
To view all themes 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 upgrade process …
WordPress automatically updates all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WP theme from your dashboard.
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