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 website owners.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily upgrade your theme in the admin area.
Updating Themes – Best Practices
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before going through the upgrade process, to reduce any problems happening during your upgrading process.
1. Back Up Everything
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is essential. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore.
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 automate your backup process here:
2. Check The Changelog
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you are using, there may be some release notes included with an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, bug fixes or important information pertaining to 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 any bugs and check to see if all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying and activating it on a live site.
If you’re managing your own website, you can set up 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 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 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 WordPress Theme Customized? Use A Child Theme
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”, all modifications get preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with 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 easy. The part of this process that takes the most time and effort to complete is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while others 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, it is the website owner’s responsibility to protect their online properties.
How To Update Your Themes – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Updating your themes in the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on which theme(s) you have installed on your site, you may receive occasional alerts in your dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating a WordPress theme in the WP dashboard is quite simple and easy. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” page, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Themes” Screen
To see which themes need updating, go to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WordPress admin 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 process described above to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method below to bulk upgrade multiple themes.
Updating Your Site’s Theme Via The “Updates” Area
Update your theme from the “Updates” section as follows:
To view all themes installed on your site that require 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 will automatically update all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WordPress themes from your dashboard.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now