In a previous post, we explain what plugins are and how you can use these to add new features or functionality to your website with no coding skills required.
You can read this article here:
In this tutorial you will learn the importance of keeping all WordPress plugins up-to-date, how to automatically upgrade and delete plugins, and discover some great tools to help you better manage your plugins.
How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins
Why Your Plugins Need Updating
New WordPress versions are regularly released (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities found in older releases, and to improve existing features.
Depending on how many plugins you use on your site, there will typically be new updates for plugins when new WordPress versions are announced.
The reason for this, is because most plugins for WordPress are created by external developers, so sometimes features in the new WordPress version conflict with plugins that were created and tested to work with a previous version. Whenever this happens, there is a potential for problems to sometimes occur.
Fortunately, most WordPress plugin developers (and the WordPress developer community itself) are very proactive when it comes to ensuring that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if needed). All you have to do on your end, is maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon learn, is really quick, simple and easy to do.
Keeping your plugins regularly updated and deleting old plugins you no longer need is an essential aspect of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid any conflicts and errors.
The step-by-step tutorial below explains how to automatically upgrade and delete plugins inside your WordPress admin dashboard with no web coding skills needed.
Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely In WordPress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress uses several ways to let you know when plugins on your blog need updating.
For example, you can instantly see how many plugins are out-of-date as soon as you log into your Admin area just by looking at the “Plugins” menu.
For example, in the screenshot below, nine plugins need to be updated …
You can also check how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Admin Toolbar (in the screenshot below, you can again see that nine plugins should be updated) …
The Plugins screen (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also lets you know which plugins need updating …
In addition to providing information about which plugins have updates available, the Plugins page provides links to the plugin download pages and gives you the option to update the plugins with one-click …
Let’s start by showing you how to upgrade individual WP plugins.
Updating WordPress Plugins One At A Time
We strongly recommend performing a full backup of your website before upgrading your blog or website.
In your admin menu, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins …
The “Plugins” screen will display in your browser. The list of plugins can run down your screen for some length, depending on the number of plugins you have installed on your site …
(Plugins Screen)
Tips:
If you have too many plugins and would like to reduce the number of plugins showing on your page, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins area and enter a smaller number of items per page (all plugins show on the screen by default, i.e. “999”), then click Apply …
Your Plugins page will now be reduced in size with a ’numbered pages’ feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Search” function …
WordPress displays information about plugins in different backgrounds depending on the status of your plugins (inactive vs. active and up-to-date vs. outdated) …
Plugins in need of updating have a distinctive notification message: “There is a new version of [Insert Plugin Name] available” …
Locate the plugin that you want to update and click on the update now link …
WordPress has done away with the loading screen when updating plugins and streamlined the plugin updating process, so that the process of updating your plugins happens with just “one click” without leaving your Plugins screen …
Repeat the above process for all plugins on your site that need updating, or refer to the section below if you have several plugins that are out-of-date and would like to update them all in bulk.
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Now that you know how to upgrade individual plugins, it’s time to learn how to update a bunch of plugins simultaneously.
How To Upgrade Multiple Plugins Simultaneously
To upgrade multiple plugins simultaneously using the automatic update feature, go to the “Plugins” page and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Click the checkbox in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select each plugin you want to update by checking their individual boxes …
In the Bulk Actions dropdown menu above the plugin list, choose Update …
Click Apply …
Your selected plugins will automatically begin to update …
Once all plugin upgrades are done, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to your Plugins screen, or select another option from the WordPress admin menu …
Once your plugins are all up-to-date, the update reminders will disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” messages no longer display on your screen, toolbar and menus) …
All plugins have now been updated to their latest versions!
(When your plugins are up-to-date, update alerts no longer appear)
Now that you know how to automatically upgrade WP inside your admin dashboard, let’s take a look at how to uninstall plugins from your site or blog.
Deleting Plugins
Occasionally, you may choose to remove WordPress plugins that you no longer need or are no longer using on your site. This reduces server resources and also will help you avoid potential problems.
In this section, we show you how to deactivate and delete unused plugins from your blog or site.
Always create a full back up of your site before installing, upgrading or deleting plugins, in case something goes wrong and you need to recover data or restore your site.
To remove a plugin, go to your admin menu and click on Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins section, find the plugin you want to remove and make sure it is inactive.
Hint: Inactive plugins have a different background color than active plugins and display an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, then click on Deactivate before proceeding with your plugin deletion …
Once you have deactivated the plugin, click Delete …
If you would like to browse all the files that will be deleted before proceeding, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” page …
The entire list of files associated with the plugin that you are about to remove will display on your screen …
If you are positively sure that you want to proceed and delete these plugin files, then click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
Your plugins and related files will be deleted from your WordPress installation …
How To Delete Several Plugins Simultaneously
You can bulk-delete all inactive plugins on your site, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be cleared.
Note: To delete any plugins that are currently active, your will first need to deactivate them.
Go to the “Plugins” section and select all of the active plugins that you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their check box, or selecting the check box next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins (warning: this will deactivate all plugins) …
Next, select Deactivate from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
All selected plugins will be deactivated …
To delete all or some of the inactive plugins, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Inactive link in the Plugins menu …
Click on the check box in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to remove by checking their individual boxes …
Once you have selected all the plugins that you want deleted, choose Delete from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
A list of all selected plugins will be displayed in the Delete Plugins area. Click on “click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” to review all the plugin files that you are about to delete, or click on the Yes, Delete these files button if you are sure that you would like to proceed to the next step and delete all of the selected plugins …
Your plugins will be deleted and their associated files will be removed from your server …
Managing WP Plugins – Tools
As well as the methods shown above, you can install WordPress plugins that let you manage your WordPress plugins.
Health Check & troubleshooting
This plugin provides comprehensive checks for your WordPress installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues. It also enables plugins and themes to add their own custom checks.
The debug section allows you to easily gather information about your WordPress and server configuration, which can be shared with support representatives for themes, plugins, or on the official WordPress.org support forums.
The troubleshooting feature allows you to initiate a clean WordPress session, where all plugins are disabled and a default theme is used, but only for your user account until you choose to disable it or log out.
The Tools section offers the ability to check for file tampering in WordPress, test email-sending functionality, and verify plugin compatibility with future PHP version updates.
For more details, go here: Health Check And Troubleshooting
Managing WordPress Plugins On Multiple Sites
As discussed earlier, when plugin updates are released, the best practice is to update the plugin as soon as possible to its latest version.
What if you run multiple WordPress sites using the same plugin?
Typically, you would need to log in to every site individually and update the plugin manually from the site’s admin dashboard.
If you manage or plan to manage multiple sites, this process can become very time-consuming, especially as plugins get updated quite often.
If you manage multiple WordPress sites, you can install, update, and delete multiple plugins on all your sites automatically and simultaneously using WordPress site management tools, like the one below:
WPMU DEV’s The Hub
The Hub lets you manage unlimited WordPress sites easily and effectively from one central command center.
The Updates section of The Hub shows you exactly what needs updating on each of your managed site(s), including plugins, themes, and core software updates.
The Hub’s Updates features display how many outdated components need updating on your site(s).
You can choose to either update all your plugins at once or update them individually with just a few clicks. Best of all, you don’t need to log into every site separately to perform your plugin updates.
Update everything at once or perform individual updates directly in The Hub with a few clicks.
This can be a real time-saver when managing multiple WordPress sites, especially when WordPress releases a new version and you have to update many plugins and themes to prevent potential issues from happening.
You can read our comprehensive article on managing multiple sites effectively using the Hub or visit WPMU DEV to learn more and try The Hub for free.
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