If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. The comprehensive article explains what WP themes are and how using themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for online business owners.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to easily update your themes to their latest version inside your dashboard.
Upgrading A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating any themes, we recommend going through the checklist below.
1. Back Up Your Site Files And Data
Backing up your website before making any updates to your site is vital. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their former settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups 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 are using, there may be some release notes included with an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other information pertaining to the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to 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 check to see if all plugins are working fine with the new theme before installing 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 name with 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 do a quick search online and 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 WordPress themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized Themes
If you have made extensive customizations 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 customizations 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 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! What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while many upgrade without going through all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as a website owner to protect your digital properties.
How To Update Themes In WordPress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your theme from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating themes in the WP dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” section.
Updating Your Site’s Theme From The “Themes” Screen
To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WordPress admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
WordPress Themes with new versions 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” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates the theme …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating Your Theme Using The “Updates” Section
Update your themes using the “Updates” page as shown below:
To view all themes installed in your site 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 update process …
WordPress automatically updates all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme from your dashboard.
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