If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. The in-depth article explains what themes are and how using themes can save business owners significant time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your WordPress themes in your dashboard.
Upgrading WP Themes – Best Practices
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before going through the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Your Site Fully
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is essential. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Changelog
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 included with an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, security fixes or any other changes in the new version.
If the theme 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 a theme, track any 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 manage your own website, you can install a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain using the same plugins and configuration settings and play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online to see if other theme users have reported any issues 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 provide forums for premium WordPress 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, 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”, all customizations get preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with the use of 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! The bit of 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 all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are recommended “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is solely the website owner’s responsibility to protect their digital properties.
How To Update Your Themes – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Updating your theme from your dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your site, you may receive an occasional notification in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a theme in the dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your theme using the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating Your Theme Via The “Themes” Page
You can see which themes require updating by going to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WordPress admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” screen …
WordPress Themes that need updating 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” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates the theme …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Section
Update your theme from the “Updates” area as follows:
To view all themes installed on your website that need updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 theme in the WP dashboard.
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