If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. We’ve written a comprehensive article that explains what WP themes are and how they can be cost-effective and time-saving for small business website owners.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to upgrade your WP theme inside your dashboard.
Updating Themes – Best Practices
Before updating your WordPress themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below to make sure that your update goes smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Files
Backing up your site before making any updates to your site is essential. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its former configuration.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process 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 have installed, there may be some release notes accompanying an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, bug fixes or important information pertaining to the new theme version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should upgrade.
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 make sure that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying 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 with the same plugins and configuration settings 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 and see if other theme users have reported any serious problems 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 themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Is Your WordPress Theme Heavily Customized? Use A Child Theme
If you have made extensive customizations to your existing theme files, upgrading 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”, your 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 plan on using 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 precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their themes regularly, while many 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, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your online assets.
How To Upgrade Themes In WordPress – Tutorial
Upgrading your WordPress theme in your admin dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive an occasional alert in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating themes in your dashboard is quite a simple process. You can update your site’s theme from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” area.
Updating Your Themes Via The “Themes” Page
You can see which themes need to be updated by going to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WordPress admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” screen …
Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over their thumbnail image …
Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …
Your WordPress theme is now updated …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method below to update multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes From The “Updates” Page
Update your WordPress themes using the “Updates” section as follows:
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 bulk update process …
WordPress will automatically update all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your themes in the WP dashboard.
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