If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. This detailed article explains what WP themes are and how using a theme can save business website owners time and money.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily upgrade themes with just a few clicks inside your dashboard.
Updating Your WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the checklist below before going through the upgrade process.
1. Make A Backup
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is essential. If something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their previous settings.
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 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 have installed, there may be a changelog file accompanying an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, security fixes or any other information pertaining to the new theme version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should upgrade.
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 verify that the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before applying it to 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 test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online and see if anyone has 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 paid WordPress themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized WordPress 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”, all modifications 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 precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as a website owner to protect your online assets.
Upgrading Themes In WordPress – Tutorial
Updating your theme from the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on what 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 theme in your dashboard is very simple and easy. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” section.
Updating Your Site’s Theme From The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” screen …
WordPress 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” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates the theme in seconds …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating Your Themes From The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme using the “Updates” area as follows:
To view all themes installed on 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 bulk upgrade process …
WordPress will automatically update all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your theme in the WP dashboard.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum