In another post, we explain what plugins are and how you can use these to add new features and functionality to your website without touching code.

You can read the article here:

• Add New Features And Functionality To Your Web Site With Plugins

In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn why plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to easily update and uninstall plugins from your site, and some great plugin management tools if you currently run multiple WordPress sites or blogs.

How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins

Why Plugins Need Regular Upgrading

WordPress regularly updates its software (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities discovered in older versions, as well as to improve existing features.

Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, you can expect to see at least some new updates for plugins when WordPress distributes an updated version.

This is because most plugins for WordPress are created by 3rd-party developers, so sometimes code or 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 fairly proactive when it comes to making sure that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if this is required). All you have to do as a WordPress user, is simply keep your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon learn, is very simple to do.

Keeping your plugins up-to-date and removing old plugins you no longer use is part of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid any potential errors and problems.

The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to upgrade and delete plugins safely in the dashboard with no web programming skills or knowledge required.

How To Upgrade And Delete Plugins – Tutorial

WordPress utilizes a few methods to let users know when plugins on their site need updating.

For example, you can see ‘at a glance’ how many plugins are out-of-date as soon as you log into your Site’s Dashboard just by looking at the main “Plugins” menu.

For example, in the screenshot below, nine WP plugins are out of date and need to be updated …

You can also view how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Admin Toolbar (as shown below, several plugins need to be updated) …

The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also tells you what plugins need to be updated …

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 your plugin instantly …

Let’s start by showing you how to update individual WP plugins.

Upgrade Individual Plugins

We recommend performing a backup of your site files and database before updating your website.

From your main menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins …

You will be taken to the “Plugins” screen. The list of plugins can flow down your page for some length, depending on the number of plugins you have installed on your site …

(The WordPress Plugins Page)

Useful Tips:

If you have too many plugins installed and would like to reduce the number of plugins displayed on your page, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins page and enter a smaller number of items per page (by default, all plugins display on the page), then click the ‘Apply’ button …

Your Plugins page will now be reduced in size with a pagination feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Plugin Search” field …

WordPress displays information about plugins in different backgrounds depending on the status of your plugins (inactive vs. active and outdated vs up-to-date) …

Plugins in need of updating have a distinctive notification message: “There is a new version of [Plugin] available” …

Select the plugin that needs updating 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 updating your plugins happens with just “one click” without leaving your Plugins area …

Repeat this process for all plugins on your site that need to be updated, or see the section below if you have a number of plugins that are out-of-date and would like to upgrade them all at once.

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Now that you know how to update individual plugins, let’s show you how to upgrade multiple WP plugins simultaneously.

Bulk-Upgrading Plugins

To bulk-update plugins simultaneously directly inside your dashboard, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …

Click on the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to upgrade by checking their individual boxes …

In the Bulk Actions drop-down menu above the plugin table, select Update …

And then click Apply …

Your selected plugins will automatically begin to update …

Once your plugins have been updated, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to return to your Plugins area, or choose another section of your dashboard …

Once all plugins are up-to-date, the plugin notifications 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) …

You have updated all plugins on your site!

(When plugins on your site are up-to-date, the notification icons disappear)

Now that you know how to update WP in the WP dashboard, it’s time to learn how to safely delete plugins from your WordPress site.

Deleting Plugins

As part of smart WordPress blog management, it’s a good idea to delete plugins that you no longer need or are no longer using on your site. This reduces server resources and help to reduce potential problems.

In this section, you will learn how to uninstall unused plugins from your site or blog.

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 WP admin menu and select Plugins > Installed Plugins …

In the Plugins page, locate the plugin you want to delete and make sure it is inactive.

Hint: Inactive plugins use a different background color than active plugins and show an “Activate” link below the plugin name …

If the plugin is active, then click on Deactivate before proceeding …

Next, click on Delete …

If you need to review a list of all the files that will be deleted before proceeding any further, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” section …

The entire list of files belonging to the plugin that you are about to remove will display on your screen …

If you are sure about going ahead and deleting the plugin, just click on the Yes, Delete these files button …

The selected plugin(s) will be deleted from your server …

How To Delete Multiple WordPress Plugins Simultaneously

You can delete all inactive plugins at once, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be removed.

Note: To delete any plugins that are presently active, you must first 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 checkbox, or selecting the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins (warning: this will deactivate all plugins) …

Next, choose Deactivate from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …

Click Apply …

Your selected plugins will be deactivated …

To delete all or some of the inactive plugins on your site, go to the “Plugins” screen and click on the Inactive link in the Plugins menu …

Click the checkbox in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to delete by checking its box …

Once you have selected all of the plugins that you want deleted, specify Delete from the Bulk Actions dropdown menu …

Click Apply …

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 absolutely certain that you want to proceed to the next step and remove all of the selected plugins …

All plugins will be deleted …

WordPress Tools For Managing WordPress Plugins

In addition to the methods shown above, you can use a number of tools that help 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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