How To Update WordPress Themes

Learn how to easily update WordPress themes inside your dashboard …

WordPress Theme Management: How To Upgrade Your ThemeIf you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. We’ve written an in-depth article that explains what themes are and how they can be cost-effective and time-saving for web business owners.

This tutorial will show you how to update a theme with just a few clicks inside the admin area.

Updating Themes – Best Practices

Upgrading Your WordPress Theme - Best Practices Checklist

Before updating your WordPress themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below to ensure that your upgrades go smoothly.

1. Make A Backup

Backing up your site before making any changes to your site is essential. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their previous configuration.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process 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 some release notes included with an update which provides an overview of any 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.

Practical Tip

Typically, web service providers will set up a test site where they can test the latest version of an installed theme, track any bugs and check to see if all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying it to a live site.

If you’re managing your own website, you can install 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 type the theme name and version into Google, and search the theme developer’s support forum (many developers offer this for paid 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 theme files, upgrading 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 the parent theme. When you update the “parent theme”, all 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 to use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or visit the WordPress Codex child theme page here:

Tip

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 step that takes the most time and effort to complete is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.

Some 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 recommended “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is solely the website owner’s responsibility to protect their digital properties.

Upgrading Themes In WordPress – Tutorial

Updating your theme in the WP dashboard is simple.

Log into your WordPress administration area …

Theme Management: How To Upgrade WordPress Theme From Your Admin Dashboard

Depending on what theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional notifications in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …

WordPress Theme Management: How To Update WP Theme In Your Dashboard

Updating a theme in your WP dashboard is easy. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” screen, or the “Updates” section.

Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Screen

To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes page.

Select Appearance > Themes in your WP dashboard menu …

WordPress Theme Management: Updating A Theme In WordPress

This opens up the “Themes” screen …

WordPress Theme Management: Upgrading A Theme In WordPress

Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …

Theme Management: How To Upgrade Themes In WordPress

Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” notice.

When the theme details window opens up, click on update now

WordPress Theme Management: Updating A Theme In WordPress

WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …

How To Upgrade Your WP Themes

Your theme is now updated …

Updating WordPress Themes From Your Admin Dashboard

Repeat the above to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to bulk update multiple themes at once.

Updating Your Site Themes Via The “Updates” Area

Update your WordPress themes from the “Updates” area as follows:

To view all themes installed on your site that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates

Updating Your Themes

This opens up the Updates screen. Scroll down to the Themes section …

Updating Themes In WordPress

Select all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the update process …

WordPress Theme Management: How To Upgrade Your Theme

WordPress automatically updates all of the selected themes …

How To Upgrade WordPress Themes From The WP Dashboard

Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WordPress theme from your dashboard.

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