If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. We’ve written a detailed article that explains what themes are and how themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for online business owners.
This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your theme inside your admin area.
Updating A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before attempting the upgrade process, to ensure that no theme settings or customizations are lost and your upgrades go smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Site Fully
Backing up your site before making any updates to your site is essential. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore your website to its former settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn 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 are using, there may be some release notes accompanying an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, security fixes or any other information pertaining to the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should update.
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 an installed theme, track any bugs and make sure that the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before installing it on 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 name with 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 do a quick search online to see if other theme users have reported any serious problems with the new theme version.
You can enter the theme name and version into Google, and search the theme developer’s support forum (many developers offer this for premium themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized WordPress Themes
If you have made extensive changes 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 customizations are 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 official WordPress child theme page here:
As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is simple. The step in this process that takes the most time and effort to complete is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some 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 “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is solely your responsibility as a website owner to protect your digital properties.
How To Upgrade Your WordPress Theme – Tutorial
Updating your themes in your admin dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on which theme(s) are installed on your site, you may receive an occasional notification in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a theme from your dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” screen.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Themes” Section
You can see which themes require updating by going to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” screen …
Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s 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 will automatically update your theme …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method described below to bulk update multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Section
Update your themes via the “Updates” page as follows:
To view all themes installed on your site that need 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 upgrade process …
WordPress will automatically update all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme from your admin dashboard.
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