If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. We’ve written a comprehensive article that explains what WordPress themes are and how they can save business website owners significant time and money.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to update a WordPress theme inside your dashboard.
Updating WordPress Themes – Best Practices
Before updating your themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below.
1. Back Up Your Website Fully
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is vital. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
When WordPress upgrades its software to a new version, this can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you are using, there may be a changelog file accompanying an update listing new features, improvements, security fixes or any other changes in the new theme 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 check if 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 name using the same configuration settings (e.g. plugins) 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 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 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, 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 that 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 using child themes, especially if you use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or just visit the WordPress Codex child theme page here:
As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is very simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Many 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 recommended “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as a website owner to protect your online assets.
How To Update Your Themes – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your themes from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your WordPress Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a theme in your WP dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your WordPress themes using the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” area.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Area
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WP admin menu …
This opens up the “Themes” page …
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” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress will automatically update the theme in seconds …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method below to bulk upgrade multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Section
Update your themes via the “Updates” section as follows:
To view all themes in your website that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This opens 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 upgrade process …
WordPress automatically updates all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme from your admin dashboard.
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