If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. This detailed article explains what WP themes are and how using a theme can save online business owners significant time and money.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily update your theme with just a few clicks inside the dashboard.
Upgrading WordPress Themes – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating your WordPress themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below to help prevent any problems that may affect your site during the process.
1. Back Up Your Site Files And Data
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is essential. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully 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 some release notes accompanying an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other information pertaining to the new version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to 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 a theme, track any bugs and check 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 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 site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online and see if other theme users have reported any issues 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 paid WordPress themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Is Your WordPress Theme Customized? Use A Child Theme
If you have made extensive changes 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”, your modifications 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 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:
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.
Many people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through some or 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 the website owner’s responsibility to protect their digital properties.
How To Update Your WordPress Theme – Tutorial
Updating your WordPress theme in the WP dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your website, you may receive an occasional alert in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a WordPress theme from the dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your theme using the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” section.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Area
You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WordPress admin menu …
This opens up the “Themes” page …
WordPress Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
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 will automatically update your theme …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating Your Themes Via The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme from the “Updates” section as shown below:
To view all themes 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 upgrade process …
WordPress automatically updates all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your themes from the WP dashboard.
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