In a previous post, we provide an overview of what plugins are all about and how you can use plugins to easily add new features to your blog with no software programming skills required.
To view the article, go here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn the importance of keeping your WordPress plugins up-to-date, how to safely update and delete plugins, and discover practical plugin management tools if you need to manage multiple WordPress sites.
Why Your Plugins Need Upgrading
The WordPress software is constantly updated (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities found in previous releases, and to improve existing features.
Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, there will typically be new new update notices for WordPress plugins each time a new version of WordPress is announced.
The reason for this, is because most plugins for WordPress are created by external developers, so sometimes the code in the new WordPress version conflict with plugins that were created and tested to work with a previous version. When this happens, there is a potential for issues to sometimes occur.
Fortunately, most WordPress plugin developers (and the WordPress developer community itself) are quite proactive when it comes to ensuring that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if required). All you need to do on your end, is simply keep your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon learn, is very easy 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 problems or errors.
The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to update and delete WordPress plugins safely from your WordPress admin dashboard without requiring web programming skills.
Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely From The Dashboard – Tutorial
WordPress utilizes several ways to notify you when plugins need updating.
For example, you can see how many plugins are out-of-date as soon as you log into your WordPress Dashboard just by looking at the “Plugins” menu.
In the example below, 9 plugins are out of date and need to be updated …
You can also check how many plugins need to be updated from your WP Admin Toolbar (as shown below, a number of plugins need updating) …
The Plugins screen (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also provides information about plugins that need updating …
As well as providing information about plugins that have updates available, the Plugins section provides links to the plugin download pages and gives you the option to update your plugin with one-click …
Let’s start by learning how to upgrade plugins one at a time.
Update Single Plugins
Always make a full backup of your data and files before updating your website.
From your main menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
The “Plugins” page will display in your browser. The table of plugins can run down your screen for some length, depending on the number of plugins you have added to your blog …
(The WordPress Plugins Screen)
Notes:
If you have too many plugins and would like to reduce the number of plugins showing on your screen, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins screen and type in a smaller number of items per page (by default, all plugins display on the screen), then click the ‘Apply’ button …
Your Plugins page will now be reduced in size with a ’numbered pages’ feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Search Installed Plugins” function …
WordPress displays information about plugins in different color backgrounds depending on the status of the plugins (inactive vs. active and out-of-date vs up-to-date) …
Plugins that require upgrading display the following notification message: “There is a new version of [Insert Plugin Name] available” …
Find the plugin that needs to be updated and click on the update now link …
WordPress provides simple plugin updating, so that the process of updating your plugins happens “behind the scenes” without leaving your Plugins area …
Repeat this process for all plugins on your site that need updating, or refer to the section below if you have a number of plugins that are out-of-date and would like to upgrade all plugins at the same time.
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Now that you know how to upgrade individual plugins, it’s time to learn how to update several WordPress plugins simultaneously.
Bulk-Upgrading Plugins
To bulk-upgrade WordPress plugins simultaneously using the automatic updating feature, go to the “Plugins” area and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Tick the check box in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select each plugin you want to update by checking its box …
In the Bulk Actions drop-down menu at the top of the page, select Update …
And then click Apply …
The plugins you have selected will automatically begin updating …
After the update process has completed, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to the Plugins area, or choose another option from the main menu …
Once your plugins are all up-to-date, the update reminders disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” notices no longer display) …
All plugins are now up-to-date!
(When plugins on your site are all up-to-date, the notification icons do not display)
Now that you know how to automatically update WordPress in your dashboard, it’s time to learn how to delete plugins from your site or blog.
How To Delete Plugins
It’s a good idea to delete plugins that you no longer use. This can conserve resources on your server and eliminates potential problems.
In this section, we show you how to safely deactivate and delete unused plugins from your site.
We strongly recommend creating 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 reinstall your site.
To remove a plugin, go to your main menu and select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins page, find the plugin you want to remove and make sure it is inactive.
Hint: Inactive plugins use a different background color than active plugins and display an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, click on Deactivate before going any further …
Click on Delete …
If you want to review a list of all the files that will be deleted before taking the next step, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” page …
The entire list of files associated with the plugin that you are about to remove will display on your screen …
If you are positively certain that you want to proceed and delete the selected plugin files, click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
Your plugins and related files will be deleted from your WordPress installation …
Deleting Several Plugins At Once
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 first need to 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 check box, or selecting the check box next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins (warning: this will deactivate all plugins) …
Next, select Deactivate from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
The selected plugins will be deactivated …
Once you have deactivated these plugins, click on the Inactive link on the menu at the top of the page …
Select all of the plugins you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their checkbox, or click on the check box next to the Plugin column header to select and delete all inactive plugins …
Once you have selected all the plugins that you want deleted, choose Delete from the Bulk Actions drop-down menu …
Click the Apply button …
A list of all selected plugins will be displayed in the Delete Plugins screen. 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 sure that you want to proceed to the next step and remove all of the plugins listed …
The plugins will be deleted and their associated files will be removed from your server …
Managing WordPress Plugins
In addition to the methods shown above, you can use a range of third-party tools that help you manage your 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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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com