If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our overview of WordPress themes. It explains what WordPress themes are and how themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for web business owners.
This tutorial will show you how to update your theme in the admin area.
Upgrading WordPress Themes – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before going through the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Your Website Fully
Backing up your files and data before making any changes to your site is vital. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore things back to their former state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Changelog
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 included with an update listing any new features, improvements, security fixes or any other changes in the new version.
If the theme 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 the theme, track bugs and check if all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying and activating it on 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 plugins and configuration settings and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online and see if other theme users have reported any issues 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 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 modifications are preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with the use of 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 simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their 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 to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your online properties.
Upgrading A Theme In WordPress – Tutorial
Updating your theme in the WP dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on what theme(s) you have installed on your site, you may receive an occasional alert in your dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating themes from the WP dashboard is quite simple and easy. You can update your WordPress theme via the “Themes” feature, or the “Updates” feature.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Screen
To see which themes need to be updated, go to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WP 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 the theme …
Your theme is now updated …
Repeat the above process to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method below to bulk upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Screen
Update your theme using the “Updates” area as follows:
To view all themes in your site that need updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 will automatically update all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WP themes from your dashboard.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now