If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how they can save website owners time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to easily update your themes inside the admin area.
Updating A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below before attempting the upgrade process, to reduce any problems occurring as a result of your updating process.
1. Back Up Everything
Backing up your files and data before making any updates to your site is essential. If something goes wrong, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Changelog
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you have installed, there may be some release notes accompanying an update listing new features, improvements, bug fixes or important information pertaining to the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to update.
3. Test Your 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 verify that the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before installing 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 live site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online to see if anyone has 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 provide forums 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 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 the 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 plan on using 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 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.
Some people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while many 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, it is solely your responsibility as a website owner to protect your online properties.
Upgrading Your Theme – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your WP theme in the WP dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on what theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional alerts in your dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating WordPress themes in the WP dashboard is a very simple process. You can update your themes using the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” section.
Updating Your Site Themes Via The “Themes” Screen
To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes area.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” page …
WordPress Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
Locate the theme that needs to be updated and click on the “Update Available” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress will automatically update the theme …
Your theme is now updated …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes.
Updating Your Site’s Theme Via The “Updates” Area
Update your themes using the “Updates” screen as shown below:
To view all themes in your site that need 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 update process …
WordPress will automatically update all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your themes from the WP dashboard.
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