How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins

Learn how to update and delete WordPress plugins inside your WordPress dashboard…

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Inside The WordPress Admin DashboardIn another article, we explain what plugins are and how you can use these to add new features to your website without editing code.

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 upgrade and uninstall your WordPress plugins, and discover useful tips to help you better manage your plugins.

How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins

Why Some Plugins Need Updating

The WordPress software is regularly updated (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities discovered in previous software releases, and to improve existing features or introduce new ones.

Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, there will typically be new new update notices for plugins whenever new WordPress versions are announced.

The reason for this, is because most WordPress plugins are created by third-party developers, so sometimes features in the newly-released WordPress version conflict with plugins that were developed and tested with a previous version. Whenever this happens, issues can sometimes occur.

Fortunately, most WordPress plugin developers (and the WordPress developer community itself) are very proactive when it comes to making sure that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if needed). All you have to do on your end, is just maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon learn, is really simple to do.

Info

Keeping your plugins regularly updated and removing old plugins you no longer need is an essential aspect of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid any potential problems and errors.

The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to upgrade and delete plugins safely with no web programming knowledge needed.

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins In WordPress – Tutorial

WordPress has a few methods to notify you when plugins need updating.

For example, you can see ‘at a glance’ how many plugins are out-of-date as soon as you log into your Admin area just by looking at the “Plugins” menu.

For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that 9 plugins need updating …

How To Update And Delete Plugins Safely

You can also view how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Notification Toolbar (the example below shows that a number of plugins have to be updated) …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely Inside The WordPress Admin Dashboard

The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also lets you know which plugins need to be updated …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely In Your Dashboard

In addition to providing information about which plugins have updates available, the Plugins section provides links to the plugin download pages and gives you the option to update the plugins with one-click …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely From The WP Dashboard

Let’s start by showing you how to update individual plugins.

How To Upgrade Plugins Individually

Warning

Always make a backup of your data and files before upgrading your website or blog.

In your dashboard menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins

Updating And Deleting WordPress Plugins

You will be taken to the “Plugins” screen. The table of plugins can flow down your screen for a while, depending on how many plugins you have added to your site …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins In WordPress

(Plugins Screen)

Tip

Notes:

If you have too many plugins and would like to make this section more manageable, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins screen and enter a smaller number of items per page (by default, all plugins display on the page), then click the ‘Apply’ button …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins

Your Plugins section will now be reduced in size with a pagination feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Plugin Search” feature …

Updating And Deleting Plugins

WordPress displays plugin information in different backgrounds depending on the status of the plugins (active vs. inactive and outdated vs up-to-date) …

How To Automatically Upgrade And Delete Plugins Safely In The WP Admin Dashboard

Plugins in need of updating show the following notification message: “There is a new version of [Insert Plugin Name] available”

Updating And Deleting Plugins

Find the plugin that needs updating and click on the update now link …

Updating And Deleting Plugins

WordPress has done away with the loading screen when updating plugins and streamlined the process, so that the process of updating your plugins happens with just “one click” without leaving your Plugins screen …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Inside Your Dashboard

Repeat this process for all plugins on your site that need to be updated, or see the section below if you have several 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 update plugins individually, it’s time to learn how to bulk-update WP plugins.

Bulk-Updating WordPress Plugins

To bulk-upgrade WP plugins simultaneously from your admin area, go to the “Plugins” page and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …

How To Upgrade And Delete Plugins Inside Your WP Admin Dashboard

Click the check box next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to upgrade by checking their individual boxes …

How To Update And Delete Plugins

In the Bulk Actions drop down menu above the list of plugins, select Update

How To Update And Delete Plugins Safely

And then click Apply

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins In The Dashboard

The plugins you have selected will begin updating …

How To Automatically Update And Delete Plugins Safely

After all plugin updates are done, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to your Plugins screen, or go to a different section of your dashboard …

How To Upgrade And Delete Plugins From The WP Admin Dashboard

Once all plugins are up-to-date, the update reminders disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” messages no longer display on your screen, toolbar and menus) …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely

You have updated all plugins on your site!

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins

(When your plugins are all up-to-date, update alerts no longer appear)

Now that you know how to automatically upgrade WP plugins, it’s time to learn how to safely delete plugins safely from your site.

Deleting WP Plugins

Occasionally, you may decide to remove WordPress plugins that you no longer need or are no longer using on your site. This helps to conserve server resources and also help you avoid causes of some problems.

In this section, you will learn how to uninstall unused plugins from your site.

Warning

Always create 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 delete a plugin, go to your admin menu and choose Plugins > Installed Plugins

How To Automatically Upgrade And Delete Plugins

In the Plugins page, locate the plugin you want to remove and make sure it is deactivated.

Hint: Inactive plugins appear in a different colored background than active plugins and display an “Activate” link below the plugin name …

How To Update And Delete Plugins Safely

If the plugin is active, click on Deactivate before continuing with your plugin deletion …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely In The WordPress Admin Dashboard

Next, click on Delete

Updating And Deleting Plugins

If you would like to review a list of all the files that will be deleted before proceeding, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” screen …

How To Automatically Update And Delete Plugins In WordPress

The entire list of files belonging to the plugin selected for removalwill be listed on your screen …

How To Upgrade And Delete Plugins

If you are absolutely sure about going ahead and deleting the plugin, then click on the Yes, Delete these files button …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely In WordPress

Your plugins and related files will be deleted …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely

How To Safely Delete Several Plugins Simultaneously

You can delete all inactive plugins at once, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be deleted.

Useful Information

Note: To delete any plugins that are currently active, your will 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) …

Updating And Deleting Plugins In WordPress

Next, select Deactivate from the Bulk Actions pull-down menu …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely In WordPress

Click Apply

How To Update And Delete Plugins Safely In WordPress

Your selected plugins will be deactivated …

How To Upgrade And Delete WordPress Plugins In Your Dashboard

Once you have deactivated your plugins, click on the Inactive link on the menu at the top of the page …

Updating And Deleting Plugins Safely In Your WP Dashboard

Select all of the plugins you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their checkbox, or click on the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select and delete all inactive plugins …

Upgrading And Deleting Plugins In WordPress

Once you have selected all the plugins that you want to delete, select Delete from the Bulk Actions drop-down menu …

How To Upgrade And Delete Plugins

Click Apply

Upgrading And Deleting WordPress Plugins Safely

A list of all selected plugins will show up 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 absolutely sure that you want to proceed to the next step and delete all of the selected plugins …

How To Automatically Upgrade And Delete Plugins Safely In The WP Dashboard

All plugins will be deleted …

How To Update And Delete Plugins Safely In WordPress

WordPress Management Tools For WP Plugins

As well as the methods shown above, you can install WordPress plugins to manage your plugins.

Health Check & troubleshooting

Health Check & Troubleshooting WordPress plugin
Health Check identifies common problems and helps you troubleshoot plugin and theme conflicts.

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

WPMU DEV's The Hub - Unlimited WordPress Site Management
WPMU DEV’s The Hub – Unlimited WordPress Site Management

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.

WPMU DEV: The Hub - My Sites - Updates menu

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.

WPMU DEV: The Hub - My Sites - Updates menu

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.

The Hub - Update notifications.
This feature can help you save a lot of time updating multiple WordPress sites, especially when WordPress releases a new version of its software.

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 have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group