In another post, we provide an overview of what WP plugins are all about and how you can use these to easily enhance your web site’s capabilities.
You can view the article here:
In this tutorial you will learn why plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to safely upgrade and remove plugins, and some tips to help you better manage your plugins.
How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins
Why Many Plugins Need Upgrading
New versions of WordPress are frequently being released (about every 3-4 months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities discovered in earlier versions, as well as to improve existing features.
Depending on how many plugins you use on your site, there will typically be new updates for plugins each time a new WordPress version is announced.
The reason for this, is because most WordPress plugins are created by external developers, so sometimes the code in the newly-released WordPress version conflict with plugins that were developed for 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 very proactive when it comes to making sure that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if required). All you need to do as a WordPress user, is simply maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon discover, is very easy and simple to do.
Keeping your plugins up-to-date and deleting old plugins you no longer use is an essential aspect of good WordPress management and helps to avoid any potential errors or problems.
The tutorial below explains how to upgrade and delete WordPress plugins safely from the dashboard without web coding skills or knowledge required.
Upgrading And Deleting WordPress Plugins Safely – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress utilizes a few ways to let users know when plugins need updating.
For example, you can immediately see how many plugins need updating inside your Admin area by looking at the main “Plugins” menu.
In the example below, 9 WP plugins have older versions that need to be updated …
You can also view how many plugins need to be updated from your WP Toolbar (as shown below, 9 plugins should be updated) …
The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also lets you know which plugins need updating …
In addition to providing information about plugins that have available updates, the Plugins section provides links to the plugin developer sites and gives you the option to update the plugins individually or in bulk …
Let’s start by showing you how to upgrade one WP plugin at a time.
How To Update Individual A Plugin
We recommend performing a full backup of your website before making any changes to your blog or website.
From your WP admin menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
The “Plugins” section will display in your browser. The list of plugins can run down your page for some length, depending on how many plugins you have added to your blog …
(The WordPress Plugins Page)
Notes:
If you have too many plugins installed 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 screen), then click Apply …
Your Plugins section will now be made more manageable with a pagination feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Plugin Search” box …
WordPress displays information about plugins in different backgrounds depending on the status of the plugins (active vs. inactive and out-of-date vs up-to-date) …
Plugins in need of updating have a distinctive notification message: “There is a new version of [Plugin Name] available” …
Find the plugin that you want to update and click on the update now link …
WordPress provides faster plugin updating, so that updating your plugins takes place “behind the scenes” without leaving your Plugins screen …
Repeat the above process for all plugins on your site that need updating, or see the section below if you have many plugins that are out-of-date and would like to update them all in bulk.
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Now that you know how to update WordPress plugins one at a time, the next step is to learn how to update several plugins simultaneously.
How To Update Several Plugins Simultaneously
To update multiple WP plugins at the same time using the automatic upgrading feature, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Click on the check box in the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select only the plugins you want to update by checking its box …
In the Bulk Actions pull-down menu above the list of plugins, select Update …
And then click Apply …
The plugins you have selected will begin to update automatically …
Once all upgrades are completed, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to your Plugins screen, or select another option from the main menu …
Once your plugins are all up-to-date, the plugin notifications disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” notices no longer display on your screen, toolbar and menus) …
All plugins are now up-to-date!
(When your site or blog uses the latest version of all plugins, notification icons no longer show)
Now that you know how to automatically update in your admin dashboard, let’s show you how to safely uninstall plugins safely from your WordPress site or blog.
Deleting Plugins
It’s a good idea to uninstall plugins that you no longer need. This helps to reduce server resources and help to reduce problems.
In this section, we show you how to uninstall unused plugins from your WordPress site.
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 remove a plugin, go to your admin menu and choose Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins page, find the plugin you want to delete and make sure it is deactivated.
Hint: Inactive plugins have a different colored background than active plugins and display an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, click on Deactivate before proceeding …
Click Delete …
If you would like to have a look at all the files that will be deleted before proceeding any further, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” screen …
The entire list of files belonging to the plugin selected for removalwill be listed on your screen …
If you are certain that you want to proceed and delete the selected plugin files, then click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
The selected plugins and related files will be removed from your server …
Bulk-Deleting WP Plugins
You can delete all inactive plugins at once, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be cleared.
Note: To delete any plugins that are currently active, you must first 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 checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins (warning: this will deactivate all plugins) …
Next, choose Deactivate from the Bulk Actions pull-down menu …
Click Apply …
Your selected plugins will be deactivated …
Once you have deactivated your plugins, click on the Inactive 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 remove by checking its box …
Once you have ticked all the checkboxes next to the plugins that you want to delete, select Delete from the Bulk Actions pull-down menu …
Click the Apply button …
A list of all selected plugins will show up in the Delete Plugins area. 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 …
All plugins will be deleted and their associated files will be removed from your server …
Practical Management Tools For Plugins
In addition to the methods shown above, you can use other WordPress plugins to manage your WordPress plugins.
PLUGIN CENTRAL
Plugin Central is a Free plugin that helps you manage your plugins with features that let you install plugins directly, displays the status of plugins in need of update in the Admin area and also allows you to update multiple plugins in one click …
For more details about using this plugin, visit the plugin site:
Managing WordPress Plugins On Multiple Sites
When plugin developers release a new plugin update, the best practice is to update the plugin right away.
What if you have multiple sites with the same plugin installed? One option, is to login to every site and then update the plugin from that site’s own admin dashboard. If you own multiple sites, updating the same plugin(s) can take quite some time!
WordPress Power User Tip: If you manage a number of WordPress sites or blogs, you can install, upgrade or delete plugins on all of your sites automatically and simultaneously using various WordPress management tools.
Below are just a few great WordPress management tools you may want to look at:
Jetpack Manage
Jetpack is a single WordPress plugin that provides users with a wide range of features, allowing self-hosted WordPress site users to access WordPress.com’s infrastructure and take advantage of robust stats, automated social sharing, and a whole lot more.
(The Jetpack Plugin gives you access to range of powerful WordPress features)
One of these features is “Jetpack Manage”.
Jetpack Manage allows you to manage your WordPress sites and plugins from a central dashboard.
With Manage, you can update plugins, set plugins to automatically update, and activate or deactivate plugins on a per-site basis or all at once, whether you’re on your laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
To download and use the plugin, go here:
ManageWP.com
(ManageWP is a widely used WordPress management tool for multiple WordPress sites)
ManageWP helps you easily manage all of your WordPress sites from one central location, including upgrades, backups, security and more. The tool features easy and intuitive one-click management and instant login to your sites.
To download the plugin, go here:
WP Pipeline
(With WP Pipeline, you can update all of your WordPress sites, plugins and themes from a single WP installation)
WP Pipeline works in a similar way to ManageWP, but you only have to pay once to access the software. It lets you manage your entire portfolio of WordPress sites and perform multiple updates from one single WP installation.
Visit this site to download the plugin:
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade and safely remove your plugins.
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