In another article, we provide a detailed explanation of what plugins are about and how you can use plugins to easily extend your web site’s functionality.
You can read the article here:
In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn why plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to safely update and uninstall plugins, and some great plugin management tips if you own or manage multiple WordPress sites or blogs.
Why Some WordPress 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 or introduce new functionality to WordPress users.
Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, you can expect to see at least some new new update notices for WordPress plugins when new WordPress versions are released.
The reason for this, is because most WordPress plugins are created by third-party developers, so sometimes code or features in the new WordPress version conflict with plugins that were built for a previous version. Whenever 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 updating is needed). All you have to do as a WordPress user, is maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon discover, is very simple and easy to do.
Keeping your WordPress plugins up-to-date and removing old plugins you no longer use is part of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid any potential problems or errors.
The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to automatically update and delete plugins safely inside the dashboard without editing web code.
How To Upgrade And Delete WordPress Plugins Safely – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress utilizes several methods to let users know when plugins on their blog need to be updated.
For example, you can tell immediately how many plugins need to be updated as soon as you log into your WP Dashboard just by looking at the main “Plugins” menu.
In the example below, you can see that 9 WordPress plugins have older versions that need to be updated …
You can also view how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Administration Toolbar (as shown below, nine plugins should be brought up to date) …
The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also lets you know which plugins need to be updated …
In addition to providing information about plugins that have updates available, the Plugins section provides links to the plugin download sites and gives you the option to update the plugin with one-click …
Let’s start by showing you how to upgrade WP plugins individually.
Upgrade Plugins Individually
Always make a backup of your website before making any updates to your website.
In your dashboard menu, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins …
You will be taken to the “Plugins” section. This list of plugins can be quite long depending on how many 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 page, then click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your Plugins area and enter a smaller number of items per page (all plugins show up on the page by default), then click Apply …
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” box …
WordPress displays plugin information in different color backgrounds depending on the status of the plugins (active vs. inactive and outdated vs up-to-date) …
Plugins that require upgrading have a distinctive notification message: “There is a new version of [Plugin] available” …
Select the plugin that you want to update and click on the update now link …
WordPress provides streamlined plugin updates, so that updating your plugins takes place with just “one click” without leaving your Plugins area …
Repeat the above 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 in one simple operation.
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Now that you know how to upgrade individual WordPress plugins, the next step is to learn how to update many plugins simultaneously.
Bulk-Upgrading WP Plugins
To bulk-upgrade WP plugins from your admin area, go to the “Plugins” area and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Click on the check box next to the Plugin column header to select all plugins at once, or select each plugin you want to upgrade by checking their individual boxes …
In the Bulk Actions drop down menu at the top of the page, select Update …
Click Apply …
Your selected plugins will update all at once …
After your plugins have all been updated, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to return to the Plugins area, or choose another option from the WP admin menu …
Once all plugins are up-to-date, any plugin alerts 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 no longer display)
Now that you know how to upgrade plugins, it’s time to learn how to remove plugins safely from your blog or website.
Deleting WordPress Plugins
It’s a good idea to uninstall plugins that are no longer needed or being used on your site. This can help to decrease resource usage and eliminate causes of problems.
In this section, you will learn how to safely uninstall unused plugins from your WordPress site.
We strongly recommend creating a full back up of your WordPress 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 dashboard menu and click on Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins section, find the plugin you want to delete and make sure it is inactive.
Hint: Inactive plugins have a different colored background than active plugins and show an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, then click on Deactivate before continuing …
Once you have deactivated the plugin, click Delete …
If you would like to review a list of all the files that will be deleted before going ahead with the next step, then click on the “Click to view entire list of files which will be deleted” link in the “Delete Plugin” page …
All files belonging to the plugin that you are about to remove will display on your screen …
If you are sure about going ahead and deleting the plugin files, then click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
Your plugin(s) will be deleted …
How To Bulk-Delete WP Plugins
You can bulk-delete all inactive plugins, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be removed.
Note: To delete any plugins that are presently 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 checkbox, 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 pull-down menu …
Click the Apply button …
Your 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 check box, or click on the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select and delete all inactive plugins …
Once you have ticked all the check boxes next to the plugins that you want deleted, select Delete from the Bulk Actions dropdown 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 would like to proceed to the next step and remove all of the selected plugins …
The plugins will be deleted …
WordPress Management Tools For Plugins
As well as the methods shown above, you can install Free and Premium WordPress plugins that let you manage your WordPress plugins.
PLUGIN CENTRAL
Plugin Central helps you manage your plugins by allowing you to install plugins directly, displays the status of plugins in need of update in your WP Dashboard and lets you update multiple plugins in one click …
For more details about using this plugin, visit the plugin site:
Managing WordPress Plugins On Multiple Sites
As discussed earlier, when plugin updates get released, 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 each site individually and then go through the plugin update process from that site’s own WordPress admin dashboard. With multiple sites, this process can take quite some time to complete!
WordPress Power User Tip: If you own or manage multiple WordPress sites or blogs, you can install, update or remove plugins on multiple sites automatically and simultaneously using various WordPress management tools.
Here are a few WordPress management tools that are worth knowing about:
Jetpack By WordPress.com
Jetpack is a versatile plugin for WordPress that offers users a wide range of features, allowing self-hosted WordPress site users to access WordPress.com’s infrastructure and take advantage of things like robust stats, automated social sharing, and a host of other features.
(Jetpack lets you access a range of powerful WordPress features)
One of these features is “Manage”.
Jetpack Manage allows you to manage your self-hosted WordPress sites and WordPress.com sites from one simple interface.
With Manage, you can upgrade plugins, set plugins to update automatically, and activate or deactivate plugins on a per-site basis or in bulk, whether you’re on your computer, tablet, or smart device.
To learn more about using the plugin, visit this site:
ManageWP.com
(ManageWP is a very popular management tool for multiple WordPress sites)
ManageWP lets you easily manage all of your sites and blogs from one dashboard, including upgrades, backups, security and more. This application features easy one-click upgrades and instant login access to your WordPress sites.
To download and use the plugin, visit this site:
WP Pipeline – Multiple WordPress Site Management Software
(WP Pipeline lets you update all of your WordPress sites, plugins and themes from a single WordPress 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 upgrades from one single WP installation.
To download and use this plugin, go here:
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade and delete your plugins in WordPress.
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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