In a previous article, we explain what plugins are and how you can use plugins to easily add new features and functionality to your blog without touching code.
To view this article, go here:
In this tutorial you will learn why WordPress plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to easily update and delete plugins from your site, and useful plugin management tips if you plan to run multiple WordPress sites.
How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins
Why Your WordPress Plugins Need Updating
WordPress constantly updates its software (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities found in previous software releases, and to improve existing features.
Depending on how many plugins you have installed on your site, there will typically be new updates for WordPress plugins every.
This is because most WordPress plugins are created by external developers, so sometimes the code in the newly-released WordPress version conflicts with plugins that were developed and tested with a previous version. When this happens, problems 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 updating is needed). All you need to do as a website owner, is simply maintain your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon discover, is very simple and easy to do.
Keeping your plugins regularly updated and removing old plugins you no longer use is an essential aspect of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid problems and errors.
The WordPress step-by-step tutorial below explains how to automatically update and delete plugins with no web programming skills or knowledge required.
Upgrading And Deleting Plugins Safely – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress provides a few ways to notify users when plugins need to be updated.
For example, you can instantly see how many plugins are out-of-date inside your WordPress Dashboard simply by looking at the “Plugins” menu.
In the screenshot below, nine plugins need updating …
You can also tell how many plugins need updating from your WordPress Toolbar (the screenshot below shows that a number of plugins have to be updated) …
The Plugins section (Plugins > Installed Plugins) also provides information about plugins that need updating …
In addition to providing information about plugins that have available updates, the Plugins section provides links to the plugin download pages and gives you the option to update the plugin instantly …
Let’s start by learning how to update WP plugins individually.
Upgrading WordPress Plugins Individually
Always make a complete backup of your data and files before making any updates to your website.
From your dashboard menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
The “Plugins” section will display in your browser. This list of plugins can be quite lengthy depending on the number of plugins you have installed in your site …
(WordPress Plugins Screen)
Useful Info:
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 area and type in a smaller number of items per page (by default, all plugins display on the page), then click the ‘Apply’ button …
Your Plugins area 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 “Search Installed Plugins” box …
WordPress displays plugin information in different color backgrounds depending on the status of your plugins (inactive vs. active and up-to-date vs. outdated) …
Plugins that require upgrading display the following notification message: “There is a new version of [Plugin] available” …
Locate the plugin that needs to be updated and click on the update now link …
WordPress provides simpler plugin updating, so that updating your plugins happens “behind the scenes” without leaving your Plugins screen …
Repeat the above process for any other plugins on your site that need updating, or refer to the section below if you have a number of plugins that are out-of-date and would like to update them all in one simple operation.
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Now that you know how to update plugins one at a time, the next step is to learn how to update multiple plugins simultaneously.
How To Bulk-Update WordPress Plugins
To bulk-upgrade WordPress plugins directly inside your dashboard, go to the “Plugins” area and click on the Update Available 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 only the plugins you want to update by checking its box …
In the Bulk Actions drop-down menu above the plugin table, choose Update …
Click Apply …
The plugins you have selected will automatically begin updating …
Once all upgrades are finished, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to go back to the Plugins section, or go to a different section of your dashboard …
Once your plugins are all up-to-date, the update reminders disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” notices no longer display) …
You have updated all plugins on your site to their latest version!
(When plugins on your site are all up-to-date, update notices no longer show)
Now that you know how to upgrade your inside your dashboard, let’s show you how to uninstall plugins from your WordPress site.
Deleting Plugins
As part of smart site management practices, it’s a good idea to uninstall inactive plugins. This helps to conserve server resources and helps to eliminate problems.
In this section, we show you how to safely remove unused plugins from your WordPress site or blog.
Always create 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 restore your site.
To delete a plugin, go to your dashboard menu and click on Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins area, find the plugin you want to delete and make sure it is deactivated.
Hint: Inactive plugins use a different background color than active plugins and show an “Activate” link below the plugin name …
If the plugin is active, then click on Deactivate before continuing with your plugin deletion …
Next, click Delete …
If you need to browse 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” section …
A complete list of files belonging to the plugin selected for deletionwill be listed on your screen …
If you are positively sure about going ahead and deleting the selected plugin files, click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
Your plugin(s) will be deleted …
Bulk-Deleting WordPress Plugins
You can bulk-delete all inactive plugins on your site, or select a combination of active and inactive plugins to be cleared.
Note: To delete any plugins that are presently 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) …
Once you have done this, specify 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 …
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 their individual boxes …
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 Apply …
A list of all selected plugins will display 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 go ahead and remove all of the plugins listed …
The plugins will be deleted and their associated files will be removed from your server …
Managing WordPress Plugins – Tools
As well as the methods shown above, you can use a number of 3rd-party tools that let you manage your plugins.
Health Check & troubleshooting
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
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.
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.
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.
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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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum