If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our overview of WordPress themes. The comprehensive article explains what themes are and how using themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for business owners.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily upgrade a theme with just a few clicks inside the dashboard.
Upgrading Your WordPress Theme – Best Practices
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before attempting the upgrade process, to make sure that no settings or customizations are lost and that your update goes smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Site Fully
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is essential. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore things back to their former state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
Changes made to the WordPress software can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you are using, there may be some release notes accompanying an update listing any new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new theme version.
If the theme 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 a theme, track bugs and check if all plugins are working fine with the new theme before applying it to a live site.
If you manage your own website, you can install a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain name with the same plugins and configuration settings and play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main website.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online to see if other theme users have 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 offer this for premium themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized Themes
If you have made extensive changes to your existing WordPress theme files, updating 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”, all modifications get preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with using child themes, especially if you plan to use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or visit the WordPress Codex child theme page here:
As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is fairly simple. The step in the upgrading process that takes the most time and effort to complete is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through all of the steps listed in the section above. As mentioned earlier, the above are recommended “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is your responsibility as a website owner to protect your digital assets.
Updating Your WordPress Theme – Tutorial
Updating your WP themes from your dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your WordPress Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating WordPress themes in your WP dashboard is easy. You can update your theme using the “Themes” page, or the “Updates” page.
Updating Your Theme Via The “Themes” Area
To see which themes need updating, go to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” screen …
Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over their 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 WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Screen
Update your themes from the “Updates” page as follows:
To view all themes on your site that require 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 automatically updates all of your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WordPress themes from your admin dashboard.
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