If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what WordPress themes are and how themes can save business website owners significant time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to easily update your WordPress themes to a new version inside the admin area.
Updating Themes – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the checklist below before attempting the upgrade process.
1. Make A Full Site Backup
Backing up your site before making any updates to your site is vital. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully 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 have installed, there may be some release notes included with an update which provides an overview of new features, improvements, security fixes or any other changes in the new version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to upgrade.
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 an installed theme, track any bugs and verify that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before installing it on a live site.
If you manage your own website, you can install a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain name using the same plugins and configuration settings and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live site.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online to see if other theme users have reported any issues with the new theme version.
You can type the theme name and version into Google, and search the theme developer’s support forum (many developers offer this for paid WordPress themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Is Your Theme Heavily Customized? Use A Child Theme
If you have made extensive changes to your existing 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 that parent theme. When you update the “parent theme”, your 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 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 very simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Many people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while others upgrade without going through some or 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, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your online properties.
Upgrading Your Themes – Tutorial
Updating your theme from the WP dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on what theme(s) are installed on your website, you may receive an occasional notification in your dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating WordPress themes from the dashboard is simple and easy. You can update your WordPress theme from the “Themes” screen, or the “Updates” page.
Updating Your Site Themes Using The “Themes” Page
To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WP admin menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
WordPress Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …
Your theme is now updated …
Repeat the above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating Your Theme Using The “Updates” Section
Update your themes using the “Updates” page as shown below:
To view all themes on your site that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme in your dashboard.
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