In a previous article, we explain what plugins are and how you can use these to easily expand your website’s capabilities.
To view this article, go here:
In this tutorial you will learn why WordPress plugins need to be kept up-to-date, how to automatically update and uninstall plugins, and discover some great plugin management tools.
How To Update And Delete WordPress Plugins
Why Some WordPress Plugins Need Frequent Upgrading
New versions of WordPress are frequently being released (about every three to four months) to fix bugs and address security issues and vulnerabilities found in older software releases, and to improve existing features or introduce new functionality to users.
Depending on how many plugins you use on your site, there will typically be new new update notifications for WordPress plugins every.
This is because most plugins for WordPress are created by external developers, so sometimes the code in the new WordPress version conflicts with plugins that were developed 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 quite proactive when it comes to ensuring that plugins get updated when a new version of WordPress is released (if needed). All you have to do as a website owner, is just keep your plugins up-to-date, which, as you will soon discover, is really simple and easy to do.
Keeping your plugins up-to-date and deleting old plugins you no longer use is part of good WordPress site management and helps to avoid any errors and problems.
The WordPress tutorial below explains how to automatically upgrade and delete plugins from the dashboard with no web programming knowledge or skills needed.
How To Automatically Update And Delete Plugins Safely Inside The Dashboard – Step-By-Step Tutorial
WordPress uses several ways to alert users when plugins need updating.
For example, you can instantly see how many plugins need to be updated as soon as you log into your Administration area by looking at the “Plugins” menu.
For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that 9 plugins have older versions that need to be updated …
You can also check how many plugins need to be updated from your WordPress Admin Toolbar (the screenshot below shows that a number of plugins have to 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 page provides links to the plugin developer sites and gives you the option to update your plugins instantly …
Let’s start by learning how to update one WordPress plugin at a time.
Upgrade WordPress Plugins One At A Time
We strongly recommend performing a complete backup of your data and files before upgrading your blog or website.
From your admin menu, select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
You will be taken to the “Plugins” screen. The list of plugins can go down your page for some length, depending on how many plugins you have added to your blog …
(The WordPress Plugins Page)
Additional Info:
If you have too many plugins 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 the ‘Apply’ button …
Your Plugins area will now be made more manageable with a page scrolling feature added. You can find an installed plugin by scrolling through the pages or using the “Plugin Search” feature …
WordPress displays plugin information in different backgrounds depending on the status of the plugins (active vs. inactive and out-of-date vs up-to-date) …
Plugins that need updating display the following notification message: “There is a new version of [Insert Plugin Name] available” …
Select the plugin that you want to update and click on the update now link …
WordPress provides simple plugin updates, 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 refer to the section below if you have several plugins that are out-of-date and would like to update all plugins in bulk.
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Now that you know how to update one plugin at a time, the next step is to learn how to bulk-upgrade plugins.
Bulk-Upgrading WordPress Plugins
To bulk-update WP plugins simultaneously directly inside your dashboard, go to the “Plugins” section and click on the Update Available link on the menu at the top of the page …
Tick the checkbox next to 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 your plugin list, choose Update …
Click Apply …
Your selected plugins will begin to update automatically …
Once all plugins have been updated, you can click on the Return to Plugins page link to return to your Plugins screen, or choose a different section of your dashboard …
Once all plugins are up-to-date, the plugin notifications will disappear (i.e. the “at-a-glance” indicators and “There is a new version of XYZ plugin available” messages no longer display on your screen, toolbar and menus) …
You have updated all plugins on your site to their latest version!
(When your site uses the latest version of all plugins, notification icons no longer appear)
Now that you know how to upgrade plugins, let’s show you how to uninstall plugins safely from your site.
How To Safely Delete WordPress Plugins
At times, you may want to delete WP plugins that you no longer need or are no longer using on your site. This helps to reduce server resources and help to minimize potential problems.
In this section, we show you how to uninstall unused plugins from your 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 reinstall your site.
To remove a plugin, go to your WP admin menu and select Plugins > Installed Plugins …
In the Plugins area, find the plugin you want to remove and make sure it is deactivated.
Hint: Inactive plugins have 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 proceeding …
Click on Delete …
If you would like to have a look at 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” page …
The entire list of files associated with the plugin that you are about to delete will display on your screen …
If you are certain about going ahead and deleting the selected plugin files, just click on the Yes, Delete these files button …
The selected plugin(s) will be removed from your WordPress installation …
How To Delete Several Plugins At Once
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 checkbox, 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 drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
All 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 …
Select all of the plugins you want to delete by either placing a tick next to their checkbox, or click on the checkbox next to the Plugin column header to select and delete all inactive plugins …
Once you have ticked all the checkboxes next to the plugins that you want to delete, specify Delete from the Bulk Actions drop down menu …
Click the Apply button …
A list of all selected plugins will show up 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 …
All selected plugins will be deleted and their associated files will be removed from your server …
Managing WordPress Plugins
As well as the methods shown above, you can use WordPress plugins to manage your WordPress 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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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)