If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. It explains what themes are and how using a theme can be cost-effective and time-saving for small business website owners.
This tutorial will show you how to easily update a theme inside the dashboard.
Updating Your WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the handy checklist below before going through the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Your Site Files And Data
Backing up your files and data before making any changes to your site is essential. This way, if things don’t go as planned, you can always restore your website to its former settings.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many free and paid WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:
2. Check The Theme Update Notes
When WordPress upgrades its software to a new version, this can affect the functionality of certain themes. Depending on the theme you are using, there may be a changelog file included with an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other changes in the new theme version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should 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 bugs and make sure that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before installing and activating 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 play with the new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main 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 themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized Themes
If you have made extensive customizations to your existing theme files, upgrading your theme could 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”, your customizations are 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 not complicated at all … a few simple clicks and you’re done! The bit that takes the most time and effort to complete is the precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their WordPress themes regularly, while many 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 to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is solely your responsibility as a website owner to protect your digital properties.
Updating A Theme In WordPress – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Upgrading your WordPress theme in the WP dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive an occasional alert in your WP Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …
Updating a WordPress theme from the dashboard is quite simple and easy. You can update your themes from the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” area.
Updating Your Theme Using The “Themes” Page
To see which themes need to be updated, go to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” screen …
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 the theme …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above process to update all of your remaining themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Page
Update your WordPress themes using the “Updates” page as follows:
To view all themes in your site that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This opens up the Updates screen. Scroll down to the Themes section …
Check the box next to all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the bulk update process …
WordPress will automatically update all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your WordPress theme from your dashboard.
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