If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what WP themes are and how they can save business website owners significant time and money.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to upgrade a theme in your dashboard.
Updating Themes – Best Practices Checklist
Before updating your themes, we recommend going through the checklist below to help prevent any problems that may affect your site during the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Your Website Fully
Backing up your site before making any updates 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 WordPress plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process 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 have installed, there may be some release notes included with an update which provides an overview of any new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other information pertaining to the new theme version.
If the theme changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should update.
3. Test The 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 the theme, track bugs and verify that the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before applying it to a live site.
If you’re managing your own website, you can set up a test WordPress site on a subdomain or a separate domain name using the same configuration settings (e.g. plugins) 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 do a quick search online and 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 provide forums 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 WordPress theme files, upgrading 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”, all 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 plan to use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or visit the official WordPress 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 part of the update process 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 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 your responsibility to protect your online assets.
How To Upgrade WP Theme In Your Admin Dashboard – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Updating your WordPress theme from the WP dashboard is simple.
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 your theme(s) need updating …
Updating WordPress themes in the WP dashboard is very simple and easy. You can update your WordPress theme via the “Themes” screen, or the “Updates” page.
Updating Your Site’s Theme Using The “Themes” Section
To see which themes need updating, go to your Themes area.
Choose Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This opens up the “Themes” page …
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 …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme from the “Updates” area as follows:
To view all themes installed on your website 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 bulk upgrade process …
WordPress will automatically update all of the selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your theme from your dashboard.
***
"I love the way your email series "Infinite Web Content Creation Training Series" is documented and presented. It is very absorbing and captivating. The links and tutorials are interesting and educational. This has motivated me to rewrite my content following the concepts I am learning from the email series." - Mani Raju, www.fortuneinewaste.com