If you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our overview of WordPress themes. It explains what WP themes are and how they can save business owners significant time and money.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to easily upgrade your theme in your dashboard.
Upgrading A WordPress Theme – Best Practices Checklist
We recommend going through the checklist below before going through the upgrade process, to make sure that your update goes smoothly.
1. Make A Full Site Backup
Backing up your site before making any changes to your site is vital. This way, if something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former state.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can fully automate your backup process here:
2. Check The Changelog
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 listing new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other changes in the new version.
If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, you should upgrade.
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 any bugs and verify that all plugins are working fine with the new theme 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 with the same plugins and configuration settings and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live website.
4. Search Online
Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to search online to see if other theme users have reported any serious problems 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 provide forums for paid WordPress 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, 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 the 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 the use of child themes, especially if you plan on using 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! What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation 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 to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your digital properties.
Upgrading Your WordPress Themes – Step-By-Step Tutorial
Updating your themes in your admin dashboard is easy.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional notifications in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating themes in the WP dashboard is simple and easy. You can update your site’s theme using the “Themes” section, or the “Updates” area.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Themes” Area
You can see which themes require updating by going to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes in your WordPress admin 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” message.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates the theme in seconds …
Your theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the process described above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to bulk update multiple themes.
Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Area
Update your WordPress themes via the “Updates” section as follows:
To view all themes installed on your site that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates …
This brings 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 upgrade your WordPress theme from your dashboard.
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