If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our introduction to WordPress themes. This detailed article explains what WP themes are and how using a theme can save small business website owners time and money.
This tutorial will show you how to easily upgrade themes in the admin area.
Updating WP Themes – Best Practices
Before updating your WordPress themes, we recommend going through the checklist below to make sure that your upgrades go smoothly.
1. Back Up Your Website Fully
Backing up your website before making any changes to your site is vital. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore everything to its previous configuration.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of 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 a changelog file accompanying an update listing any new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other information pertaining to the new theme version.
If the 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 the theme, track any bugs and make sure that all plugins are working fine with the new theme before installing it on 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 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 do a quick search online to see if other theme users have reported any issues 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 offer this for premium WordPress themes, and even for some free plugins).
5. Use Child Themes For Heavily Customized WordPress Themes
If you have made extensive customizations to your existing theme files, updating 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 that 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 the use of 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 official WordPress child theme page here:
As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation involved prior to upgrading.
Some 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, it is solely the website owner’s responsibility to protect their digital properties.
Upgrading A Theme In WordPress – Tutorial
Updating your WP themes from your admin dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress administration area …
Depending on which theme(s) you have installed on your site, you may receive occasional notifications in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a WordPress theme in your dashboard is easy. You can update your site’s theme from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” section.
Updating Your Site Themes Using The “Themes” Area
To see which themes need to be updated, go to your Themes page.
Select Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …
This brings you to the “Themes” page …
WordPress Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over the theme’s thumbnail image …
Locate the theme that needs to be updated and click on the “Update Available” alert.
When the theme details window opens up, click on update now …
WordPress automatically updates your theme …
Your WordPress theme is now updated …
Repeat the above process to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method described below to bulk upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Updates” Section
Update your WordPress theme via the “Updates” screen as follows:
To view all themes installed in your website 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 themes from the WP dashboard.
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