How To Update WordPress Themes

Learn how to easily update WordPress themes inside your dashboard …

Updating Your ThemeIf you are new to WordPress, make sure you read our introduction to WordPress themes. It explains what WP themes are and how using themes can be cost-effective and time-saving for small business website owners.

This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your themes to a new version inside the dashboard.

Updating Themes – Best Practices

Upgrading A WordPress Theme - Best Practices

We recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below before going through the upgrade process, to help minimize any problems during your updating process.

1. Back Up Your Website Fully

Backing up your website before making any updates to your site is vital. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of free and paid plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups here:

2. Check The Theme Update Notes

Changes made to the WordPress software 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 new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new theme version.

If the changes seem irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update. Otherwise, it’s best to update.

3. Test Your Theme

If you can, it’s a good idea to check the theme before installing it on your site.

Useful Tip

Typically, web service providers will set up a test site where they can test the latest version of a theme, track bugs and check if the new theme version doesn’t conflict with any existing plugins or settings before installing it on a live site.

If you manage 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 live website.

4. Search Online

Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online and see if anyone has 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 premium 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, 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”, all customizations get 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 just visit the WordPress Codex child theme page here:

Practical Tip

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 precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.

Many people don’t upgrade their 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 “best practice” methods for ensuring problem-free upgrades. Ultimately, it is solely the website owner’s responsibility to protect their online assets.

How To Upgrade Themes In WordPress – Tutorial

Updating your themes in the WP dashboard is simple.

Log into your WordPress administration area …

Theme Management: Updating Your Theme

Depending on the theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional notifications in your WP Dashboard that new theme versions are available and require updating …

Updating Your Themes

Updating themes from the dashboard is a simple process. You can update your themes using the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” area.

Updating Your Site’s Theme From The “Themes” Page

You can see which themes need updating by going to your Themes page.

Select Appearance > Themes from your WP dashboard menu …

Upgrading Your Theme

This opens up the “Themes” page …

Theme Management: Upgrading WordPress Theme In The WP Dashboard

WordPress Themes that need updating display an “Update Available” message over their thumbnail image …

Updating Themes In WordPress

Locate the theme you want to update and click on the “Update Available” notice.

When the theme details window opens up, click on update now

How To Update Your WP Themes

WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …

Theme Management: Upgrading Your WordPress Theme

Your WordPress theme is now updated …

Updating A Theme In WordPress

Repeat the above to update all of your outdated themes, or use the method described below to upgrade multiple themes.

Updating Your Themes Via The “Updates” Page

Update your WordPress theme using the “Updates” area as follows:

To view all themes installed on your website that need updating, click on Dashboard > Updates

WordPress Theme Management: Updating Themes In WordPress

This brings up the Updates screen. Scroll down to the Themes section …

Upgrading Your WP Theme

Select all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the bulk upgrade process …

Theme Management: How To Update A Theme In WordPress

WordPress will automatically update all of the selected themes …

WordPress Theme Management: Updating WordPress Theme In Your Dashboard

Congratulations! Now you know how to upgrade your theme from the WP dashboard.

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Originally published as How To Update WordPress Themes.