If you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our overview of WordPress themes. We’ve written an in-depth article that explains what WP themes are and how using a theme can be cost-effective and time-saving for business website owners.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily update themes with just a few clicks inside the admin area.
Upgrading A WordPress Theme – Best Practices
We recommend going through the “best practices” checklist below before attempting the upgrade process.
1. Back Up Your Site Files And Data
Backing up your site before making any changes to your site is essential. If something goes wrong, you can always restore.
If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are a number of plugins you can use. Learn about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your site backups 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 some release notes included with an update listing any new features, improvements, bug fixes or important changes in the new theme version.
If the theme 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.
Typically, web service providers will set up a test site where they can test the latest version of a theme, track any bugs and check if 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 name with the same plugins and configuration settings and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your main 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 offer this for premium 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 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”, your customizations are preserved through the “child theme.”
If you plan to customize your theme files, then we recommend becoming familiar with child themes, especially if you use a theme that gets regularly updated. You can learn more about child themes by searching online, or just 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 precautionary work involved prior to upgrading.
Some people don’t upgrade their 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 to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, as a website owner, it is solely your responsibility to protect your online assets.
Updating Your Themes – Tutorial
Upgrading your themes from your admin dashboard is simple.
Log into your WordPress admin area …
Depending on the theme(s) installed on your site, you may receive an occasional notification in your WP Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …
Updating a WordPress theme from the WP dashboard is quite simple and easy. You can update your site’s theme from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” page.
Updating WordPress Themes Via The “Themes” Area
To see which themes need to be updated, go to your Themes page.
Choose Appearance > Themes in your WordPress admin menu …
This opens up the “Themes” screen …
Themes that need updating 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 your theme in seconds …
Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …
Repeat the above process to update all of your out-of-date themes, or use the method below to upgrade multiple themes at once.
Updating Your Site’s Theme From The “Updates” Section
Update your themes using the “Updates” screen as follows:
To view all themes installed on your website that need 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 your selected themes …
Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme from the WP dashboard.
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