How To Update WordPress Themes

Learn how to easily update WordPress themes inside your dashboard …

Theme Management: Upgrading Your ThemeIf you are new to WordPress, make sure to read our overview of WordPress themes. The comprehensive article explains what themes are and how using themes can save website owners significant time and money.

This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your theme to its newest version inside your admin area.

Updating WP Themes – Best Practices

Updating WP Themes - Best Practices Checklist

Before updating any WordPress themes, we recommend going through the handy checklist below.

1. Back Up Everything

Backing up your site before making any changes to your site is essential. If something goes wrong, you can always restore everything to its former configuration.

If you don’t want to perform manual backups, there are many WordPress plugins you can use. You can read about a WordPress backup plugin that can automate your backup process 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 information pertaining to the new version.

If the theme 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.

Practical Tip

Typically, web service providers will set up a test site where they can test the latest version of a 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 using the same plugins and configuration settings and test new theme versions on your test site before applying it to your live site.

4. Search Online

Before updating your theme, it’s a good idea to do a quick search online to see if anyone has 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 premium 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, 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 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 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:

Practical Tip

As you will see below, the actual process of updating a WordPress theme is very simple. What can feel slightly bothersome is the preparation 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 “best practice” methods to help you avoid problems. Ultimately, it is solely your responsibility as a website owner to protect your online assets.

How To Upgrade Themes In WordPress – Tutorial

Upgrading your themes in your dashboard is easy.

Log into your WordPress administration area …

WordPress Theme Management: How To Update Your Themes

Depending on which theme(s) you have installed on your website, you may receive occasional alerts in your WordPress Dashboard that your theme(s) need updating …

WordPress Theme Management: Updating Your WP Theme

Updating themes in your WP dashboard is easy. You can update your WordPress themes from the “Themes” area, or the “Updates” area.

Updating Your Site Themes Via The “Themes” Area

To see which themes require updating, go to your Themes page.

Choose Appearance > Themes in your WP dashboard menu …

Updating A Theme In WordPress

This brings you to the “Themes” page …

WordPress Theme Management: Upgrading Themes In WordPress

Themes with new versions display an “Update Available” message over their thumbnail image …

Theme Management: How To Upgrade 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

WordPress Theme Management: Upgrading Your Theme

WordPress automatically updates your theme in seconds …

Theme Management: Upgrading Your Themes

Your WordPress theme is now up-to-date …

Upgrading Your WordPress Themes

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

Updating WordPress Themes Using The “Updates” Area

Update your WordPress theme via the “Updates” section as follows:

To view all themes in your site that require updating, click on Dashboard > Updates

Updating Themes In WordPress

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

How To Update Themes In WordPress

Check the box next to all the themes you want to update and click on Update Themes to complete the upgrade process …

WordPress Theme Management: Upgrading Themes In WordPress

WordPress automatically updates all of the selected themes …

Theme Management: How To Upgrade Your WordPress Theme

Congratulations! Now you know how to update your theme from your dashboard.

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Originally published as How To Update WordPress Themes.