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Before updating
Before updating any WordPress themes, it’s wise to prepare everything carefully to prevent any loss of settings or customization you have made to your site. Below is our handy checklist we recommend you go through before attempting the theme update.
1. Check the Changelog
The first thing you need to do after downloading and unpacking the latest theme package is to read the Changelog in the readme.txt file. This file will give you an overview of new features, improvements, bug fixes or any other changes in the new version. If you find these changes irrelevant or unimportant, you can skip the update.
2. Make a backup
This is the best precautionary you’ll ever need. Whenever something doesn’t go as planned, you can always restore.
If you are not comfortable with manual backup, you can use plugins instead and below is a list of WordPress backup plugins you should try.
3. Test the theme
It’s crucial to check the theme beforehand in a test site on your local. You can directly test the latest version of the theme, track the bugs and check if all plugins are working fine before applying to your live site.
4. Read items on Codex
You can also refer to this instruction on Codex to get a clear overview of theme updating in WordPress, such as when to update, what should and should not be done, etc. This instruction is updated frequently so you can make sure you will never fall behind.
Update WordPress theme
There are two ways of updating: manual update and automatic update.
1. Automatic Update
Install the WordPress Envato Market plugin
The plugin can be installed from a ZIP file via the WordPress Dashboard.
- Download the ZIP file from here.
- Login to your WordPress Dashboard
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Click “Upload Plugin” at the top
- Upload the envato-market.zip file
- Once installed, click “Activate Plugin”
- Visit the new “Envato Market” menu item
The Settings Page:
The plugin Settings Page allows you to configure your Envato API Personal Token. This API Token is generated from build.envato.com and will allow WordPress to securely receive item updates.
Theme Updates:
Once the Envato API connection is made from the Settings page, a list of available Themes will be shown. This will list all WordPress Themes that have been purchased through the Envato Market / ThemeForest. Any available theme updates can be applied here (or from the standard WordPress update page or WP-CLI).
2. Update manually
Right after you completed the purchasing a WordPress theme on ThemForest, a download button will appear. Just click on that button to download the theme.
In case you want to download the theme again or somehow you closed the browser tab, you need log into your account on ThemeForest. Then move your mouse over your username on the top right and click Downloads.
Then you will be redirected to your Downloads page. All your purchased items are listed here.
Each WordPress has a green button Download. Clicking on that button shows a dropdown. Then select All files & documentation to download the WordPress theme and everything goes with it that you might need to set up the theme, such as required plugins, documentation.
After you download the .zip package from ThemeForest, unzip it. You’ll see a file .zip, which is the main theme file that needs to be uploaded and installed. The filename is usually the theme name, for example: if the theme is Draven, then the file name is draven.zip, Yena – yena.zip , Lauriel – lauriel.zip, Airi – airi.zip, etc. But sometimes, the file name is different but not too much and you can guess the file name from the theme name. Here at Draven, we always name the draven.zip file the same as the theme name.
To install a WordPress theme from a .zip file, login to your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance → Themes. Then click on the Add New button at the top.
NOTE: Delete the old version and reinstall the latest version of the theme. You will not be able to install the new version while the old version is still installed except you are using the WordPress 5.5 or greater
On the next screen, click on the Upload Theme button at the top. You will be prompted to choose the zip file that you downloaded earlier. Select the file and click Install Now.
Once your theme is installed, you will see a success message along with the link to activate and preview the theme. Just click Activate link to complete the installation of the theme.
3. Update plugins
After installing the WordPress theme, you might see a notification at the top of the page that says the theme needs some plugins to function properly. These plugins add more features to the theme such as LA-Studio Core, Contact form, shop, which makes your website more powerful.
Then choose “Install” from the drop-down list at the top and then click “Apply“.
The installing process status will be shown in your browser. It may takes a few minutes, so please be patient. After sucessfull, your screen like that
When the notice “All installations have been completed” appears, click on the “Return to Required Plugins Installer” link to turn back to the plugin list.
Next, click on the box beside the Plugin label again to select all plugins and choose Activate this time as image below.
Notes For Update the theme
If you having any problem while updating the theme, please deactivate and remove all the required plugins in the list and then reinstall it again