How To Update WordPress Plugins or Themes

 

It’s important to regularly update your plugins and themes to ensure compatibility with the latest version of WordPress and to receive security updates.

There are several reasons why it is essential to update WordPress plugins and themes regularly:

1. Security: Updates often include security patches to protect your website from known vulnerabilities. You could leave your website open to attacks by not updating it.
2. Compatibility: Updating ensures that your plugins and themes are compatible with the latest version of WordPress and other plugins. This can help prevent conflicts and errors.
3. Performance: Updates can include performance improvements that can help speed up your website and fix bugs.
4. New features: Updates can include new features that can help improve the functionality and usability of your website.
5. Maintenance: Regular updating of your plugins and themes is a good practice for website maintenance and keeping it running smoothly.

There are several ways to update WordPress plugins and themes, including:

1. Automatic updates: WordPress can automatically update plugins and themes if this feature is enabled in your settings. This is the easiest and most convenient method, but it may not always be possible if your hosting provider does not support it.
2. Manual updates: You can update plugins and themes manually by going to the Plugins or Themes section in your WordPress dashboard, selecting the plugin or theme you want to update, and clicking the “Update” button.
3. FTP updates: You can update plugins and themes by uploading the new files via FTP to your server. This method is useful when you don’t have access to the WordPress Dashboard.
4. WP-CLI updates: If you have access to the command line interface, you can use the WP-CLI (WordPress Command Line Interface) tool to update your plugins and themes. This method is helpful for advanced users, developers or when you need to update multiple sites simultaneously.

To manually update a WordPress theme or plugin by uploading a zip file, you can follow these steps:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Go to the “Plugins” or “Themes” section, depending on whether you want to update a plugin or theme.
3. Deactivate the plugin or theme that you want to update.
4. Delete the plugin or theme you want to update (don’t worry, the plugin/theme settings will not be removed, as they are saved in the database).
5. Go to the WordPress repository or the developer’s website, and download the latest version of the plugin or theme in a zip file format.
6. Go to the “Plugins” or “Themes” section in your WordPress dashboard and click on the “Add New” button.
7. Click on the “Upload Plugin” or “Upload Theme” button at the top of the page.
8. Click on the “Choose File” button and select the zip file you downloaded in step 5, then click on the “Install Now” button.
9. Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to activate the new version. Click on the “Activate” link to activate the updated plugin or theme.

Not all updates are critical, but it’s a good practice to keep your WordPress installation, themes and plugins updated as much as possible. If you are unsure about the compatibility of your plugins with the new WordPress version or the impact of the update on your website, you can test them on a staging environment first.