How To Downgrade A WordPress Plugin To Fix Your Website

March 26th, 2017 | by Ravi Chahar || 2 Comments |

Sometimes, a plugin update can break your website because of its poor coding and incompatibility with any other plugin.

Have you ever thought to downgrade a WordPress plugin? To enjoy the plugin’s service you can install the older version.

Though it’s always recommended to keep everything updated still if there is any bug in the latest version then you can use the previous version.

In this tutorial, you will learn the best way to downgrade the plugins.

Rollback Your WordPress Plugin In A Few Seconds

Before you start, you should always backup your WordPress website and the database. You should always be ready for the worst. What if the plugin update breaks your website?

For such situation, you should have the backup so that you can restore your website.

One of the best ways is to test using the local server. You can install WordPress in XAMPP or WAMP server for testing. You can also copy your website from a live server to local server.

Step 1:- This is not new for you to install a plugin. Search, install and activate the WP Rollback plugin.

After activation, go to plugins and you will see a “Rollback” option before every plugin. It doesn’t matter whether the plugin is activated or not.

This option will appear beside every plugin in the list.

To downgrade, click on the “Rollback” link and you will see all the previous version of the plugin. Choose the older one you were using a few days ago and click on the Rollback button.

Step 2:- Choose the older one you were using a few days ago and click on the Rollback button.

Step 3:- Click on the Rollback button and the plugin installation will get started. You will see a notification stating the installed version, new version and a message suggesting you to backup your website.

Sometimes, the response time gets exceeded but don’t worry about it. It’s only because of your internet connection. You will see the same procedure you will while installing a new plugin.

Step 4:- After downloading, unpacking, the plugin will get updated successfully. Activate the plugin and you will see the older version in your plugins’ list.

It will show a notification to update the plugin to the latest version. But you should update it only after confirmation of the compatibility.

You have successfully rollbacked your plugin. You can do it for any plugin. There is no strict condition to deactivate the plugin before downgrading.

But it would be better if you do. You shouldn’t take any kind of risk with your website’s design.

Can You Now Downgrade A WordPress plugin

I can resonate to the feeling when a useless plugin breaks the website. I have experienced many. To run a WordPress blog, you should take care of such things.

I hope now you can downgrade a WordPress plugin within no time. You just have to use the Rollback link and it will take care of the rest.

If you still have any doubt, feel free to drop a comment.

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