How to Update WordPress Plugins and Themes Properly
July 15th, 2017 | by Ravi Chahar || 4 Comments |
Every now and then people ask is if what’s the best way to update WordPress plugins and themes. Why should they do it?
For beginners, it can be a hard thing to do because they get confused with all those update notifications. It’s because many famous plugins keep updated regularly.
Just a few days ago, someone asked the easiest way to check and update WordPress plugins and themes. In this article, you will learn where to find the update notifications.
Why is it Important to Keep WordPress Updated
You may have read it many times that you should always keep your WordPress website updated. It’s because plugins and themes are developed by the third parties.
Whenever WordPress core gets updated, the developers make some changes in the plugins and themes to match the coding standard.
In order to maintain the security, it’s recommended not to use the older version of any plugin or a theme.
It’s because hackers may have found any vulnerability in that version and the malicious code can be injected to your website via those coding files.
So it’s better to keep everything updated.
How to Properly Update WordPress Plugins
First of all, how would you come to know about the updates and how many plugins are needed to be updated.
Well, it’s so simple. When you login to your WordPress admin panel, you will see the notifications showing how many updates are available right now.
It’s under Dashboard>>>Updates.
These are the total number of updates. To find about the plugins, see the Plugins‘ section and you will come to know.
Open it and you will see the notification under every plugin which requires an update. You just have to click on the update now button and within a few seconds, it will get updated.
Before you update, you should always check what has been improved so far. What’s new in this latest update?
You can update all the plugins similarly and never forget to check your website. Sometimes, a plugin update can create any confliction.
It’s better to analyze your website just after that.
And never forget to backup your WordPress website before you start updating. In case a plugin breaks anything, you can easily restore your website using the backup.
What’s Required to Update WordPress Themes
Just like plugins, you can find the updates available for WordPress themes. Either you click on the Updates and you will see all the available updates or you can directly go to Appearance>>Themes.
If any update is available, you will see it a notification on the screenshot of the themes you have installed.
It doesn’t matter whether you have activated any or not. WordPress will show the updates. That’s the reason it’s always recommended to delete the unused themes and plugins.
Click on the Update Now button and the theme will start updating.
If you haven’t checked all the updates then you should because even after updating plugins and themes, you can see one more notification.
It’s because WordPress itself requires an update.
Is it Possible to Enable Automatic Updates
Well, many WordPress users are using automatic updates. You can easily enable automatic updates for plugins and themes easily.
It can be done using coding or just a simple plugin. Install and activate Easy Update Manager and everything will be handled.
You should know how to manage automatic WordPress updates properly.
It’s recommended only for those who can’t check their website regularly. If you can then manually updating your website is always safe.
Sometimes automatic updates break your website and you wouldn’t even know the culprit behind.
Anyhow it’s necessary to update WordPress plugins and themes in any situation to maintain your website’s security. You would be interested to read the WordPress security guide.
I am Sure, You Can Easily Update WordPress Plugins and Themes
For beginners, it can be a new experience because just after a few days after installing WordPress, its plugins, and themes, you will get such update notification.
It’s not something which requires any technical skills. Just the use of simple WordPress panel and you can do it yourself.
Isn’t that easy to update WordPress plugins and themes? If you have any kind of doubt, feel free to drop a comment.
You can also connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Hello Ravi,
Very informative piece of article over here ?
For me updating wordpress has always been a challenging task, as they are so many things to watch out for.
I always get hooked up in getting it done, so all these time I have been seeking a friend’s help who did it for me.
The step by step guide by your side has cleared out many doubts regarding this topic and I am looking further to get it going through my hands.
Thanks for the share
Shantanu.
Hi Ravi, I always disable all my plugins before updating and then do one at a time checking all is well. Do you know if they allow you to update them via mobile? I love my mobile app of WordPress to respon to comments on the go but haven’t seen plugins there.
Nice guide bro… Updating themes and plugins helps to fix bugs and protect ones site.
It’s as good as updating WordPress version. I like this guide to activate auto update for plugins and themes.
Do have a nice day..
Hi Ravi,
Nice Informative Post!
WordPress and its plugins and themes are like any other software installed on your computer, or like any other application on your devices. Periodically developers release updates which provide new features or fix known bugs.
Regardless of their level of severity, software bugs must be fixed. As a user, when a software update is released that fixes a bug, you should update as soon as possible to have the most secure and stable versions of the product.
Automatic updates are practical if you want to always have the latest version of WordPress, plugins and themes. It is possible to automatically update all of this so lack of time can’t be an excuse not to update!
Thanks a lot for sharing.