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Updating WordPress Plugins and Themes

Keeping your plugins and themes up to date can ensure that your WordPress website is not compromised. It is a fairly simple process, but should be done on a frequent basis.

Step 1

Start by logging in to your WordPress backend by navigating to your login. (Usually https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ “Yourdomain.com” being your website domain)

Step 2

Once logged in, if there are any available updates, you will notice in the left column a number beside either “Updates” or “Plugins”.

Follow the below steps to complete the update process.

  1. Click on “Updates”,
  2. Then you can either click on the check box left of the “Select All” or click on the check box for only the specific plugins you would like to update.
  3. Complete the process by clicking on the “Update Plugins” button.

Step 3

You will be directed to a status page and the updates will process until it notifies you of completion as seen in the image below. You may now return to editing your website, or simply log out when done.

Final Notes

This process can be repeated for themes as well as the WordPress system. Simply go back to the “Updates” section and select “Update WordPress” or “Update Themes”.

Update WordPress

There are two primary ways you can update WordPress to the latest version.

  1. Through The Control Panel
  2. Through An FTP Application

Through The Control Panel

Step 1

Log in to your WordPress backend (Usually Https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin, with “yourdomain.com” being your website name.)

Step 2

Once logged in, click on “Updates”, then” Update Now”.

Wait for the process to complete the update. If it does not show anything on the screen after a few moments, you may be required to update WordPress manually using the process below.

Through An FTP Application

Step 1

Download the latest WordPress update file from, https://wordpress.org/download/ and extract the contents to a known location.

Using your preferred FTP application, (An open source FTP such as FileZilla: https://filezilla-project.org/) login using the provided details in your login information document. (Or an FTP user can be created in your cPanel account)

Step 2

Once connected, navigate to your WordPress update folder, select all and drag-n-drop to the remote site.

Step 3

Your will be prompted to choose an action as files may already exist, select the following, then “OK”.

Step 4

Once the queue at the bottom of the screen clears, you can disconnect and close the application.

Log back into your WordPress administration page (https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin with “yourdomain.com” being your website name) and you will be prompted to update the database, select the blue “Update WordPress Database” button.

Step 5

Following the update of the database, you can click “Continue” to finish and proceed with logging in.

Note:

Updating plugins are quite similar to the methods above, in that you can update it directly from the administrator page, or through FTP in the wp-content/plugins/ folder if you have the plugin update files.

If an update fails to complete, or are prompted with a “Maintenance Mode” page, simply log into your FTP account and delete the “.maintenance” file and try again in the administration page.

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