Do you know how to keep your WordPress website updated? Keeping your website up-to-date is very important. In this article we are going to show how you can update your WordPress website.
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Importance of updating your WordPress website
Many WordPress updates fix the security vulnerabilities found in the previous versions of WordPress. By not updating you are making your website vulnerable to hacking. By updating your website you fix these loopholes and secure your website. The vulnerabilities could be in anything such as plugins, themes or WordPress core files.
Backing up the WordPress website
Before making any updates in your website it is important that you take a complete backup of your website including the database, media files, plugins, themes and the WordPress core files.
No updates should be started without a backup as many things can go wrong during the updation process which could corrupt your website files and take your website offline. Without a proper backup it could lead to huge losses for you.
Updating your WordPress website using the built-in system
WordPress makes it easy to update your plugins, themes and core files from a single dashboard. Below are steps to update your website using the built-in system.
Visit Dashboard -> Updates from your admin dashboard.
On this page you will find all the updates available for your WordPress website.
You will find all the updates available for plugins under the Plugins section. Similarly all the updates available for the themes can be found under the Themes section.
To update a plugin or theme simply tick the checkbox before their names and click on the Update Plugins or Update Themes button. You can also tick the Select All checkbox to update all of them at once.
If an update is available for the WordPress core files then you will see a “An updated version of WordPress is available” text at the top of the page. To update the WordPress version click on the Update Now button below the text.
WordPress will then run the updating process and you should see a “WordPress updated successfully” message at the end.
That’s it. You have successfully updated your website.
Updating the website plugins and themes individually
You can also update the plugins and themes individually. Below are steps to update your WordPress website individually.
For updating plugins, visit Plugins -> Installed Plugins from your admin dashboard.
Click on the Update Available filter at the top.
On this page all the plugins which have an update available will be listed.
You can now select the plugins you want to update and in the Bulk actions drop down menu select the Update option. Click the Apply button now. All the plugins will now be updated to the latest version.
For updating themes visit Appearance -> Themes from your admin dashboard.
If an update is available for your theme then at the top of the theme you will see a “New version available.” message followed by an Update Now link. Click on the Update Now link and your theme will be updated to the latest version.
