{"id":5918,"date":"2020-11-04T17:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2020-11-22T17:34:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T17:34:01","slug":"tutorial-how-to-update-wordpress-themes-and-plugins-with-a-zip-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wordpress\/tutorial-how-to-update-wordpress-themes-and-plugins-with-a-zip-file\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial: How to Update WordPress Themes and Plugins with a ZIP File"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When updating a WordPress theme or plugin, we\u2019ve long had two choices. Either manually upload the updated files via FTP or install the update within the WordPress dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, both of these methods work pretty well \u2013 most of the time. FTP is fairly reliable, but isn\u2019t recommended for non-technical users. Then, some themes and plugins seem to be extra\u00a0finnicky\u00a0when attempting to update via the dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, there is now a more convenient solution. WordPress 5.5 introduced<\/a> the ability to apply updates to a theme or plugin by uploading a ZIP file within the dashboard. Now, the same downloadable file that has been long used for installing software can also be used to update it. It\u2019s about time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, we\u2019ll walk you through the process of updating your website\u2019s themes and plugins using only a ZIP file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, a Few Technical Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While updating a theme or plugin via a ZIP file is fairly straightforward, there are a few technical items to keep in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test and Back Up Your Site<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As always, the best way to prepare your website for updates is to test them out. This could be done via\u00a0staging site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, make sure to keep a current\u00a0backup\u00a0of your site on hand just in case something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check the ZIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re downloading from the official WordPress theme or plugin repositories, your ZIP file should be good to go. However, software from other sources may require some more action on your part before you can upload to your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, there are\u00a0commercial\u00a0themes that provide more than just the installable files within a ZIP archive. You may have to extract another ZIP archive contained within for installation\/update purposes. If you\u2019re unsure, open up the archive first to see what you\u2019re dealing with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware of File Upload Limits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All WordPress websites have a file upload limit. There may be occasions when a ZIP file exceeds that limitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, you\u2019ll either have to\u00a0increase\u00a0the upload file size or unzip the archive and upload via FTP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we have these technical details out of the way, let\u2019s explore the update process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update a WordPress Plugin with a ZIP File<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start out with updating a WordPress plugin with a ZIP file. It\u2019s nearly identical to that of a theme (which we\u2019ll get to later) \u2013 the main difference being the location of the upload screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this example, we\u2019ll update Yoast SEO to the latest version. That requires us to download<\/a> a fresh copy of it to our device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Within the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Click on the\u00a0Upload Plugin<\/strong>\u00a0button at the top of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. Next, click on the Browse<\/strong> button and locate the ZIP file on your device. Select it and click on Open<\/strong> (the look and terminology used here may be different, depending on your device\u2019s operating system).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. You should now see the file name displayed on the Add Plugins screen. Click the Install Now<\/strong> button to start the upload process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5. Now, WordPress is going to do some detective work. It\u2019s going to check to see if the plugin is already installed (which it is). Once it sees that we already have a version of Yoast SEO, it\u2019s going to give us a comparison of the existing and uploaded versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In our example, WordPress correctly sees that the plugin we uploaded is a newer version. We want to go ahead and apply the update, so we\u2019ll click Replace current with uploaded<\/strong> to finish up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Success! The new version of Yoast SEO was updated using a ZIP file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Update a WordPress Theme with a ZIP File<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As we mentioned, the process for updating a WordPress theme with a ZIP file is pretty much identical as the one outlined above. Here, we\u2019ll update to the latest version of the Twenty Twenty<\/a> theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the differences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Within the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Themes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Click on the Add New<\/strong> button at the top of the screen. You\u2019ll be taken to the Add Themes page. Click on Upload Theme<\/strong> to select the ZIP file from your device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steps 3 \u2013 6: Repeat those listed above.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, WordPress will inform us that the theme we\u2019ve uploaded already exists. From there, it will point out the version difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clicking on Replace current with uploaded<\/strong> will apply the theme update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Simple Solution for Theme and Plugin Updates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ability to update your WordPress website\u2019s theme and plugins via a ZIP file is incredibly handy. There are a number of situations that arise where utilizing FTP or the automated dashboard updates either don\u2019t work or aren\u2019t very convenient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This provides us with another method that just about anyone can do. It will make the process of maintaining your site that much easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When updating a WordPress theme or plugin, we\u2019ve long had two choices. Either manually upload the updated files via FTP or install the update within the WordPress dashboard. In general, both of these methods work pretty well \u2013 most of the time. FTP is fairly reliable, but isn\u2019t recommended for non-technical users. Then, some themes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[62,59],"tags":[90,110,88],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Update-WP-Themes-Plugins-With-Zip-File.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7FQPL-1xs","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5927,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918\/revisions\/5927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azoora.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}