A Better, Faster Way to Upgrade Themes

By Chris Jean • January 12, 2010

Update (2010-01-14): Just as this plugin makes theme upgrades simple and fast, it now does the same for plugins. Simply go to Plugins > Add New > Upload to upgrade existing plugins via a simple zip file upload. Make sure that you are running the 0.0.2+ version to get this new feature. Additionally, this new version includes support for 2.8 versions of WordPress.

Theme upgrades have always been a big support issue here at iThemes. Something that should be easy, has always been a technical task prone to error.

With the release of Builder, we’ve seen just how big of an issue this truly is. On average, we are pushing out at least one new feature or bug fix version a day. This means that, more than ever, our users want to be able to easily upgrade their theme.

I’d like to announce that what was once a huge chore is now a simple task thanks to a plugin being released today. The plugin is called Easy Theme Upgrades, and I coded it specifically to make the lives of our users easier. The plugin will soon be hosted on WordPress Extend, but you can get the initial version today by downloading this zip file.

After installing and activating the plugin, follow these steps to upgrade your theme:

  1. Download the latest zip file for your theme. You can always download the latest version of any themes you’ve purchased on your member page.
  2. Log into your WordPress site.
  3. Go to Appearance > Add New Themes and click the Upload tab at the top of the page.
  4. Select the zip file with the new theme version to install.
  5. Select “Yes” from the “Upgrade existing theme?” option.
  6. Click “Install Now”.

Your previous theme version files will automatically be stored in a zip file and added to your Media Library for easy download. This way, any customizations that you may have made will not be lost.

Note that you will need to ensure that WordPress (technically your webserver) has write privileges to both the wp-content/themes directory and to the directory to be replaced. If you installed the theme via the Add New Themes > Upload page, the plugin will be able to upgrade the theme.

Happy upgrading. :)

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10 Responses to “A Better, Faster Way to Upgrade Themes”

01/12/2010 at 12:32 pm
Steven Sanchez says:

Just installed the plugin on my BlueHost account. Plugin installed and activated fine, but when I tried to update the Builder theme, I got the following error message:

Unable to make a backup of the existing theme. Will not proceed with the upgrade.

I’m assuming this is probably a host server issue requiring a CHMOD change or something. Any ideas?

01/12/2010 at 12:38 pm
Digigirl says:

Awesome idea for a plugin. Thanks for providing it to everyone. While upgrading is no biggie to us “techy-people,” not so much for newbies, business people, and others whose focus isn’t on the tech, but on the content.

I will definitely begin testing this right away. Thanks!

01/12/2010 at 12:45 pm
Michael West says:

This sounds awesome!
Can’t wait to see it in action.

01/13/2010 at 8:36 am
Bruce Caraway says:

Cool! …especially the auto-archiving of previous versions of a site.

01/13/2010 at 6:59 pm
Steven Sanchez says:

Just wanted to update anyone who might be reading the comments. The problem I was experiencing was due to my hosting company, BlueHost, having updated MySQL to version 5.1. I was still running WordPress 2.8.6 due to a possible incompatibility with another plugin. The host’s upgrade (unknown to me) apparently caused a number of problems with the version of WordPress I was running.

Chris was great following up with me (despite everything else on his plate). Ultimately, the solution was updating WordPress using SimpleScripts through the CPanel (which has the benefit of being able to roll-back in case something goes wrong; something you can’t do if you just upgrade through the WordPress admin panel). Once WordPress was upgraded, the Easy Themes Upgrade plugin (and everything else) worked as expected again. Nothing wrong with the plugin. It seems to work just fine on an updated installation on BlueHost.

Thanks to Chris for a great plugin and for quick support! Hope this helps anyone else who might experience a similar problem.

01/14/2010 at 11:50 am
Jeff Klein says:

I don’t see the Easy Theme Upgrades plugin listed on my members page. Am I missing it or is this page the only place to get it?
Thanks

01/15/2010 at 9:24 am
Bob Templeton says:

Jeff,
This is the place for now. Follow the “zip” link at the end of paragraph four.

01/19/2010 at 1:06 pm
Jeff Chandler says:

Used this plugin to upgrade Builder on my local server to the newest version and it worked flawlessly. I also confirmed that the backed up files preserved my changes and it did. This should calm the fears that upgrading a theme will remove the hacked bits and pieces forever when instead, they will just be archived. Good work Chris.

01/20/2010 at 2:07 pm
WordPress Plugin Releases for 01/20 « Weblog Tools Collection says:

[...] Easy Theme and Plugin updates [...]

02/26/2010 at 5:01 pm
Mark Eldridge says:

Just loaded the plugin and updated my Builder theme flawlessly – GREAT plugin — Thanks!

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