How to update installed theme? Will it change data?
Once the new theme version is available, user who purchased the theme should get email note from the Envato (ThemeForest).
There are three ways to update the theme:
1) FTP Update
Download newest theme version from ThemeForest Download section. Since you already have the theme installed, you can download just 'Installable WordPress file only'.
In case you want to use this method, we suggest that you use Filezilla to access your server. Here is the article that explains how Filezilla works.
You need to extract theme file from the zipped folder you downloaded, and upload it to /wp-content/themes folder on your server. You will be prompted to overwrite the existing files. Select 'Yes', and the theme will update.
*The example is the zip file from Medicare theme but the process is the same for all themes.
2) Update theme via ZIP file upload
This method is available since WP version 5.5. Please follow these steps:
- From WP dashboard go to Appearance > Themes,
- Click Add New button,
- Click Upload Theme button,
- Click Choose File to select previously downloaded zip archive, then click Install Now,
- Wait for the upload to finish, then click Replace current with uploaded button.
3) Envato Market plugin
Enable automatic theme update with the Envato Market Plugin. Once you install and activate this plugin, every time a new theme version becomes available, you will be able to update it with just one click.
You will need to go to the WordPress Updates page and navigate to the Themes section. The new version will be included in the section just like the themes from the WordPress repository.
* Whichever of these three methods you use for theme update, you will have to update theme plugin (and possibly some other required plugins) as well.
For plugin updates, you will get notification on your dashboard when new version is available.
Please note...
If you made any changes in the source code you'll need to reapply them to the new version of the theme or they will be lost.
To prevent this, you can use child theme.
All settings in Customize panel and your content will be preserved.
For more info and detailed instructions please refer to our Online Theme Documentation.