How to update your theme

It is important to update your WordPress theme to the latest version to keep it up to date with the latest bug fixes, security enhancements, new features, and an improved design. If your theme subscription is not active, you won’t be able to download the latest version. You can renew or buy the lifetime membership.

**Please make sure you have used a child theme for any customization made to the original theme. Upon successful update, any changes not made to a child theme will be lost. Customization made anywhere in Theme Options, in Appearance > Customize, and in Additional/Custom CSS are saved and will remain, unless warned in the changelog.

The easy way

1. Visit your dashboard to download the new theme. Under “Your Theme Downloads”, click on the theme’s name and then, under Download, click on Theme Files.
2. Optional: Put your website into maintenance mode using the free Maintenance plugin. This allows you to work on your theme in the back-end while displaying a nice coming soon message to your site visitors. Download and activate the plugin.
3. Optional but important step: Create a full backup of your site. You can use the free UpdraftPlus plugin or use your web host to create a backup.
4. Important: If you’re not yet using WordPress 5.5,  download and activate the Easy Theme and Plugin Upgrades plugin. This creates a backup of the current theme and prevents the message “Destination folder already exists” from appearing. If you’re using WordPress 5.5+, you can proceed to the next step without installing the plugin in this step.
5. Navigate to Appearance > Themes and click the Add New button. Click Upload Theme and browse for the new version of the theme that you downloaded from your dashboard.
6. Wait for the theme to be installed.
7. Navigate to your front page and make sure that everything is working as intended.
8. Important: If you have activated the Maintenance plugin in step 2, then simply deactivate it now.
9. Enjoy!

The challenging way (FTP)

1. Visit your dashboard to download the new theme.
2. Optional: Put your website into maintenance mode using the free Maintenance plugin. This allows you to work on your theme in the back-end while displaying a nice coming soon message to your site visitors. Download and activate the plugin.
3. Optional but important step: Create a full backup of your site. You can use the free UpdraftPlus plugin or use your web host to create a backup.
4. Open your FTP application (FileZilla, WinSCP, etc.) or use your hosting’s File Manager.
5. Navigate to your website’s /public_html/wp-content/themes folder.
6. Backup your theme by renaming it. If it’s “Kerygma”, simply rename it to, for example, “Kerygma-backup”.
7. There are 2 ways you can install the theme now:
   1. FTP: Unzip the file that you downloaded in step 1 and copy it to the /public_html/wp-content/themes folder in your server. You may have to activate it in WordPress > Appearance > Themes.
   2. WordPress: Navigate to Appearance > Themes and click the Add New button. Click Upload Theme and browse for the new version of the theme that you downloaded from your dashboard. Wait for the theme to be installed.
8. Navigate to your front page and make sure that everything is working as intended.
9. Important: If you have activated the Maintenance plugin in step 2, then simply deactivate it now.
10. Enjoy!

If you run into any trouble or are unsure about updating, please contact us using our support helpdesk.
We’re always here to help and guide you.