How To Safely Update WordPress Theme Without Losing Customized Design?

One of the primary reasons why WordPress is one of the leading CMS is because of the flexibility and advanced customization options offered by the plugin. WordPress offers you access to a high library of themes and plugins which can be used to create any kind of website for the business. Mainly the theme is considered one of the most important aspects of your WordPress website. It decides your website appearance and how the information will be displayed on your WordPress website. 

That is the reason why you need to ensure that the WordPress theme you are using is updated regularly. While updating a theme might sound simple but if you have a custom-coded WordPress theme or using a customized theme by adding your own code snippet and CSS then you need to consider multiple factors so that you don’t end up losing customization. That is the roens why today most businesses are looking to hire an experienced WordPress website design company that can help them not only during the design process but also post website delivery.

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Because once you end up losing the customization during the update then you need to make the changes from the beginning. Many times WordPress themes come with all the designs that can help users to get started with a fully cushioning WordPress website. But businesses that are not satisfied with the designs or appearance always look to make changes so that it matches business and users expectations. WordPress allows you to easily customize the theme by adding the CSS style and snippet.

Remember the custom code snippet you use in your WordPress website can make or break your online business if you are failing to maintain it properly. WordPress users come across different problems mainly during the update. Because there are always risks involved like data loss, the whole website getting damaged, and more during these kinds of updates. 

There are high chances that the plugin or third-party extension you might be using in your WordPress website might not be compatible with the updates or the new version of the theme. That is the reason why you need to be very cautious when it comes to updating your WordPress theme. In this article, we will offer you a detailed idea about how you can update your WordPress theme without losing customization. So make sure to stick till the end of this article 

Apart from that if you are looking at why you need to have a custom-coded WordPress website for your business then make sure to check our blog on Why Should Businesses Select Custom Coded WordPress Website Design? 

Why should you update your WordPress theme? 

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Before you start to update your WordPress website you need to have a better understanding of why you need to update your WordPress theme. Today no matter what type of WordPress website you are creating for your business you need to ensure that your WordPress website is up-to-date so that you are able to maintain compatibility with the latest version of WordPress. Many times the updates offered by the plugin or the theme are not compatible with the theme. That is the reason why theme developers offer updates so that users do not have to come across any problems.  

The updated focus is on engaging the theme for better performance and security. If you are getting your WordPress website designed and maintained by an experienced WordPress website design company then you do not have to worry about the updates as they will ensure that your website remains top-performing in every situation across all the devices. 

Many times themes that are not getting regular updates not only perform badly among the audience but also in search engines. That is the reason why when you plan to select the best WordPress theme for your website then updates and support is one important point that you need to look at before integrating the theme. 

If you are an existing user of WordPress then you must be aware of the fact that WordPress theme developers always update the codes either to implement new features or to enhance performance and security. Many times users complain that after updating the WordPress the website theme started coming across different kinds of problems. A popular and well-known theme developer is well aware of the updates and ensures to offer one so that users do not come across any problem. 

Sometimes users also ignore updating the theme, if you are doing so they are putting your website at high risk. Let’s take a look at some of the points on why you need to update your WordPress theme? 

Security reasons

One of the primary reasons why you need to update your WordPress theme is security reasons. No one wants their website to get hacked and today security has become the primary concern of every WordPress website. That is the reason why the WordPress website is rolling out new updates to ensure that the WordPress theme does not come across any security-related issues. Because once your site comes across any kind of security-related issues then you might end up losing some of the valuable data which can be hard to retain. 

Not only the WordPress theme but WordPress and the plugins also get updates so that your website does not come across any security-related issues. Being an open-source platform WordPress invites more hackers and malicious activities. Because hackers are easily able to figure out the loophole that allows them to get access to the WordPress dashboard. 

Wonder how? Well, WordPress offers access to forums and communities where users are allowed to openly discuss their problem and if there’s any bug or any possible threat everything is discussed in the forums and the people in the forum try to fix the problem. While there is a benefit, there is a downside as well where any hacker trying to attack your website will come across the problem and make use of it to get access to your WordPress website. 

Remember even a small loophole can make it easy for them to get access to your WordPress website. By updating your WordPress website and theme you ensure to eliminate the chances of the website getting hacked or any other kind of security-related issues. To make your WordPress website more secure you can consider some of the security-related factors and download the best security plugin for your WordPress website. To do that make sure to check our article on: 
5 Best Free WordPress Security Plugin To Use In 2021
8 Proven Tips To Improve WordPress Website Security In 2021

Compatibility Issues

If you wonder why you need to update your WordPress theme then remember it helps you to run your WordPress website smoothly and flawlessly. Updating your WordPress website ensures that your WordPress website syncs well with the latest version of the WordPress and the plugin inside your WordPress. Whenever WordPress offers an update the theme author or developers also bring you the latest update to ensure that the theme aligns with the WordPress update. 

Many times WordPress websites come across compatibility issues just because the theme fails to offer the right update. That is the reason why it’s said to select the best WordPress theme that offers regular updates depending on the updates offered by WordPress. Nowadays most of the themes offer regular updates to ensure that the WordPress website does not come across any compatibility issue. 

But it has been discovered that the plugin shows more compatibility issues compared to the themes. So if you wonder why you need to update your WordPress theme then remember it ensures that your website does not come across any compatibility issues. However, if you are eating your WordPress website designed and maintained by an experienced WordPress website design company then you don’t have to worry about compatibility as they will ensure to create a design that performs flawlessly across all the devices. 

Add Extra unique features

Another important reason why you need to look into updating your WordPress website is that there are high chances thet developer might add new features to it. Well, every update is not only about features because many times theme developers offer updates that come with resolving issues and security patches. But sometimes doing on demand and needs WordPress theme developers to also add new features to enhance the theme front-end and backend functioning. 

Themes come with new updates either when users request extra features from the developers and providers or when themes take the advantage of the features offered by WordPress. The more features the providers offer the more attention they will be able to grab. SO if you wonder why you need to update your WordPress theme then remember you get access to some of the advanced features.  

How to update WordPress themes? 

Now that you are aware of why you need to update your WordPress website and things that you need to consider before you get started with the WordPress theme updates. Next, let’s take a look at how you can update WordPress themes without losing customization.

When it comes to updating a WordPress theme then WordPress offers you access to the update tool that keeps a track of the latest update on plugin and theme. Whenever there is an update available for the theme or any WordPress plugin tools detest it and it will display on the update menu in the left sidebar of your dashboard. 

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Whenever that is a theme update available then you will also find the update option in the theme page cessation under the appearance option in your WordPress dashboard. Whenever you find the updates available you need to take all the necessary actions and plans to execute the update as it will allow you to enhance the website speed, performance, and most importantly security. These updates bring a log of bug fixes and features. 

When it comes to updating the theme then you just have to click on the install button to update your WordPress theme. Once you hit the install button then WordPress downloads the theme package, unzips it, and replaces the new files with the old ones. But remember by updating the theme you will overwrite all the old files installed on your WordPress website. 

That means if your existing website is using any kind of custom code then it will automatically get removed after the update is finished. That is the reason why you need to know things that will get affected if your updated WordPress theme is making use of custom codes or snippets. 

If you are getting your WordPress website designed and maintained by an experienced WordPress website design agency then you do not have to worry about the updates or loss of customization as they will ensure that your website remains top-performing in all situations. 

What remains unaffected during the WordPress theme update? 

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Not to mention but there are different ways using which you customize your WordPress theme. Thanks to the flexibility and customization options offered by WordPress. Some of the customizations you make in your WordPress website remain unaffected during updates because it is directly stored in the database. You must be wondering what things remain unaffected when you update the WordPress theme. 

When you customize the theme with the help of the customizer option that is under appearance in the customize section. With the help of a customizer tool, you get to customize every small aspect of your WordPress theme. All the changes can be stored in the WordPress database. You can easily make changes in the background image, widgets, color, layout, and many more. Remember your WordPress navigation and add widget options also remain unaffected from the theme updates.  

If you are using any plugin to enhance the functionality and features of your WordPress theme then also the changes you made in your website using the plugins remain unchanged after the update. Or we can say you will not end up losing them. Mainly if you are using any third-party builders like the elementor or block editor then also the changes you make in your WordPress website will not get affected. So now you must be wondering what kind of custom data will be erased when you update your WordPress theme? 

What kind of data will get erased when you update a WordPress theme? 

By now you must have a  clear idea about the change that you make in your WordPress theme either through WordPress customizer or with the help of third-party page builder plugins. All the changes remain unaffected when you update your WordPress website. Because all the changes will be saved in the database or WordPress directory.  

But if you are adding any code snippets in your theme function PHP file then all the data will be overwritten or we can say the previous data will be completely removed after your death. All the custom codes and snippets you have added will be wiped off after you’re done updating the WordPress theme. 

If you make any things in the CSS or do some styling with the help of the CSS theme stylesheet file then you will end up losing the data as well. So now that you have detailed die out what data will remain unaffected and which and all data you will end up losing after you’re done updating your WordPress theme. So let’s take a look at how you can restore them? 

How to restore customization after the wordpress theme update? 

1. Create the backup of old theme customization

The first and foremost thing that we recommend you to do is create the backup of the existing customization so that you can upload it once you are done updating your wordpress website. To do that start with connecting to your wordpress hosting account with the help of an FTP client. 

Once you are successfully connected then you can go to the /wp-content/theme/ folder to download the theme folder on your computer. The file you download will act as the backup of all the customization present in your wordpress website.

After you are done updating your wordpress website then you can copy and paste the customization. 

2. Downloaded the latest version of the theme and move the customization 

Next, you will look to transfer the customization that you made in the old version of the wordpress theme to the new version of the wordpress theme. To do that you just need to visit the theme provider website to download the latest version of the theme. You can decide the place where you want to download the file and unzip it if you successfully download the theme update. 

Now you must be having the latest updated version of the theme along with the old customized theme on your desktop. So if you want to move the customization to the new theme then you just need to copy and paste the code snippet from the old theme to the new theme.  But if you forget how you made changes in the theme file then you just have to compare the theme files to find the changes. 

You can make use of any file comparison software that will help you to identify files that you need to move. If you open any file comparison software then it will show you files side by side which will make it easy for you to easily locate the customization you have added in the old version of your theme. Depending on that you can make changes in the new theme file or we can paste the code from the old theme file to the new theme file. 

3. Add the new folder theme to your wordpress website

Once you are done adding the customization to the new version of the theme file then next you can look into uploading the updated folder to the wordpress website. To do that you need to follow the same first step that is by connecting your website using the FTP client then go to the /wp-content/themes/folder. 

After that click on the new theme folder and upload it to your wordpress website. During that process, FTP will warn you about the file already being present on your wordpress website. So you need to select the strong overwrite option to ensure that the old version of the theme is completely removed from your wordpress website and replaced with the new files.

After this, you will be having the updated version of the theme running on your wordpress website. When you plan to update the wordpress theme make sure you have the updates backup off your wordpress website. And before you implement the changes in the live website it’s always recommended to make use of staging sites. 

If you have got your wordpress website designed by an experienced wordpress website design company or planning to get one then you do not have to worry about the updates as they will ensure to create design and update it regularly so that it remains top-performing in every situation.

Conclusion 

By now you must be having a detailed idea about how you can update your WordPress theme without losing your customization. Not only that but you must have a detailed idea about why you need to update your WordPress website and theme regularly. Running an updated WordPress theme can offer you access to a number of benefits right from better security to best performance.

However, simply hitting the update button in your WordPress dashboard might harm your WordPress website in a number of ways. That is the reason why we said to have an updated backup and make sure whenever you are updating your WordPress website you are doing it in the staging site. This way you will ensure that even if some unexpected error occurs you are ready to make your site live for your prospects. 

If you are getting your WordPress website designed by an experienced WordPress website design company then you do not have to worry about update-related issues as they will ensure that your WordPress website does not come across any kind of problem that can harm you your WordPress wbeiste traffic and conversion.