Knowing how to upgrade WordPress is an important skill you must have if you want to keep your WordPress blog up to date. You want to keep your WordPress blog up to date for many reasons. Most important are security issues. Keeping your WordPress installation up to date will ensure you have plugged up the latest security holes in your blog. Of course, each new WordPress upgrade always has new features, templates, and plugins. Using new WordPress plugins, features, and themes will ensure your blog is always on the cutting edge of technology.
*Important! Before upgrading WordPress either automatically or manually, you must:
Check the requirements to ensure your host runs the required PHP and MySQL versions. Make a backup of your database so you are sure that you don’t lose any of your posts and pages. Make sure your plugins and theme will work with the upgraded WordPress installation. Turn off your plugins for the upgrade process by using the Bulk Action to deactivate all your plugins at once.
Suppose your plugins or theme does not work with the new WordPress installation. In that case, you will have to wait to upgrade until the plugins and music are upgraded to work with the latest WordPress version, or you will have to forgo using the plugins and music. There have been times when I have used a plugin or theme that was not upgraded to work with the latest WordPress version. Sometimes I was successful, and sometimes I wasn’t. I do not recommend using plugins or themes not approved with the upgraded WordPress theme if you want a stable WordPress installation.
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Manually upgrade WordPress
First, I will go over how to upgrade WordPress manually.
To upgrade WordPress manually, you must download the updated WordPress version. You will also need to unzip WordPress to a folder on your hard drive (try not to forget where you put it). Now, you must open your FTP program and log into your site. You will want to note where ryour WordPress is installed, whether it is in your root folder or another folder such as /blog. Once you have located your WordPress installation folder on your website, you will want to navigate the updated WordPress files you unzipped on your hard drive (you remember where you put it, didn’t you?).
You will then need to upload the upgraded WordPress files on your hard drive (folders and all) to the corresponding folders on your website. Important! The wp-content folder is the only exception to overwriting the files. If you have any special WordPress themes or plugins you are using, you will not want to overwrite this folder, or you will lose your WordPress theme and have to re-upload it. After you have uploaded all your WordPress files, you will want to go back to your browser and log into your WordPress blog on your site.
If your database needs to be updated, WordPress will display a link to update your database to click on and follow directions. At this point, you will want to ensure everything is working properly and check the WordPress version to ensure you uploaded everything correctly and your WordPress upgrade took effect.
Automatically install WordPress theme.
If you like to take the safe and easy route like me, you will want to let WordPress do all the work for you and automatically upgrade WordPress.
To put WordPress to work, you must first log into your blog.
Once logged in, you should see a message at the top of the screen stating you need to update WordPress if you have an out-of-date installation. If you don’t see a message, you will want to go to your dashboard and click the updates option. You will see your version of WordPress displayed with a message as to whether or not you need to upgrade WordPress. WordPress will ask you for your connection information and proceed to update once you have entered this information.
Note: If you customize the default or classic theme, you must back up these files to re-upload once the WordPress upgrade is completed, or you will need to upgrade WordPress manually. Once you are sure everything is working correctly, you can enable your plugins. Once you get the hang of it, updating WordPress is not that difficult. It is not something you will be doing daily, but as people find new security holes and add new features, you will find that you will need to know how to update WordPress periodically. If you are interested in customizing your WordPress theme, you might want to check out my tutorial on the easiest way to customize a WordPress theme [http://onlinewebmarketinghub.com/how-to-customize-wordpress-theme].
