Update WordPress safely – .com

In this tutorial we are going to see useful tips to update plugins, themes and WordPress itself safely.

Reasons to keep WordPress updated

To update plugins, themes and WordPress itself is important to maintain the security of the site and all the functionalities, correct errors, and of course also to benefit from improvements that the new versions offer to the users.

Although it is true that sometimes updates to plugins, themes or WordPress can produce incompatibilities or generate errors. For this reason it is advisable to carry out some previous steps and follow the recommendations which we will see next. Go for it!.

Create backups regularly

If we have a moderately good hosting, surely the hosting where we have the site hosted makes backups on a regular basis. However, we may want to store the backups on our own as well.

The reason is that we are going to have them directly in a space, possibly independent of hosting. In addition, the latter may have some limitations, such as those referring to the available space, the number of copies that can be maintained or the regularity with which the backups will be created.

If you are interested in establishing a simple and effective system for creating and storing backup copies, we recommend that you take a look at , which explains how to save backup copies in Dropbox, and also at the tutorial for .

Now we know what we should have regular and up-to-date backups, but when do we do them? Well, the frequency with which we must carry out backups, and the maintenance of a number of them, will depend on several factors, including the variation of the information or the storage space that we have.

Although there is a key moment in which, regardless of when we make the rest of the backups, we must have a complete and updated copy of the site, both the files and the database.

That time is just before updating. In this way, if, if necessary, there is a problem due to the changes made, we could reverse them and return the website to its original state more easily.

Review change logs

Before making any changes to our platform, it is also a good idea to review the changelog, which is nothing more than the file that details the changes introduced in a software compared to the previous version. This history of changes includes bugs or errors that are fixed, as well as improvements or features that are added.

review the change logs in WordPress plugins, themes and updates is a recommended practice, especially if we have a moderately complex system set up, since in this way we could warn possible conflicts before they occur.

According to him changelog that we want to visualize, we can find it in one location or another. For example, we can check the change history of the plugins that are in the , accessing any of them and clicking on “Development” or “Development”.

In the case of the default and popular themes that are installed with WordPress, we could consult it on wordpress.org. For example, we will find the one from the Twenty Seventeen theme.

If they are commercial plugins or themes, the history of changes is usually reflected on the authors’ page and/or within the compressed file of the version that we download. Sometimes this listing is detailed in the readme.txt.

In the case of StudioPress, the change log is found in the “changelog.md” file, where the changes made compared to the previous version are listed. Also in the StudioPress blog we can find interesting information about it.

If we talk about WordPress, we can see the modification history on the page. The link for each version will take us to see a summary of the changes and other interesting information when we need to update.

The test environment

Once we have the backup and we have consulted the change history of the element or elements that need to be updated, it is time to test the update. And here we must take into account an important issue.

We should avoid, whenever possible, updating a site directly in production/exploitation if we have not previously verified that the changes work as they should.

If the website that we want to update is a page with little information and with the basic plugins, like a simple corporate website, surely no problems will arise. But if it is an eCommerce or a site that has been customized, the matter can get complicated. That is why it is very important to test the changes in a test installation before updating the site that our customers use.

The main reason is that after the update, an unexpected error could be generated that would force us to close the page longer than necessary while we solve the problem, and this, depending on the case, can make us lose money and customers.

So we should not update directly on the production site if we have not tested before that everything is compatible and works correctly. Well, to test the updates that are published, it is very useful to have a copy of the site.

This copy must be created in an environment with the same characteristics as the original website. Both the server, the PHP version, the versions of the themes, plugins, WordPress or the content, should be identical on both sites so that the test is as reliable as possible.

To do so we have several options. One of them is mount the site locallyas we see in the , and try the updates there plugins, themes or WordPress itself. After testing the system and check that everything works as expected, we can then make updates to the production site more securely.

update order

Once we have the backup in our possession, have reviewed the change history of the new versions, and have an identical platform for testing, we can proceed to the next step.

The order that we will see here can be applied directly in the test environment, and of course it is convenient to apply it in the original site.

The first thing we will have to do if we use plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache, is to deactivate them before starting the update and while it lasts, then we can activate them again.

Next we must update the plugins and later the frameworks or themes. If all goes well, then it would be the turn of the WordPress core in case there are any updates available.

It is convenient to do it in this orderfirst plugins and themes, and then WordPressbecause the plugin and theme development teams are usually aware of the changes that are being programmed in the new versions of WordPress, so they are preparing updates with the idea that they continue to be compatible.

Other recommendations

This is all very well and in principle it will help us to perform updates more safely, but it does not guarantee that let’s keep the modifications in plugins, themes or WordPress itselfif we did not do them properly.

This is a basic step that precedes all the other points that we have discussed. Any customization we carry out on our site must be update proof.

In this sense it is very important that if we want to customize a theme we do it through a child theme as we see in or in . It is very useful, and a basic practice to not lose the changes that we have made in the theme.

If, on the other hand, what we need is to modify or add some functionality through code, we will need to do it using our own utility plugin or even Code Snippets. If you want to learn about the subject you can take a look at the tutorial.

And you see, these are some of the recommendations that we can follow when updating our site in a more secure way :).

Summary and conclusion

Updating plugins, themes, and WordPress itself is important if we want to maintain the security of our site, fix bugs, and enjoy all the features and improvements. But in some cases the updates can lead to errors.

To carry out updates with greater security, it is essential to have a backup created before executing the changes. The next thing will be to review the changelog of the version that we want to update to detect possible errors. We must carry out the update previously on a test site that is a clone of the original website.

If everything works correctly, then we can update in production, in both cases following a specific update order. Finally, remember to customize WordPress in the appropriate way using child themes and plugins if necessary.

And that’s all! If you want to learn more, we recommend the . If you subscribe you will have immediate access to , to , to those of and , and many others. There are more than 6044 videos available 🙂