Are you unsure of the correct way to update your WordPress plugins?
Keeping your plugins up to date is important for the stability and security of your WordPress site. It also lets you take advantage of any new features the plugin’s developers have added.
In this step by step guide, we’ll show you how to properly update WordPress plugins, and how to manage plugin updates more efficiently.
Why Update WordPress Plugins?
WordPress plugins are like apps for your WordPress website. You can install them to add new features and functionality to your website, such as contact forms, SEO tools, memberships, etc.
Plugins are created by third-party developers, and most of these developers continue to add new features to their plugins, improve the quality of the code, and keep them secure. These changes are then released as updates.
You should always keep your WordPress plugins up to date to ensure that those changes are applied to your site immediately. This improves WordPress security and the performance of your website.
Having said that, let’s take a look at how to properly update WordPress plugins.
How to Properly Update WordPress Plugins
WordPress comes with a built-in update system. It automatically checks for updates and shows you notifications when there are updates available for your WordPress plugins, themes, and WordPress core software.
You can also check for updates manually.
Simply visit the Dashboard » Updates page.
When there is a new update available for plugins, you will see the notification on the Plugins menu in the WordPress admin bar.
You can install these updates by visiting the Plugins » Installed Plugins page. You will see a notification below each plugin that has updates available for you to install.
You can just click on the ‘Update Now’ link to install each update. Make sure that you install them one at a time, and wait until the plugin finishes updating before you click the next link.
Bulk Update WordPress Plugins
If there are updates for several plugins on your website, then you may want to quickly review and bulk update those plugins.
To do that, you need to visit the Plugins » Installed Plugins page and click on the ‘Update Available’ link. This will show you the list of all plugins that have updates available.
You can select them all by clicking the ‘Plugin’ checkbox at the top of the list and then choose ‘Update’ from the Bulk Actions drop down menu.
After that, you need to click the ‘Apply’ button to update the selected plugins.
Before You Update, Read This!
Before you update a plugin on your WordPress blog, it’s important that you click on the ‘View version details’ link to see what changes the plugin author has made.
This will keep you informed as to what changes were made should anything not work properly.
Unless the version details specifically say ‘security update’, we usually wait one full week before updating the plugin. By then, any errors have usually been caught, reported, and fixed.
If your website has heavy traffic and generates a lot of leads, then we recommend you to do the same.
How to Undo a WordPress Plugin Update
Sometimes a plugin update can produce unexpected results. For example, you may find that some plugin features do not work properly.
In that case, the first thing you should do is deactivate that plugin.
If you can access the Plugins page in the WordPress admin area, then simply click on the ‘Deactivate’ link below the misbehaving plugin.
After that, you can install the WP-Rollback plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go back to the Plugins page, and you will be able to see a rollback option below each plugin. Clicking on it will allow you to rollback the plugin to any previous version.
For detailed instructions, check out our guide on how to rollback WordPress plugins.
What if the problem with the plugin update has left you unable to access the WordPress admin area? In that case, you should follow the steps in our guide on how to deactivate all plugins when not able to access the WordPress admin area.
Tips to Manage WordPress Plugins More Efficiently
If you manage multiple WordPress sites, then you will soon realize that you have to update plugins quite often. Here are some tips to help you manage them more efficiently.
If you are confident about the plugins that you are using, then you can enable automatic updates for all your WordPress plugins.
However, a better approach would be to set up automatic updates only for select few plugins that you trust. We give instructions on how to do this in our guide on how to better manage WordPress updates.
If you don’t manage multiple WordPress sites, then you can set up email notifications for plugin updates. This will alert you when there’s an update available without having to log in to your WordPress site.
Always make sure that you have set up an automatic backup plugin on your site. This will allow you to restore your WordPress site in case something goes wrong.
Finally, if you can afford managed WordPress hosting, then the staging website feature is definitely worth the investment. It allows you to test the new plugin updates on a staging environment before going live. We recommend using either WPEngine or SiteGround’s GoGeek plan.
We hope this article helped you learn how to update WordPress plugins. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide, or check out our list of must have plugins to grow your site.
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Kany says
Hi…
currently i have problem with my site. Yesterday, I was editing my site and was working properly; however, when I come to login today, I have gotten this This site can’t be reached (site name) took too long to respond. Try:
.Checking the connection
. Checking the proxy and the firewall
. Running windows Network diagnistics
ERR_CONNECTION_TIME_OUT
Surprisingly, when I use wifi connection,( connect to phone’s wifi ) it’s working properly. and when I open though different internet company, its working without any problem.
I was wondering if there is one who may help me to resolve this issue.
Kany
Terry G says
I am upgrading a website that hasn’t been upgraded in several years, running wp 3.9.22 to latest versions of everything, wp, new theme (current one is no longer in development), and all plugins. I notice that none of the plugins have notices that say an update is available, even though they do. I don’t know whether this is because the wordpress version is so old none of the current plugins would work on it, or because the person who created the website downloaded all the plugins to install directly rather than using the Directory? Going forward I definitely want the notifications of a newer version be available, so it doesn’t get so out of date again.
What is the best way to update these plugins from the directory, without losing the current settings, even though there is no “update now” link? For example, I tested contact form 7 on a test site, first uploading the plugin manually, making a change in the settings, then de-activating and deleting it, and then re-adding it via the directory. I lost the setting in the form, so had to re-do it. Is there a way to do it without losing the current settings?
Any help you can give is appreciated, and I have found your site to be immensely helpful.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Terry,
Please reach out to person who managed your site, they may have disabled plugin updates. If you cannot reach them, then first backup your website. After that try deactivating all your WordPress plugins, switch to a default WordPress theme, and then visit Dashboard » Updates page. You may also want to see your site’s wp-config.php file for the code that is used to block plugin updates.
Admin
Terry says
I don’t think the original person is available any more.
” After that try deactivating all your WordPress plugins, switch to a default WordPress theme, and then visit Dashboard » Updates page.” If the plugins are deactivated, what will I be looking for on the Updates page?
I’ll take a look at the wp-config file. Can you tell me what I’ll be looking for? Thanks!
WPBeginner Support says
Hey Terry,
Compare your config file with the original wp-config file. You may find something that would look clearly out of place. Select it and Google it to find out what it does.
Terry says
I googled it and found this: Search for define( ‘AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED’, true ); so I guess that’s what I’ll look for. Also found your article on disabling updates and why you shouldn’t.
Nanien says
Hi…
currently i have problem with my site. Last night i tried to upgrade my site to woocommerce 3.0.5 but it’s always error (memory limit and timeout). Eror message: Update Failed: 500 Internal Server Error Request Timeout This request takes too long to process, it is timed out by the server. If it should not be timed out, please contact administrator of this web site to increase ‘Connection Timeout’.
Then i asked my Hosting Provider to increase the maximum script execution time to 600 second but suddenly i lost the woocommerce plugin in the WP ADMIN. When i checked the WOOCOMMERCE plugin in the CPANEL FILE MANAGER, the plugin still there with permission code 0755. Is there any solution?
If i delete the WP CONTENT in the CPANEL and do re-install through WP ADMIN…do i lost all the data? What is the best solution for this problem?
WPBeginner Support says
Hey Nanien,
You can download a fresh copy of WooCommerce plugin to your computer and then extract it on your Desktop. After that you can use cPanel’s File Manager or FTP client to manually upload WooCommerce folder from your Desktop to your website in /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
Admin
James Burk says
This is so useful. I have a visitor Stats plugin which I updated only to discover that my ISP has an older version of PHP running so the plugin wouldn’t show all the stats. I’ve ‘downdated’ it back in time to an earlier version and it now works perfectly.
Ritul says
I use genesis framework and want to know how you guys managed to put the menu icon in far left corner in mobile view. Please help me no one gave me right answer. Please help me….. Please……
WPBeginner Support says
Hey Ritul,
You can study our website’s CSS using inspect tool in your browser.
Admin
Niket Agrawal says
Most helpful blog ever