How to install a WordPress theme

When you set up a WordPress website for the first time, the first priority is getting the theme sorted. After all, until you get the window dressing on, you can’t doll the site up with all the bells and whistles such as plugins. Assuming you’ve found your theme already, how do you then install the WordPress theme? It’s easier than you think, and we’re here today to walk you through it.

Read more: What is WordPress, and should you use it?

How to install a WordPress theme from the Themes tab

Both theme installation methods are just as easy, but if you’re already rummaging around in the WordPress backend on your website, you may as well install the theme from there (assuming it’s in the WordPress directory).

Go to Appearance–>Themes.

You will see the currently installed theme on the page. To install a new one, click Add New at the top.

If you know the theme’s name, you can type it into the search engine, and it will come up. But it must be in the WordPress themes directory for it to appear. Third-party themes do not appear here. If you are still unsure what theme you want, you can use the Feature Filter to specify what you’re looking for.

The feature filter breaks down the themes by subject, features, and layout. Tick the ones you need, click Apply Filters, and the page results will give you matching results.

Once you have found the theme you want, mouse over it, and some options appear. If you are sure you definitely want the theme, you can go straight ahead and click the Install button. However, if you want to make one final check, click Preview.

Preview gives you a look at what your page will look like, without the theme actually being installed. However, the theme features will not be activated, so you’re really just looking at a rather bare-bones page. Once you’ve decided you want it, click Install.

To actually activate the theme, and have it show on your website, now click Activate.

If you now click out of this page and go back to the themes page, you’ll see the new theme in first place. The older theme will be deactivated and sitting rather lonesome at the back. I recommend you keep it, though, because if your primary theme fails, it will need a theme to fall back on. You can now visit your site to check if the theme is installed properly.

How to manually upload and install a WordPress theme

If you downloaded a theme directly from the WordPress theme directory, or you bought a paid theme from a third-party developer, you will end up with a zip file on your computer. You now need to upload it to your WordPress backend. Do not unzip the folder and extract the files!

Go to Appearance–>Themes, and click Add New at the top.

Now click Upload Theme.

Click Choose file and navigate to the location on your hard drive where the zip file is located, and choose it. Alternatively, you can use your mouse to drag and drop the zip file onto the Choose file button. Both work just as well.

When you see the theme name appear in the box, click Install Now.

WordPress will now tell you that the zip file is being unpacked and the files installed. When it has been successfully done, you will see a success message and a link to either live preview the theme or activate it. Choose one. Until you activate the theme, it will not appear on your site.

How to delete a theme in WordPress

As well as the active primary theme, you should have a secondary theme as a backup in case the first one fails for any reason. Sometimes, a bug in an update can cause the theme to crash, and if you don’t have a backup, your whole site will be one big hot mess.

Anything over two themes should ideally be deleted, in the interests of site speed. To delete a theme, make sure it is not the currently active theme. Once the theme you want to delete has been deactivated, mouse over it and click the thumbnail picture.

In the bottom right-hand corner, you will see a Delete button. Click it, and you will be asked to confirm. Once you do so, the theme is gone.

Read more: How to build a WordPress website

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