How to upgrade WordPress

Did you notice a pink bar at the top of your WordPress dashboard this week?

Complete with a command to “Please update now.”? The “please” softens it a bit, but it’s still a command.

This is WordPress’s way of helpfully notifying you that a new version is available. In this post, I’ll illustrate how easy it is to upgrade WordPress, right from your dashboard.

Step 1: Back up your stuff.

Before you go clicking on the upgrade link, it’s a good idea to have a backup. Fortunately, the WP-DB Backup plugin makes creating a backup straightforward and easy. Go back up your database before you read further. I’ll wait.

Ready to proceed? Got your backup stashed on your local computer (not the server)? Good. Now you can click that handy link.

Step 2. Click “Please update now.” at the top of your screen

Figure 1: WordPress automatically notifies you whenever an update is available.

You’ll be taken to a screen labeled “Upgrade WordPress.” There’s a note here about how it’s important to back up your database. Don’t you feel smart for already having that part taken care of?

Step 3. Click the button labeled “Upgrade Automatically.”

Figure 2: Yes, upgrading is truly automatic. Do remember to back up first, though.

I won’t bore you too much with old-fogy tales of how, back in the pre-2009, pre-WordPress 2.7 days, we file-wranglers had to download the upgrade files manually, unzip them, and use FTP to install them (you young whippersnappers don’t appreciate the troubles we faced in those days… we walked five miles to school in the snow! Uphill! Both ways!).

Let’s just say a big group Thank You to WordPress for giving us the magic “Upgrade Automatically” button. Yes, it’s truly automatic. One click does it all.

Step 4: Wait until you see “WordPress upgraded successfully”

wp_upgrade3

This may take a moment or two. Don’t click on anything until you see the success message. That’s it! You’re now free to move about your dashboard (Ding! In just a few moments our flight attendants will be coming through the cabin with a complimentary beverage service.).

Just because an update becomes available, should I install it?

In general, yes. WordPress publishes updates for a reason, usually improved features, improved security, or both. And you probably want these things.

However, if you are using a lot of plugins, you may want to wait a few days to give the plugin developers time to test their plugins with the new WordPress release, and if needed, release plugin upgrades. Then, after you upgrade WordPress, you’ll want to upgrade any plugins that have new versions available.

Another reason to upgrade (fairly) promptly is that you want to install each upgrade as it’s available, instead of waiting through several versions and installing them all at once. If you do installations one step at a time, there are fewer chances for things to go wrong. Yes, you can wait and batch-upgrade, and I’ve seen it work just fine in the vast majority of cases. But why tempt fate?

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