How to Update WordPress Plugins safely?

Why do you need to update WordPress plugins?

As you know, WordPress plugins are a lot of useful software that is specially developed to expand and extend the functionality of your WordPress Theme such as add gallery, add a contact form, call to action button, and much more. Most plugins are released the third-party developers, so they regularly update WordPress plugins to introduce new features and functions. It is a reason why you should download updates to improve your website.

Additionally, outdated plugins can cause vulnerabilities that are vulnerable to attack by hackers. It is necessary for you to keep them up to date to keep your site smooth.

How to update WordPress Plugin?

Before updating your WordPress plugins, you need to create a backup of the whole site first by using one of the best WordPress Backup Plugins. We highly recommend using UpdraftPlus to tackle this task. Because it is the most effective and easy-to-use tool.

WordPress was developed with a built-in update system. Hence, it automatically monitors and checks for all new updates of the installed plugins and themes. You can easily see notifications on your dashboard.

It is easy for you to click on the Updates page on your dashboard to view all available versions of your installed themes and plugins. Let’s check the ones that you want to update and then click on the Update Plugins button.

Moreover, you can also navigate to the Plugins > Installed Plugins page. You will see a notification displayed below each plugin that has a new version available for you to install.

Simply click on the Update now link to update each plugin.

If there are many updates for numerous plugins on your website, you want to quickly check and update those plugins simultaneously. Let’s click on the “Update Available” link.

This will showcase a list of all plugins that offers you a new version. You can choose all of them and click on the Update option from the “Bulk Actions” drop-down menu.

How to Undo (or Rollback) a Plugin Update?

However, one of the biggest weaknesses of WordPress plugins is that they can conflict with other plugins and themes, so can cause some unexpected effects on your website after updating a plugin. Hence, sometimes you still maintain the old version.

In that case, first of all, you need to deactivate that plugin

Simply visit Plugins > Installed plugins and then click on the Deactivate link below the plugin that updated the unwanted version.

After that, it is time to install the WP-Rollback plugin-this is an effective and easy-to-use tool that allows you to rollback any theme or plugin to any previous version without any problems.

You can go to Plugins > Add New and then type the plugin’s name on the search bar. Quickly click on the “Install Now” button and “Activate” it.

After you have installed that plugin yet. Let’s visit the plugins page. There is a rollback option displayed below each plugin. Simply click on this option to rollback the plugin to the previous version.

WP Rollback plugin will bring you a page where it will showcase a list of versions that you have installed and the versions you can rollback too.

Let’s click on the previous version that you want to rollback and then click on the Rollback button.

The plugin immediately displays a warning message. This message suggests that you should generate a complete WordPress backup before rollbacking to the previous version.

If you make sure that you created a backup for your site before to keep your site safe, let’s click on the Rollback button.

Now, WP Rollback will download and replace your current version with the version you selected.

Summary

We have just provided you with a step-by-step guide to help you update WordPress plugins safely. Hopefully, this tutorial is useful for your website. If you encounter any problems during the process of using mentioned methods, don’t mention them by leaving a comment below.

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