WordPress Rollback Theme Update: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Have you ever updated your WordPress theme expecting sleek new features, only to be met with a broken layout? Have you lost customizations, or worse, crashed your site in the process? 

It leaves you wondering why you ever hit that update button in the first place. Your perfectly tailored website has turned into a chaotic mess. Visitors are scared away by error messages. The panic of lost data and downtime sets in.

TL;DR: Theme updates can sometimes cause major issues like broken layouts, lost customizations, or even site crashes. Safeguard your site throughout the process by taking a site backup first, and testing updates on a staging site. 

Theme updates are so important to WordPress maintenance. But things like bugs and incompatibilities can make things go awry. This is why we cannot stress enough the importance of taking a backup before making any changes—whether you’re updating, rolling back, or merely changing the color of your banner. By maintaining recent backups, you ensure that you always have a safety net to fall back on. However, if you don’t have a backup to restore, you’re in a world of trouble. 

In such scenarios, in WordPress rollback theme update is a last resort. Sometimes it’s the only viable path to regaining control and stability.In this article, we will talk about how to do so, you can also check how to update WordPress safely to minimize issues

When to rollback a theme 

When a theme update fails, there can be many reasons:

• incompatible with a critical plugin,
• incompatible with your core, or
• is buggy,

you should temporarily roll it back till the theme developers fix it. Additionally, if you want to reinstall or update a theme, you can choose to update your WordPress theme from zip if you have a downloaded version ready.

The keyword here is “temporarily”. A rollback isn’t a permanent solution. It is just a temporary band aid while you fix the underlying issue. Moreover, a rollback cannot recover any customizations you had earlier since the update writes over the older version. That is something only a restore can do.

Now, we must reiterate that while a restore can recover those customizations, you will have to update your theme at some point. This means you will have to wait until the developer releasesx nenew updates. Maybe you can change your theme completely or add your customizations to a child theme. Regardless of what you do, there is no safe way to ignore or bypass an update.

Pro tip: Before you rollback a theme, take a backup and create a staging site with BlogVault. Test your rollback on the staging site first—an exact copy of your live site—and discover issues in that safe environment.  

Option 1. Use a plugin to rollback a WordPress theme

Rolling back a theme involves reverting it to a previous version. This might be necessary when an update introduces bugs, breaks your site’s functionality, or creates compatibility issues with your WordPress version or other plugins. Rolling back ensures that you can maintain your site’s stability and performance by using a version of the theme that was previously working without issues.

Two popular plugins that help rollback software are WP Rollback and WP Downgrade. For the sake of this tutorial, we will be using WP Rollback. Here are the steps:

1. Install and activate the plugin.
2. Go to Appearance and then click Themes. Click on the theme you want to downgrade.
3. Scroll down and click Rollback, a setting that has now appeared because of the plugin.

8. Select the desired version to downgrade to. And that’s it.

Note: This only works for themes downloaded from the repository, as rollback plugins tap into the repository to get the older versions of themes. 

Option 2: Manually rollback a WordPress theme

While tools like WP Rollback make reverting to a previous version of a theme or plugin straightforward, there are situations where a manual rollback might be necessary. For example, if you’re working with a custom or a premium theme, you won’t be able to use these tools directly.

Here is how you manually rollback your theme:

1. Backup your website

2. Download the previous version of the theme
3. Go to Appearance and then navigate to Themes

4. Switch to a default WordPress theme temporarily

5. Deactivate the current theme you want to rollback
6. Use FTP to connect your site’s backend

9. Navigate to the root folder, which is often called public_html, and then to the wp-contents folder
10. In the Themes folder, find the folder for the theme you want to rollback

9. Delete the existing folder and upload the one you previously downloaded

9. Then go back to Appearance and navigate to the Themes menu in your WordPress dashboard
10. Activate the theme you reverted
11. Test everything to make sure its fine

Use this method only if the theme update fails. Again, we must reiterate here that this is not a replacement for a site restore or a long term solution. 

Best practises for theme updates in the future

Updating your WordPress theme can bring exciting new features and important security fixes, but it also carries risks. To ensure a smooth process, follow these best practices:

• Proactively search for updates using a vulnerability scanner. BlogVault makes it easy for you to keep track. It scans for vulnerabilities regularly and takes backups before an update. 
• Verify that your updated theme is compatible with your WordPress version, plugins, and any other third-party tools you’re using. Incompatible themes can cause functionality issues and even site crashes.
• Before making any changes, always backup your entire website. This includes your database, themes, plugins, and media files. Having a recent backup will allow you to restore your site to its previous state if anything goes wrong. BlogVault can help you take daily backups automatically. You can also take on-demand backups before major changes like theme updates. The backups are also taken incrementally so they’re quick and have no impact on server resources. 
• Create a staging site that mirrors your live site. Apply the theme update there first to see how it impacts your site’s functionality and design. This minimizes the risk of downtime or functionality breakage on your live site. BlogVault helps you create a staging site in minutes. All you have to do is click a few buttons on the dashboard. 
• Always review the theme’s changelog before updating. This document lists all the changes, bug fixes, and enhancements included in the update, helping you anticipate any potential issues.
• If you’ve modified your theme, use a child theme to make customizations. This ensures that your customizations aren’t overwritten during a theme update and can be easily managed.
• Auto-updates can catch you off guard and potentially break your site. Disable auto-updates for your theme so that you can manually control when and how updates are applied.
• Keep a detailed record of all custom changes you’ve made to your theme. This documentation makes it easier to re-apply your modifications if they get overridden during an update.
• After updating your theme, diligently monitor your site for any issues. Check all key functionalities, design elements, and performance metrics to ensure everything is working as expected.
• Before updating your theme, make sure that all your plugins are up to date. Plugin developers often release updates to ensure compatibility with new theme versions, so keeping your plugins updated can prevent conflicts.
• Clear your site’s caches after applying an update to ensure that all changes are reflected. This includes server-side caches, browser caches, and any caching plugins you may be using.

Final thoughts

Themes are critical to the overall functionality, appearance, and user experience of your website. They provide the structure and style that make your site unique and appealing. However, updating them comes with its own set of challenges and risks. You can lose functionality or crash your site. While rolling back your site is a quick solution, it won’t help you restore your site. 

This is why we recommend that you always work with a staging site to test any updates before applying them to your live site. You should also backup your website thoroughly to ensure you can recover quickly if anything goes wrong. 

FAQs

How to revert a WordPress theme update?

To revert a WordPress theme update, you can either restore a backup or use a rollback plugin like WP Rollback. Here’s how you rollback a theme:

• Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New, search for WP Rollback, and install and activate it
• Go to Appearance > Themes
• Click on the theme you want to rollback
• Scroll down to find the Rollback button and click on it
• Select the version you want to revert to
• Click the Rollback button again and wait for the process to complete

How do I undo changes to my WordPress theme?

If you need to undo changes made to your WordPress theme, follow these steps:

• If you have a backup of your site, restore it to revert the changes.
• If changes were made via a child theme, revert the child theme files to their previous state
• Some plugins maintain a history of changes. Use these to revert specific customizations.
• Use WP Rollback to revert to a previous theme version if recent changes were part of an update

How to recover a previous theme on WordPress?

To recover a previous theme on WordPress, you will have to restore it via your backup plugin or FTP. If your previous theme version is available in the WordPress theme repository, you can download and reinstall it manually using FTP or the WordPress theme installer. If you’re using a premium theme, contact the theme developer for a previous version.

How do I change my WordPress theme back to default?To revert to a default WordPress theme (such as Twenty Twenty-One or Twenty Twenty-Three), navigate to Appearance and then Themes in your dashboard. Find the default theme (e.g., Twenty Twenty-One) and click Activate. After activation, visit your site to ensure it displays correctly. If your site doesn’t display correctly, troubleshoot by deactivating plugins or checking your theme settings.