1. Login to your WordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance → Themes. Click “Add New“.

Figure 1: The Appearance > Themes section.

2. On the “Add Themes” screen, click “Upload Theme”.

Figure 2: The “Add Themes” screen.

3. Choose the theme zip file you downloaded from NiceThemes and click the “Install Now” button.

Figure 3: Uploading the Theme zip file.

4. Activate your Theme by clicking the “Activate” link.

Figure 4: Activating the WordPress theme.

That’s all you need to do to install your WordPress theme. Some themes need some shifting around of the Widgets and Page Templates.

The post Installing a WordPress Theme appeared first on NiceThemes.

Obtain the correct theme files

There are two ways to obtain the files of a theme you purchased in ThemeForest. Once you bought it, you need to locate the Download button that will appear inside your Downloads section.

To download your files, you need to click any of the first two options:

• All files & documentation
• Installable WordPress file only

All files & documentation

If you select the first option, you will get a zip file that doesn’t only contain the files of the theme, but also some other files with documentation and other information about your purchase. You’ll find the actual files of the theme inside alongside those ones, inside another zip file. You can upload that file to your WordPress installation through your WordPress Dashboard, or unzip its contents in your wp-content/themes folder.

Installable WordPress file only

The second option will give you a zip file that only contains the files of the theme. You can either upload the zip file directly through your WordPress Dashboard, or unzip its contents in your wp-content/themes folder.

Installing the theme

Once you have the files of your theme, either inside a zip file or a folder containing the files, you need to upload it to your WordPress installation. Check this article to know how to do it.

The post Troubleshooting your theme installation appeared first on NiceThemes.

Automatic update

This is the preferred method. Assuming you’ve already obtained your license key and registered your theme, it’s a one click process.

Updating the theme

This process will update the theme to its last available version.

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to NiceThemes → Updates.
2. Find the Theme Updates section.
3. If a theme update is available, you will be offered an Update button: click it.
4. Wait until the process is done.

Updating the framework

All our theme are based in a common framework, which is bundled with every one of them. Every time you update your theme, the framework is updated too. But sometimes, between theme versions, we may want to offer you core fixes or improvements in a quick and simple way: in that case, we’ll release a framework update. Updating the framework is as easy as updating the theme.

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to NiceThemes → Updates.
2. Find the Framework Updates section.
3. If a framework update is available, you will be offered an Update button: click it.
4. Wait until the process is done.

Manual update

If automatic update is not an option, you can always do it the old-fashioned way. If you’re going down this road, it’s very important that you know what you’re doing: messing with the wrong files could break your site entirely. We also recommend backing up your site first, just in case.

Downloading theme files

1. Login to your NiceThemes.com account and head over to your dashboard. (Or via ThemeForest, in your Downloads Section)
2. Download the theme ZIP file as you did when you purchased it.

Removing old theme files

1. Connect to your server using FTP (or the method of your choice) and find the folder of your theme (for example, if you want to update Flatbase, it should be the wp-content/themes/flatbase folder).
2. Download any files that you may have customized, like functions.php and custom.css (which are the most likely files that you could have made changes to). Note that, if you don’t do this, all changes you may have made to the theme will be lost (unless, as we suggested before, you’re using a child theme).
3. Remove the folder of your theme.
4. Disconnect from your server.

Uploading new theme files

Using WordPress admin

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance → Themes.
2. Find and click the Add New button, and then the Upload Theme button.
3. Upload the theme ZIP file you downloaded and click Install Now.
4. Wait until the process is done and click Activate.

Directly to the server

1. Extract the ZIP’s contents and find the extracted theme folder.
2. Connect to your server using FTP (or the method of your choice) and find the wp-content/themes folder.
3. Create a folder for the theme (for example, if you’re updating Flatbase, it should be wp-content/themes/flatbase) and upload the extracted contents there.
4. Disconnect from your server.
5. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to Appearance → Themes.
6. Find the theme you just uploaded, and click Activate.

That’s it. Your theme should be updated to the latest version now.

Additional notes

• If you’re just starting with FTP or want to use a reliable and user-friendly client to transfer your files, we recommend FileZilla, which you can download for free. In case you don’t know what FTP is, you may want to read this article first.

Re-applying customizations

As we stated, both automatic and manual updates will remove the old files in your theme folder, so that’s why it’s important to backup any changes you’ve made to the theme files beforehand (and, again, that’s why you should be using a child theme).

If you didn’t make any changes to the theme files, there is no risk of losing theme settings, pages, posts, etc, and backwards compatibility is guaranteed.

If you have made changes to the theme files, you will need to compare your modifications with the current theme files (the changelog.txt files in both the new version and the backup can help you with that) and merge them together. If the only files you modified are functions.php and custom.css, you’re most certainly safe because those files don’t usually change. But, just in case, we still recommend you to merge instead of overwriting.

The post Updating a theme appeared first on NiceThemes.

Automatic installation

This is the preferred method.

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New.
2. Find the plugin you want to install. You can browse the categories, or use the search form.
3. Once the desired plugin in the list, click the Install Now button. If you work on a remote server, WordPress may ask for your FTP credentials after you click the button, so make sure to have this information at hand.
4. Wait until the process is done, and click Activate.

Manual installation

If automatic update is not an option, you can always do it the old-fashioned way. If you’re going down this road, it’s very important that you know what you’re doing: messing with the wrong files could break your site entirely. We also recommend backing up your site first, just in case.

Downloading plugin files

Download the plugin ZIP file from the WordPress Plugin Directory or your third-party vendor.

Uploading plugin files

Using WordPress admin

1. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New.
2. Find and click the Upload Plugin button.
3. Upload the plugin ZIP file you downloaded and click Install Now.

Wait until the process is done, and click

Activate

.

Directly to the server

1. Extract the ZIP’s contents and find the extracted plugin folder.
2. Connect to your server using FTP (or the method of your choice) and find the wp-content/plugins folder.
3. Create a folder for the plugin (for example, if you’re installing Nice Portfolio, it should be wp-content/plugins/nice-portfolio) and upload the extracted contents there.
4. Disconnect from your server.
5. On your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
6. Find the plugin you just uploaded, and click Activate.

That’s it. Your plugin should be installed now.

More Resources

• Managing Plugins
• Step by step guide to install a WordPress plugin for beginners

The post Installing a plugin appeared first on NiceThemes.