Update! This step saves you from many troubles ahead. Trust me. There is nothing more important than to ensure your wordpress, plugins and themes are always up-to-date for secure and stable versions of the product.
*Backup your WordPress before Updating*
*Choose your time wisely to minimize any downtime or disruption to your site visitors*
*Create a staging site for testing*
WordPress
Step 1: Go to 'Updates' on the top left of WordPress Dashboard. There should also be a notification on top of the page as well. Click on the Updates tab.
Step 2: You will see one button for Update Now and Download 4.0. Click Update Now.
Also, we would like to share with you the possibility of automatic updates.
1) Automatic updates for subversion are enabled by default. You may disable via adding a constant in wp-config.php at the root of WordPress installation.
Disable default subversion updates:
define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true);
2) Automatic updates for major updates can also be set in wp-config.php.
Enable automatic major updates:
define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true);
Plugins
Along with WordPress. update for plugins are equally important.
Step 1: At WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Plugins and select the plugins that are available for updates.
Step 2: Click Update Plugins.
Updates of plugins and themes are disabled by default. You can add filter to functions.php of plugin or theme.
// Enable automatic updates for plugins
add_filter('auto_update_plugin', '__return_true');
// Enable automatic updates for themes
add_filter('auto_update_theme', '__return_true');The above methods are either one-click method or automatic updates. Go ahead and try it out!
Themes
Option 1: Navigate to WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Themes. Click on Update Now if there are updates available for your theme.
Option 2: For automatic update of theme, you can also navigate to functions.php and add the line below (only work for themes that are downloaded from WordPress official theme directory).
add_filter('auto_update_theme','_return_true);