4 Ways to Update WordPress Without Losing Data in 2024

Are you looking for an easy way to update WordPress?

You must know that every now & then, there is an update that comes on your WordPress admin dashboard. However, most people skip this message because they don’t know how to update WordPress safely.

According to research by SSLstore.com, 49.07% of the top 10,000 sites do not use the latest WordPress version. Despite this scenario, people blame WordPress security for any website failure. The reality is precisely the opposite.

All these updates consist of bug & security fixes. So, if you can update your WordPress Core and the plugins & themes regularly, you can secure your website from getting hacked.

In this article, let’s explore the easy and safe ways to update your WordPress website.

Why Update to the Latest Version of WordPress?

Suppose you have an online store running on an older version of WordPress. The store is always at risk as eCommerce sites have payment gateways and are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

You can avoid cyber attack risk if you update to the latest version.

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Here are additional reasons why you should update your WordPress version:

• Satisfactory level security
• Latest features and functionalities
• Speed and performance optimization
• Compatibility with modernized themes, plugins & web technologies

Now you know why to update, let’s check out the requirements.

Few Things To Remember Before Updating

Before going into the details, there are few prerequisites that you need to fulfill.

1. Creating A Backup For The Website

Before you click the update button in WordPress, you must take a complete backup of your website. During the update, if any error occurs, it could be curtains for you.

Therefore, always take a complete backup of your WordPress site. For backing up your site, you can use any of the following plugins:

• UpdraftPlus
• VaultPress
• BackupBuddy
• BoldGrid Backup
• BackWPup

How to Backup and Restore Your WordPress Website?

2. Deactivating All The Plugins

WordPress experts around the globe recommend that you should deactivate all the plugins before updating the WordPress core.

Usually, plugin-conflict doesn’t cause many issues, but when it does, then it could make your site unusable.

So, it’s better to deactivate all the plugins. However, always remember to re-activate all the plugins after the update.

Now, with the things put in place, let’s analyze various methods to update the WordPress Ecosystem in a safe & secure manner.

How to Update WordPress Without Loss of Data?

Are you looking for ways to update WordPress without losing the data?

Updating WordPress provides additional features, a better interface and most importantly makes your website more secure.

Here are four ways to update WordPress without losing the data:

1.  Via the WordPress Admin Dashboard
2.  Manually with the Help of FTP
3. Using SSH & WP-CLI
4.  Automatically via cPanel, wp-config.php & functions.php

Let’s check each one of them in detail.

Method 1: From the WordPress Admin Dashboard

You can update your WordPress from the dashboard.

It’s one of the easiest and simplest methods for updating. If there is an update for the WordPress core, then there will be a popup in the WordPress Admin Dashboard.

Now, click on the Please update now link and it will redirect you to a new window.

Here, the WordPress ecosystem will tell you to create a backup of your database and files. While the update is taking place, your site will be in maintenance mode.

Once you take the backup, click on the Update Now button which will start the update.

After completing the update, you will redirect to a whole new screen as shown in the screenshot below. Here, you can also see the list of all the bug fixes and security updates.

Method 2: Manually with the help of FTP

You can also update the WordPress core manually with the help of FTP. For this purpose, you need to make use of FileZilla.

For using an FTP program, you need to have the following details – username, password, hostname & port. Once you have these details, you can proceed further.

For this method also, you need to fulfill the prerequisites stated above. After that, you can go ahead and start the update.

Step 1: Download The Latest Version Of WordPress

First of all, navigate to the official WordPress website and download the latest version of WordPress.

After the completion of the download process, extract the WordPress archive on your PC using WinRAR or WinZip.

Inside the WordPress folder, you will see plenty of subfolders such as wp-admin, wp-includes, and wp-content as well as the files like index.php, wp-login.php, wp-config-sample.php, etc.

Step 2: Access The WordPress Root Directory

Using FTP details, try to access the WordPress root directory as shown in the screenshot below.

Once you get access of the root directory, try to move the files of the latest WordPress version to the root directory. You need to replace the existing files & folders for that purpose.

First of all, delete the current wp-admin and wp-includes folders from the host. If you’re utilizing FileZilla, then you need to select those folders and click on the delete option.

Make sure you don’t make any changes to the wp-content folder. The reason behind that is, your plugins, themes & all the media files are residing inside that folder.

Step 3: Upload The Latest Versions Of All Folders & Files

After deleting the old the existing wp-admin and wp-includes folders, it’s time to upload the new ones.

For that purpose, move to the WordPress folder inside your PC as shown in the screenshot below.

Now, select the wp-includes and the wp-admin folder, right-click and pick the Upload option. After you have got the latest version of all the folders, it’s time to upload the new files. In this case, you don’t need to delete anything. You just need to overwrite all the files.

For that purpose, select all the files from the left panel as shown in the screenshot below, right-click and then, pick the upload option.

After the upload process gets over, you will get a confirmation dialog box. In that box, pick the overwrite option and click on the OK button.

Once you’ve all the updated files, move to the wp-config-sample.php file and check if there are any coding line missing in the wp-config.php file.

If that’s the case, then copy those lines and paste to the existing wp-config.php file on the webserver. The last step is to check whether your website is working as required or not.

For that purpose, move to your admin area, i.e., yoursite.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php/. If everything is working well, then upgrade your database.

Method 3: Using SSH & WP-CLI

For this method, you need to have SSH access to your WordPress root directory, i.e., public_html. Updating the WordPress ecosystem via WP-CLI is a time-consuming process. The reason behind that is, you need to update both the files and the database.

Now, if you’ve installed the WordPress in a specific folder i.e., public_html/your site, then the WordPress root directory is your site.

First of all, make use of cd command for moving to the root directory:

cd public_html

After that, check the version of WordPress:

wp core check-update

The output will be as shown below:

version | update_type | package_url |
+---------+-------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| #.#.# | minor | https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-#.#.#.zip |
| #.#.# | major | https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-#.#.#.zip

If there is no update available for your WordPress website, then there will be a message such as “Success: WordPress is at the latest version.”

For updating the WordPress, run the following command:

wp core update

The output will be as shown below:

Updating to version #.#.# (en_US)...
Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-#.#.#-no-content.zip...
Unpacking the update...
Cleaning up files...
No files found that need cleaned up.
Success: WordPress updated successfully.

To update the WordPress core vis WP-CLI, utilize the following commands:

• Database updates : wp core update-db
• Theme updates : wp theme update --all
• Plugin updates : wp plugin update --all

Method 4: Automatically via cPanel, wp-config.php & functions.php

To enable automatic update for your WordPress, add the following line of code your wp-config.php file.

define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true);

How To Update WordPress Themes & Plugins?

So far, we have analyzed the various methods to update the WordPress core. In this section, we will examine the way to update the plugins & themes.

For that purpose, hover to the WordPress Admin Dashboard > Updates

Source

Here, you can view the option for Update Themes & Update Plugins. With the help of this option, you can update all the plugins and themes at one go.

However, if you want to update a particular plugin, you can also do that.

For that purpose, you need to head over to your WordPress Admin Dashboard

Hover over Plugins and click on the Installed Plugins button.

For updating an individual theme, you can move to WordPress Admin Dashboard .

Hover over Appearance and click on the Themes button.

Just remember one thing that when you update any theme, you will lose all the customization options. So, always be aware of that prospect.

Conclusion

While WordPress CMS is widely used across the globe, it becomes a vital part for all the WordPress users to update regularly.

Updating WordPress reduces the risk of cyber attacks and thereby makes your site secure. So it’s recommended to update your WordPress versions regularly and also keep your theme and plugins updated.

Use any of the 4 methods to safely update your WordPress.

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