Installing a WordPress theme

The theme decides how the site looks: fonts, colours, width, where the menu sits, how a list of posts is laid out. Your content is independent of it, which is why you can try themes freely without losing anything you wrote.

From the official directory

1 In the WordPress dashboard, open Appearance and then Themes.
2 Click Add New. The official directory appears, with filters by feature.
3 Hover over a theme and use Preview to see how it would look before installing anything.
4 Click Install. The theme is now available, and your site is unchanged.
5 Only then click Activate. That click is the one that changes the site.
Install without activating, and preview first. The preview shows your content inside the new theme, which is a very different thing from the pretty screenshots on the theme page.

From a file you were given or bought

1 Save the theme .zip on your computer. It has to be the theme file, not the full bundle with documentation and extras that some sellers hand over.
2 Under Appearance, Themes, Add New, use Upload Theme.
3 Pick the file and install. If it complains that the stylesheet is missing, you opened the wrong bundle: inside it there is another .zip, and that one is the theme.
4 If the theme asks for companion plugins, install those too. Many commercial themes only look like the demo with them in place.
A theme downloaded from a sharing site is a real risk. Commercial themes redistributed for free regularly carry hidden code that opens your site to whoever put it there. Buy from the author, or use the official directory.

If the file is large and the upload dies halfway, the size limit is PHP’s. See PHP limits. Alternatively, upload the theme folder over FTP into wp-content/themes: see FTP accounts and FileZilla.

Three things to check before activating

Check Why
That you have a recent backup Activating a theme touches menus and widget areas. Being able to go back is worth more than any amount of care.
That the theme is maintained Look at the last update date. An abandoned theme eventually breaks on a new WordPress release.
That you will get updates A theme bought from its author gets updates; a theme copied from somewhere else gets none.

When you are ready to actually switch, what moves across and what does not is covered in the article on changing themes.

The theme will not upload, or the site went strange after installing it? Tell us which one.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

WordPress hosting

Website creation

Frequently asked questions

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