In most cases you don’t need anything manual. Since WordPress 5.5, from August 2020, uploading the ZIP of an item that is already installed opens a table comparing the uploaded version with the one that’s live, with a button to replace one with the other. It’s under Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, or Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme.
If instead of the table you got destination folder already exists and the installation stopped, the site is on a version older than 5.5: then yes, the manual path is the way.
The two paths below still apply, and not just for old WordPress. They solve it when the file exceeds the server’s upload limit, when the replacement fails midway, and when you want to be able to roll back in seconds. Neither one erases your settings: they live in the database, not in the files.
Before either one, including the direct path: make a backup. It’s the difference between a two-minute hiccup and a bad night.
Manual path 1: deactivate, delete, install
For a plugin:
- In Plugins, click Deactivate on the item.
- Click Delete.
- Go to Add New > Upload Plugin and upload the ZIP of the new version.
- Activate.
Deleting the plugin does not delete its settings in the vast majority of cases: they’re in database tables and stay there when the new version activates. The exceptions are plugins that explicitly offer “delete all data on uninstall.” If that option exists and is turned on, turn it off first.
For a theme, WordPress won’t let you delete the active theme. Activate another theme temporarily (the WordPress default works), delete the old one, install the new version, and reactivate. If you use a child theme, activate the child and update only the parent: the child doesn’t even need to go offline.
Manual path 2: replace via FTP
Faster when the item is large, and it doesn’t run into WordPress’s upload limit:
- Extract the new version’s ZIP on your computer.
- Connect via FTP or your host’s file manager.
- Go to
wp-content/plugins/orwp-content/themes/. - Rename the old folder to something like
item-name-old. Don’t delete it yet. - Upload the new folder with the original name.
- Check the site. If everything’s fine, delete the old folder.
Renaming instead of deleting is the detail that makes this the safer of the two paths: if something goes wrong, rolling back is just renaming it again.
Two things to check afterward
The installed version, in Plugins or Appearance > Themes: that confirms the swap took. And the site itself, on a page that uses the item, because an update error tends to show up on the front end before the dashboard.
If you do this every week
Manual doesn’t scale. Anyone maintaining multiple sites tends to migrate to Ultrapack Auto Updater, which does the same process from the dashboard and takes a copy of the item before every update.
