WordPress 5.5 comes with some amazing new features and one of its feature is the option to enable “auto-update” for plugins and themes. This will be a very useful feature for WordPress users, and it will help with the security of the site also. In this short guide, lets take a look at how to enable auto updates for plugins and themes in WordPress.
WordPress auto-update feature for Plugin and Theme Explained
Firstly, lets understand why this feature is so useful. WordPress plugin and theme regularly release the updates, be it for any security related issues, bug fixes or improvement. The problem was that the user had to login to WordPress admin and then update the plugin and theme manually and for some users, this was a hassle (as it was a manual task).
Now with WordPress 5.5, there isn’t a need to manually update plugins and themes but this process has become automatic; provided you enable the auto update option in WordPress.
Enable Auto update for Plugins
So without any further ado, let’s learn how to enable this option. Login to your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins page.
From here, for the plugin for which you want to enable the auto update, click on the button for “Enable auto-updates”.
Once you do this, it will show “Enabling” and then once the auto update is enabled, the option would change to “Disable auto-update”.
In case if you’d like to disable auto update for your plugin, you’d simply click on the “Disable auto-update” button.
Enable Auto update for Theme
If you’d like to enable auto update for theme, then go to Appearance > Themes page.
Click on a Theme from this page, and then you’d see the option for “Enable auto-updates”.
Its that easy to enable auto update for WordPress themes and plugins. You can visit the same page to disable the auto update in case if you change your mind.
If you enable auto update for theme, then please note that it might overwrite the existing changes that you’ve made in the theme, especially in the theme files. For example, let’s say you’ve added a CSS change in the style.css. In this case, enabling auto update will overwrite that changes with the theme update.
Go ahead and try out this new feature to enable, or activate auto update for plugin and theme in WordPress. You’d find it very useful and easy to use. Plus you don’t have to worry about updating theme and plugin manually.
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