How to Upgrade a WordPress Site?

Are you keen on upgrading your WordPress website? If yes, then read through to know how to upgrade a WordPress site.

• You need to start with backing up your database.
• Then back up all the WordPress files. People tend to forget backing up the .htaccess file. So, never miss this out.
• After you have created a backup, it is important to check if you have done everything correctly and if the files are usable. This is very significant, else your backup, in case if some data is lost, is not as useful as you have considered.
• Then you need to deactivate the plugins. Remember to deactivate each of them.

All these 4 steps are very crucial. Do not proceed with upgrading unless these 4 steps are completed, never try upgrading WordPress site. Now got to https://wordpress.org/download/. You can find the WordPress package in this site and download the package. Once downloaded, extract the files from your system.  Now, you need to delete all the WordPress files from your system, except a few. The files you should not delete are:

• wp-config.php file;
• wp-content folder; there is an exception here too. Wp-content/cache and wp-content/plugins/widgets folders should be deleted from this source.
• wp-images folder
• wp-includes/languages/ folder. However, if you are using a language folder, it should not be deleted, which is a special exception again.
• .htaccess file. You should not delete the file if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess file.
• Robots.txt file- a few people might have made the blog the root of the site, which means, the blog is the site in these cases, and in case if the file is created in such a way, do not delete it.

The new files should be updated from the hard drive of your computer and make sure they are saved in the correct WordPress folder.

Then it is easy to run the WordPress program. Once you run the script, you can see onscreen instructions popping up. All you need to do is to follow these instructions. The next step is to update permalinks and .htaccess. Update the permalinks structure. Also, if necessary, you need to merge the custom rules to your .htaccess file.

Now, you need to install the plugins and themes that are updated. Check for the plugins that work in version 3.6 of WordPress. Check for the compatibility of the themes with the version 3.6. If it is not compatible, then a new version can be requested from you theme author. Plugins should be reactivated. To wp-config.php file, add the security key definitions. Now, go to WordPress and look thoroughly what the changes are made.

You may some issues when you upgrade the WordPress site. In such cases refer to the instructions again and also try troubleshooting.

Upgrading from 2.7 to 3.6:

When you want to upgrade from 2.7 to 3.6 version, then back up the database, and create back up for all the WordPress sites. Verify the back ups and deactivate all the plugins. After doing this follow these steps:

• Go to Administration
• Select tools
• Choose upgrade
• Click the upgrade automatically button

Upgrading  versions 1.5x, 2.0 to 2.6.5 and to version 3.6:

When you want to upgrade across 2 versions, for instance if you want to upgrade from 2.0 to 3.6, it is advisable that you upgrade incrementally. This means, you need to upgrade to 2.6.5 to 2.7 and then 2.7 to 2.9 and then finally upgrade version 2.9 to 3.6. This is to ensure that you face minimum risk and avoid damage of database.

It is also crucial to read all the instructions very carefully to avoid risk of issues and database loss.