There are tens of thousands of WordPress themes to choose from. Some are free, some are costs a few dollars. As a beginner, you may want to experiment with a few on your site until you find the one that best suits your needs. Themes can be installed manually or through the WordPress dashboard. Some people are baffled by the manual installation process. That’s why, in this post, we’ll go over how to manually install a WordPress theme in great detail. Let’s dive in.
Installing WordPress Themes Manually Using Zip File: If you’ve found a premium or custom theme from other websites, you may simply upload it to your WordPress dashboard using the instructions below:
- Make sure you have the.zip file for the preferred theme. Open the.zip file you bought from a theme website.
- From the drop-down menu, choose Appearance > Themes. Then, from the Appearance option on the left side of the dashboard, select Themes from your WordPress account.
- On the themes page, click Add New at the top of the page.
- After clicking the Add New button, select the Upload Theme option.
- Save and install the file on your PC. After selecting Upload Theme, click Choose File. After selecting the theme.zip folder you downloaded, click Install Now.
- Click Activate when you’re finished. After selecting Install, a message will display confirming that the theme installation was successful. Click the activate button to make the theme live on your site.
Installing a WordPress Theme Manually Using FTP (File-Transfer Protocol): It’s possible to install large themes manually. In this case, you’ll need to use FTP or File-Transfer Protocol to upload the theme. The procedure is outlined below.
- You’ll need to install an FTP client on your computer to get started. This is a piece of software that allows you to add or delete files from your website server.
- Next, you’ll need to log into your hosting provider’s account with the FTP Client. You’ll need to create your own FTP user account using your hosting panel; however, the process differs by hosting company. You’ll normally be given a username and password when you create a new account with your hosting provider, which you’ll need to create your FTP Client account.
- After you’ve downloaded your theme, unzip it. Make sure you only acquire the.zip file because some providers include more files in their download folder than you’ll need to upload your theme. Once you’ve downloaded the file, you’ll need to unzip and compress it. Right-click the.zip file and select Extract from the pop-up menu.
- To use the theme, go to WordPress and upload the theme folder. In the FTP Client, navigate to the root of your WordPress installation. Then, from the wp-content folder, select Themes. This is the location where you should submit the entire unzipped folder.
- Activate the theme from your WordPress dashboard. After you’ve uploaded the theme folder using the FTP Client, go back to the WordPress themes section of your dashboard. Your new theme should appear in the list of themes you’ve downloaded. Select the new theme and click the activate button to make it live on your site.
Final Thoughts: That’s all there is to it. The two methods for manually installing WordPress themes are described above. It’s as simple as installing software on your own. If you want to learn more about WordPress, you can always learn for free on youtube. There are thousands of WordPress tutorials on YouTube. Use Career Ninja‘s LearnTube platform for hand-holding training on YouTube. Learn Tube organizes the results of your YouTube search into a course framework. If you want to learn “WordPress tutorials”, search the term on LearnTube and it will show you a bunch of youtube videos like an online course. As a beginner, you’ll click through the videos from the first to the last, as if you were taking an online course tailored specifically for you.
