Perplexing Guide on Removing Themes in WordPress: How to Ensure You Don’t Lose Your Data

As a website connoisseur, you may encounter myriad reasons necessitating the need to shift your WordPress site’s theme. Maybe the existing one isn’t relevant anymore, or you’re seeking to refresh the site’s look. Whatever it is, removing the previous format is essential to install the new one. Fortunately, removing a theme in WordPress isn’t as challenging as it might seem. In this perplexing, in-depth article, you’ll learn how to remove themes the correct way effortlessly.

Why Change WordPress Themes?

1. Upgrading Design

After eons, it’s perfectly okay to realize that the existing theme doesn’t match your business objectives. By replacing it, you’ll give your website a modernized and better look to attract more traffic.

2. Enhancing User Experience

If the current theme lacks a responsive design, it may negatively impact the user experience on mobile devices, impeding navigation. Ergo, installing a responsive format will appease users on both desktops and mobiles with seamless navigation.

3. Optimizing Functionality

Themes influence your website’s look and feel while offering functional differences. For instance, some themes don’t support a select collection of plugins, limiting the site’s features. A new theme can unlock new features and boost functionality.

Now that you understand why it’s important to remove themes follow the steps below.

Step-by-Step Guide: Removing a WordPress Theme

Step 1: Backup Your Website Data

Backing up your data is paramount before making any changes to your website. By doing so, you’ll protect your site from episodes where plugins fail or other issues causing malfunction. With a backup, you’ll have peace of mind. Not sure how to back up your website? Check out our guide on how to backup a WordPress website.

Step 2: Delete Deactivated Themes

It’s advisable to only keep the active themes on your WordPress website. Hence, deactivate inactive ones, reducing the susceptibility to security risks resulting in hack attempts. To remove deactivated themes,

navigate to Appearance> Themes. Here, you’ll see a list of all your website’s installed themes. Select the theme to delete and press “delete.” Confirm deletion and you’re all set.

Step 3: Remove the Active Theme

Uninstalling the active theme isn’t an option, as you require at least one active theme. Firstly, activate a different WordPress default theme such as TwentyTwenty, TwentyNineteen, or TwentyEighteen; else, choose another installed theme. Navigate to Appearance>Themes, locate and click on “Activate.” Your website will now prompt the new theme.

Step 4: Uninstall The Theme

With a new theme, select the previously used theme, and click “delete” in your browser’s WordPress admin interface. WordPress will prompt you to verify the deletion. Ensure you back up all required content or data, such as custom menus, widgets or settings, to transfer to the new theme to avoid data loss.

Step 5: Delete Extra Files

After uninstalling the old theme, some files may still exist in the WordPress directory. These files occupy server space, leading to security risks. To get rid of them, use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to access your WordPress directory, look for those files, right-click, then press “delete.”

Conclusion

Now that you’re aware of how to remove WordPress themes, follow the guide above to prevent site errors or performance implications. Always back up your site data, select a new theme, remove the old one, and eliminate extra files left in your WordPress directory. Changing WordPress themes is vital to keep your website’s appearance up-to-date and aligned with your business objectives. By implementing the above guidelines, removing WordPress themes is a cakewalk.