{"id":26784,"date":"2019-11-25T12:20:32","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T10:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/?p=26784"},"modified":"2023-10-25T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T12:28:00","slug":"how-to-delete-a-wordpress-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/how-to-delete-a-wordpress-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginner’s Guide: How to Delete a WordPress Theme the Right Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s commonplace to swap out themes in the WordPress dashboard. Sometimes you’re completing an overhaul on your website, and other times developers are testing themes periodically. However, simply installing another theme to replace the current one isn’t the best practice. You should actually completely delete the previous theme. In this article, we’ll talk about how to delete a WordPress theme to improve both speed and security on your website.<\/p>\n

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That’s right, leaving an old theme in your site files could open up your website to security vulnerabilities. The theme files are also taking up space on the server, causing potential clutter issues.<\/p>\n

In this guide, we’ll explore the best options for how to delete a WordPress theme, along with tips for situations when you shouldn’t delete a theme.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t \t\tHave a lot of inactive #WordPress #themes? You should delete them \ud83d\uddd1\ufe0f Here's how to do it<\/a>\n\t\t \t<\/div>\n\t\t \t
\n\t\t \tClick To Tweet \n\t\t \t\t<\/span>\n\t\t \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Want to jump straight to the tutorial? Just click this link<\/a> \ud83d\udc48<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

The difference between deactivating and deleting a WordPress theme<\/h2>\n

You’d think that deactivating and deleting a theme would mean the same thing, right?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. And it can cause some confusion and disadvantages considering many people don’t know the difference.<\/p>\n

So, what’s the difference between deactivating a WordPress theme and deleting one?<\/p>\n

Deactivating a WordPress theme<\/h3>\n

A theme is deactivated, whenever you decide to activate another theme on your WordPress site. There’s no need to deactivate the previous theme. It’s all done by replacing it with another theme.<\/p>\n

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The reason for this is because you can only have one theme running on your site at all times.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the site files from that deactivated theme still reside on your server. This also includes settings, widgets, and menus created for that theme.<\/p>\n

This is done just in case you plan on reactivating that theme at some point. WordPress wants to ensure you don’t lose any of your old theme settings or files.<\/p>\n

Deleting a WordPress theme<\/h3>\n

A full deletion of a WordPress theme means that every file, setting, menu, and widget is removed from your WordPress site.<\/p>\n

Therefore, you don’t have to worry about the files causing performance or security issues.<\/p>\n

How to delete a WordPress theme properly<\/h2>\n

Once you decide that a theme is of no use to you, it’s not a parent theme, and it’s not on a multisite network, it’s time to delete it entirely.<\/p>\n

Before you delete a WordPress theme…<\/h3>\n

Walk through these steps to ensure that you don’t cause any damage to your site during the deletion process:<\/p>\n

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  1. Backup your site<\/strong> – Sometimes problems occur when deleting elements from a website. Do yourself a favor and make a backup<\/a> just in case.<\/li>\n
  2. Test the deletion on a staging site (Optional)<\/strong> – Make a copy of your WordPress site to a staging site<\/a>. Then, delete the theme from the staging site to see if any problems occur. You don’t have<\/em> to do this one, but it can give you the confidence that deleting a theme isn’t going to break anything.<\/li>\n
  3. One last check<\/strong> – Run a final check to see if the theme is connected to any child themes or multisite networks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And finally, here’s how to delete a WordPress theme:<\/p>\n

    1. Find the theme in the dashboard<\/h3>\n

    Navigate to your WordPress dashboard. Go to Appearance<\/strong> > Themes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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    Scroll through all of the themes you have on your WordPress site, both active and inactive.<\/p>\n

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    2. Select the theme to delete<\/h3>\n

    Locate the theme you would like to delete. Keep in mind that you can always come back and delete some of the other ones.<\/p>\n

    Click on the theme.<\/p>\n

    3. Delete the theme<\/h3>\n

    Clicking on the theme reveals all of the theme details, such as a preview of it, description, and options to preview, activate and delete.<\/p>\n

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    Find the Delete<\/strong> button on the right side. Click on that to get rid of the theme.<\/p>\n

    4. Delete content that was attached to that theme<\/h3>\n

    Even though the theme is now gone you still have a few things to take care of.<\/p>\n

    Some theme-related content is still on your server, and that’s just taking space. This content includes:<\/p>\n