By Philip Yiga | July 10, 2017

WordPress plugins perform like apps for your WordPress website/blog whereby they help to add new features and functionalities like dorms, tables, photo-galleries and allot more. So, when you start up a new blog or website, you will need to install multiple plugins in order to allow your website/blog perform optimally. However, it’s very important to update the installed plugins in order to keep your website secure and away from hackers. In fact, updating a WordPress-plugin is very simple because WordPress features an inbuilt update system that automatically checks for any updates and then provides you with update-notifications on plugins, themes or even WordPress core-software. So, below are some of the steps you will need to follow in order to properly update your plugins under WordPress.

Steps on how to properly update WordPress plugins:

1. Look-out for any notifications in WordPress: when you log into your WordPress-account, you are most likely to find update-notifications under the “Dashboard” menu and these notifications can actually be about an available update for a WordPress plugin, theme or core-system.

2. Click on the “updates” link: after viewing an update-notification, click on the updates-link which is located on the Dashboard >> Updates and then you will gains access to the updates-page as shown in the illustration below.

 

3. Check/tick the available update and then click on “Update Plugins”: when you’re on the update-page, you will see different plugins or themes that need to be updated. So, in this case we are updating the plugins and this implies that you will need to check/tick the box next to the listed plugin on the update-page and then click on “Update Plugins” in order to start the updating process as shown in the illustration below.

4. Click on Plugins (Another plugin-update option): on the other hand, if there is a new plugin-update available, you will also notice a notification on the plugins under the Dashboard-menu. So, you can just click on “Plugins” in order to gain access to the plugin-page and then lookout for the plugin that needs to be updated as shown in the illustration below.

5. Click on “Update Now” to install plugin-update: after locating the plugin that needs an update, click on the “Update now” link in order to begin the updating process as shown in the illustration below.

After clicking the “update now” link, the plugin will go into an update state which takes just a few seconds and then a message reading “updated” will appear the plugin. So, below are some of the illustrations that will show what will happen during the updating-process and after the update has taken place.

 

 

How to update WordPress-plugins in Bulk:

In case there are multiple plugin-updates within your WordPress website, then can you decide to quickly review the needed plugin-updates and then go for a bulk-update? So, you will just need to go to the Dashboard >> Updates and then select all the plugins that need an update then click on the “Update Plugins” button as shown in the illustration below.

 

Note: Before you begin updating your plugins, it’s very important to first click on the “View details” link in order to get more details about the plugin-update you’re going to install. This will actually help you know of any changes made to the plugin and you should instantly install plugin-updates that include a security-update in order to keep your blog/website safe.

 

How to Deactivate Undo a WordPress plugin-update that doesn’t work properly:

1. First deactivate the misbehaving plugin: At times some plugin-updates can produce unexpected results whereby some plugin-features may not work as expected. So, if this happens after making a plugin-update then consider going to the Dashboard >> plugins and then a plugins-page will appear. Afterwards, just click on the “Deactivate” link just below the name of the plugin that is not working properly or misbehaving as shown in the illustration below.

2. Install the “WP-Rollback” plugin: after deactivating the misbehaving plugin, you will now need to install and activate a plugin called “WP-Rollback” which will help to roll-back any installed updates on of any plugin. So, go to the Dashboard >> Plugins >> Add New and then search for the WP-Rollback plugin. Afterwards, install and activate the plugin as shown in the illustration below.

Below is an illustration of the WP-Rollback plugin being activated just after the installation-process?

3. Select the plugin you want to rollback: Upon activation of the WP-Rollback plugin, you will be taken back to the plugins-page and you will actually notice a “Rollback” option on every plugin. So, select the plugin that was misbehaving after an update and afterwards click on the rollback-option in order to restore the plugin to its previous version as shown in the illustrations below;

4. Select the previous version you want to rollback to: after clicking on the rollback-option, you will be redirected to a page listing all the previous version of the selected plugin and you will just need to choose just one previous-version and then click on the “Rollback” button which is located below the previous-versions menu as shown in the illustration below.

So, after pressing on the “Rollback” button as shown in illustration above, your plugin will be re-installed to a previous version that worked perfectly for your website/blog. However, rolling-back to very old-version of the plugin may lead to security issues within your website/blog and that why you shouldn’t try to rollback your plugins to very old-versions in order to keep your website secure. Lastly, WordPress recommends updating your plugins to latest versions in order to enjoy the new plugin-functions and to keep your website/blog more secure at all times.