As a WordPress user, you would have come across tons of themes available for you to be set on your website. You can download themes from the official WordPress Site as you have limitless options there. Also, there are paid themes available that are more versatile and catchy. There are many ways by which a theme can be installed on a WordPress site. In this post let us discuss the possible ways by which you can install a theme on your WordPress Site.
Install a WordPress Theme from the WordPress Admin Panel
Firstly, log in to your WordPress site and navigate to Appearance > Themes.
Under the Themes section, you will see all the installed themes on your site. You will also have a Search box for you to search for themes within your site. Type any keyword and the results will be shown from the WordPress.org theme directory.
To do a theme search type the relevant tag for the theme you are searching for the results to be appropriate. Instead type in the theme’s name directly on the column to get the theme right away. In case if you are not sure about the theme’s name or tag, the feature filter will help you out.
Click Add New button on top which will bring up the feature filter. Click on Feature Filter and its options expand. It has three columns of which the first column represents the subject of the theme, the second one has its features and the third one has the theme layout. Make the selection according to your requirement and click Apply Filters.
Now you will see all themes from the WordPress repository matching your criteria. Click on a theme for its details to expand with its description and a theme preview.
When you hover over a theme you will see the options “Details & Preview“, “Install” and “Preview“.
Click Install to install the theme on your site but it will be not applied to your website unless you activate it. Once installed the blue Install button changes to Activate.
Now see reload your website’s homepage to see its fresh look.
Install a WordPress Theme by Uploading it from the WordPress Admin Panel
This method is same as that of the previous one except that, you will manually upload a theme file instead of choosing one from the WordPress theme directory. In the above method, you can install themes from the WordPress repository but you can also download themes from other sources and websites like ThemeLab, StudioPress, Themeforest, iThemes, etc.
This feature would be useful if you need your custom theme to be installed on your site.
Firstly, download the theme file which will usually be a .zip file downloaded from a theme provider. In your WordPress dashboard click Appearance > Themes.
The next window will show up the available themes with an Add New button on top.
Click Add New to proceed to the next window which contains an option Upload Theme button on top.
Now a pop up will appear with Choose File option. Select the theme file you have downloaded previously and Click Install Now.
Once installed you will see a series of messages showing up indicating successful installation of your theme. You will also see an Activate link for activating the theme. Along with that, a preview link will also be provided.
After activation, you could refresh your home page to see the effective changes. Depending on the theme you may also configure additional settings.
The manual theme upload feature is only available to the self-hosted WordPress.org users and not for the WordPress.com users. Because WordPress.com has a lot of limitations compared to the WordPress.org. See WordPress.Com VS WordPress.Org for a detailed comparison.
I hope this article on How to Install WordPress Theme would help you install themes on your WordPress site. Post your queries and comments below.