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Avaloi

Themes

See the themes on a site, switch the active theme, update a theme, and delete a theme you no longer use.

Parts of this feature are still being built. The Not yet section lists them.

The Themes tab of Plugins and themes lists every theme on a site, with its version, whether it is the active theme, and whether an update is waiting. Open a site, then Plugins and themes, then Themes. Each change runs on the site as a job, and each job goes in the activity log.

Read the list

The list shows each theme's name, status, version, and update. The active theme is marked Active. Themes with an update come first, then the active theme, then the rest. Use the search box to find a theme by name, and the chips to show one group. Every action is under the three dots on the theme's row. The parent of a child theme shows as Parent. The list works like the plugin list: see Plugins for refresh, bulk actions, and automatic updates on staging.

Anyone on the site can read the list. Members who cannot change the site see the list without the action buttons.

Switch the active theme

  1. Find the theme you want on the Themes tab.
  2. Choose Activate.

A site has one active theme. Activating a new theme makes the old one inactive. Look at the site after the switch. Some themes change the layout, menus, and widgets, so check the pages that matter most.

On a WordPress network

On a WordPress Multisite network, the menu offers Enable for the network and Disable for the network. A theme must be enabled for the network before a site of the network can use it. The list does not show which themes are enabled, so both choices are offered. Activate still applies to the main site only.

Update a theme

  1. Find a theme that shows Update to a new version.
  2. Choose Update.
  3. Type the theme's name in the box, then choose Update.

Avaloi takes a restore point before it changes the files. Check your site after the update. If the update breaks something, restore the restore point from the Backups tab.

The typed name is a safety check. It stops a change to the wrong theme.

Delete a theme

Delete works on a theme that is not active. The active theme cannot be deleted. Activate another theme first, then delete the old one.

  1. Choose Delete on a theme that is not active.
  2. Type the theme's name in the box, then choose Delete.

Avaloi takes a restore point before it removes the theme. The theme's files go with the delete.

Live is read-only for code

Live code is read only. Update on staging, then promote. Avaloi refuses to update or delete a theme on live, and live has no automatic updates: an update that ran on its own would change live code and make live differ from your repository. WordPress on live never updates themes on its own, and wp-admin shows no Enable auto-updates links there. Make the change on staging, check it, commit it, then promote staging to live.

Switching the active theme is a setting, and Avaloi allows it on a live Git mode site. Check the site after you switch.

Quick answers

I cannot delete my theme. The theme is active. Activate another theme, then delete the old one.

The Update button is missing. The theme is up to date, or you are on live. Update it on staging, then promote staging to live.

The list does not show a theme I added in wp-admin. Choose the refresh button. The list shows what Avaloi read last.

Not yet

Installing a new theme from the WordPress directory is not built. Add the theme in wp-admin on staging, or add it to your repository, then push to live.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with your site name and what you tried, or send us a message.