How to Update the Theme
One-click Updates
Keeping your WordPress themes and plugins up to date is just as important as updating your core WordPress installation. If you’re using a free theme or plugin via WordPress.org then you’re probably familiar with the one-click updates via your dashboard.
Normally when you see a notice in your admin navbar that you have an update you can go to Dashboard > Updates and all you have to do is confirm the update to a WordPress.org theme or plugin, or to your core WordPress installation. Easy right? Well with the Envato Market plugin updating all of the premium themes and plugins you’ve purchased from ThemeForest and CodeCanyon can be just as easy.
In this guide we’ll walk you through all of the steps for downloading the free Envato Market plugin, as well as installation and setup. Before you get started it’s important to note that you must use an admin account on your WordPress site to install the plugin and enable one-click updates. And remember – the Envato Market plugin only provides one-click updates for ThemeForest WordPress themes and CodeCanyon WordPress plugins (it will not provide update notices for themes you’ve purchased or downloaded from other marketplaces). Okay, now let’s get started!
Envato Market Plugin Setup
The first step is to sync the Envato Market plugin with your Envato account to have access to all of your marketplace purchases as well as item updates.
To get started click on the Envato Market link in your dashboard menu. You should see a screen similar to the one above. The next step is to create an Envato API token. To do this, click on the generate a personal token link (highlighted in red above).
If you’re already logged into your Envato account you’ll be taken to the screen above (otherwise you will be prompted to login first before being redirected to this page). On this screen you can see what the Envato Market plugin is requesting permission to access via your Envato account (Envato sites, the ability to download your items, and a list of your purchases).
To proceed give your token a name, check the box that you have read and agree to the terms and then click the green button to create your token.
Once your token is created you will see a green success screen. Copy your token code (this is very important since Envato doesn’t store a copy of the token for you), check to confirm that you’ve copied it and click the white button that you got it.
Now go back to your WordPress installation and paste in your Envato API token then click save.
It’s possible that you might see the error above when you first enter your token. Don’t worry, just go back to the previous page and try again. It should work on the second go.
Once your token is saved and validated your page will refresh to show your Envato Market landing page with added tabs for your items. The added tab(s) display all of your theme and plugin purchases as well as their version numbers and quick links to the theme and author pages.
A Note For Web Designers & Design Agencies
WP Explorer has created an article to update for specific items, please see http://www.wpexplorer.com/envato-market-plugin-guide/ (Scroll down to 'a note for web designers and agencies')
Updating Manually
If for any reason you don't want to utilize the one-click option, the latest versions of our themes can be download any time from your ThemeForest download page.
First of all we recommend making a backup of your files and database when updating the theme, just in case even though it should go over smoothly.
If you have made any modifications to the core theme files then you’ll need to make note of the changes, and in that case we would definitely recommend making a backup. A program like WinMerge (Windows) or DiffMerge (Cross platform) can also be very helpful in that situation. For theme file changes, we always recommend using a child theme instead of editing the theme itself.
If you haven’t made any core theme file changes, the best way to update the theme would be to extract the download package and overwrite the theme folder over FTP.
If you’re not familiar with FTP, then you can just go into the WP dashboard and delete the theme, then install the newly downloaded version of the theme as you normally would (note that you’ll have to switch the theme before deleting it, since WP doesn’t allow you to delete the active theme.) Since your content and settings are stored in the database, you won’t be deleting that content.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us for help.