As a WordPress expert with over 10 years of experience, I often see site owners struggle when a plugin or theme update causes critical issues. Learning how to properly rollback updates is crucial for any seasoned WordPress site owner.
Why WordPress Rollbacks Are Needed
WordPress powers over 41% of all websites, but with great power comes great responsibility to keep your site updated.
- Over 50% of WordPress vulnerabilities are related to outdated plugins and themes.
- There were over 700 WordPress plugin vulnerabilities reported in 2022.
Failing to update leaves you vulnerable. However, updating can also break things.
Some common problems caused by WordPress updates:
- Site crashing – White screen of death
- Finding yourself locked out of wp-admin
- Images not loading properly
- Site speed drastically slowing down
- Features broken or behaving weirdly
- Bugs introduced that break functionality
Instead of panicking, site owners need to know how to quickly rollback a problematic WordPress update.
Comparing Rollback Methods
There are a few options available for rolling back updates as summarized in this table:
| Method | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Manually via FTP | Gets site back online | Tedious, lose all customizations since update |
| Using WP Rollback Plugin | Simple, easy rollback | Only works on plugins/themes from WP directories |
| Restoring from backup | Full site rollback option | Lose all changes since last backup made |
Manually Deactivating via FTP
If your site is down after an update, first regain access by manually deactivating the problematic plugin or theme:
- Use FTP to access site files
- Navigate to
/wp-content/plugins/or/wp-content/themes/ - Rename/delete the plugin/theme folder
- Access wp-admin once site is back up
This quick trick disables the problematic update and gets your site back online. However, you lose any database changes and customizations made since updating.
Rolling Back Specific Updates
For more control, you can rollback specific plugin or theme updates with the WP Rollback plugin while retaining other changes:
- Install and activate the WP Rollback plugin
- Click "Rollback" link below target plugin/theme
- Select previous working version
- Click "Rollback" button
- Old version is restored
This instantly replaces the problematic update with an older, stable version of that plugin or theme only.
Restoring from Backups
If you have a recent full-site backup, restoring it can rollback updates site-wide. However it also undo all changes made since the backup.
To restore a backup:
- Download backup archive file
- Extract the
wp-contentfolder - Overwrite live site files
- Full site is rolled back
This is effective but overkill if you just want to target a specific rogue update.
Always Test Updates on Staging Sites
As a professional WordPress developer, I always stress rigorously testing updates on staging sites first before deploying to production.
This is done by:
- Cloning current production site to a staging URL using duplication plugins
- Testing plugin/theme updates thoroughly on staging
- Only pushing updates live after confirming no issues
While more time intensive, using proper staging workflows prevents most update issues altogether.
Conclusion
As we‘ve covered, it‘s crucial for all WordPress site owners to master rolling back problematic plugin and theme updates.
Implementing staging best practices combined with the rollback methods provided above will give you confidence to keep your website up-to-date and secure.
