A Guide on How to Uninstall and Delete the WordPress Theme

How-to-Uninstall-and-Delete-WordPress-Theme

If you would like to uninstall and delete the WordPress theme, but you’re concerned that it might be insecure, what should you do?

You may want to delete your old theme if you recently changed your WordPress theme. It is also possible that you have other WordPress themes that came pre-installed with your website that you might want to remove.

The following article will explain why and how you can easily delete a WordPress theme without causing any damage to your site.

What is the Purpose of Uninstall and Delete the WordPress Theme?

It is recommended to delete a WordPress theme from your website if you are not using it. Deleted WordPress themes serve a variety of purposes.

  • In case your WordPress website is ever compromised, theme files can hide malicious code or malware. Since WordPress theme files are written in PHP, they can be used to hide malware on your website. In some cases, rogue developers may conceal backdoors within unused themes.
  • It takes longer for your WordPress security plugin to complete its scan when they’re installed on your server.
  • Furthermore, you will continue to receive updates for those themes, even if you don’t use them at all.

It is now common practice for many users to install WordPress themes on their live websites for testing purposes. Usually, this is not the best approach for finding out how a theme performs.

It is recommended that you do all your testing on a staging site or on a local WordPress installation. As a result, you can maintain a consistent experience for your users without having to change your live website.

How does Uninstalling a WordPress Theme Differ from Deleting It?

Only one theme can be active at a time in WordPress. As long as you want, you can install any number of themes on your website.

Even though they will not be active, you will receive updates for these themes while they are still installed on your site.

If you wish to completely uninstall a WordPress theme, you must delete it. Deleting the theme files will remove all files associated with the theme from your website.

Does Deleting Old WordPress Themes Harm Your Website?

There’s no problem deleting a theme that you don’t use.

In order for WordPress to run properly, at least one theme must be installed. This is what WordPress uses to display your website.

In the Appearance > Themes section, you can see what theme you are currently using. If you currently have an active theme, it will appear as Active in this section.

active-theme

We recommend you always keep one default WordPress theme installed on your site. It’ll work as a backup in case your current installed theme won’t work properly.

However, if your currently active theme is a child theme, then you also need to keep a parent theme installed on your website.

Without these themes, you can uninstall and delete other themes from your site.

Having said that, let’s see how you can uninstall and delete the WordPress theme.

Preparing to Remove a WordPress Theme

If you’ve personalized a WordPress theme and wish to keep those changes before uninstalling it, you may build a full WordPress backup.

You may also backup your PC by downloading the theme folder.

You may accomplish this by using an FTP client or the File Manager software in your WordPress hosting account dashboard. After connecting, navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder and save the inactive theme folder to your PC.

downloadthemebackup

You can remove your previous theme once you have carefully backed it up.

How to Delete the WordPress Theme Easily

There are several methods for removing a WordPress theme. We’ll begin with the easiest one.

Method 1: Delete the WordPress Theme from the Admin Panel

This is the simplest and most recommended method for removing a WordPress theme.

To begin, navigate to the Appearance > Themes tab and choose the theme that you wish to remove.

WordPress will now display theme information in a popup window. In the bottom right corner of the popup screen, click the Delete button.

uninstall-and-delete-wordpress-theme

You will then be prompted to confirm that you wish to remove the theme. To proceed, simply click the OK button, and WordPress will remove your chosen theme.

Method 2: Using FTP to Delete the WordPress Theme

This solution is a little more advanced, but it comes in useful if you can’t get into the WordPress admin area.

Well, now connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client, then navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder.

deletetheme-viaftp

Now locate the theme folder that you wish to remove from this menu. Right-click the folder name and choose Delete.

Your FTP client will now erase the theme you’ve chosen.

Method 3: How to Delete the WordPress Theme Using File Manager

If you don’t want to use an FTP client, you may utilize the File Manager tool in your web hosting control panel.

We’ll use screenshots from Bluehost’s hosting panel for this example. Your hosting dashboard may seem slightly different depending on your hosting provider.

Log in to your hosting account dashboard and select File Manager from the Advanced menu.

filemanager

This will open the file manager, where you may view the contents of your web server in the same way that you would with an FTP client. You must navigate to the /public html/wp-content/themes/ directory.

deletetheme-filemanager

Then, simply right-click and delete the theme you wish to remove, and you’re done.

What Should You Do If You Mistakenly Delete a WordPress Theme?

If you unintentionally erased a WordPress theme, there are several ways to recover it.

To begin, recover the theme from the backups. This is made easier by the fact that many WordPress backup plugins enable you to easily restore your website to a previous stage.

If you did not create a backup, you can restore the theme by downloading and installing a fresh copy of the same theme.

The disadvantage of the second technique is that you will lose any theme adjustments you have done.

Wrapping Up

To sum up, you can easily uninstall and delete the WordPress theme by following any of the above-mentioned methods.

I hope you enjoyed the article. If so, please share your thoughts in the comments area below. Also, if you think this is worth sharing, please share it with your friends and family.

Stay connected with ThemeLooks by subscribing to our WordPress video tutorials on YouTube. We are also on TwitterFacebook, and LinkedIn.

  • 1279 Views
  • Comments are closed