How to update your Restored 316 Genesis Child theme
One of the things we pride ourselves in here at Restored 316 is providing premium support for our themes and our customers. Keeping a website up to date and making sure that everything is working the way that it should be shouldn’t be your problem. You’ve got content to manage and produce, products to sell or social media to keep up with. Making sure that your theme is running isn’t something you have the time to worry with. That’s why we strive to keep our themes updated and running at the highest possible functionality!
However, occasionally, we do have to update the style and the coding of a theme. Which means that if you have made any customizations to your purchased theme (the CSS mainly) you’ll need to update it without losing your changes. No one wants to have to pay a second time for your site to be customized and more often than not, no one wants to have to worry about losing all of their changes and having to start all over from scratch.
Today, we’ll show you how you can update and not lose those changes!
Important: As we always tell you in our tutorials, please make sure that you make a backup copy of your existing theme files
Compare Code
If you’ve made any changes to your theme (your CSS especially) you’ll want to make sure that you go in and copy those. If you know how to get into your file manager through your hosting, you can download your site in its entirety. Otherwise, you’ll just want to open up the text program on your computer and copy and paste your files and then save them.
You can find all of your theme files directly in WordPress by going to APPEARANCE > EDITOR. From there just click on the file you want to view and copy. You can find the changelog for each theme here so you’ll know what changes come with each update.
The easiest tool that I have found to make these changes is DiffChecker. This is a free program that allows you to paste in two files and compare them side by side to see the differences.
Now we can see the your files side by side, and tell what is different in the files for the next step.
Install new version
Now that you know how to compare your CSS files and have backed up our files, we can update your theme.
First, navigate to Appearance > Themes and activate a theme that is currently not active. I tend to choose to activate the Genesis Framework so that I don’t have to keep a bunch of excess themes in my files. Once you do that, you can DELETE your existing child theme by clicking on the theme, then clicking “delete” in the lower right corner of the popup. Follow this step-by-step tutorial to upload the new one. This will allow you to add all of the new updates and theme files at once.
Once you delete the old theme files and upload the new ones, you’ll be ready to put your customizations back into place. This is where you’ll be able to use the DiffNow site to upload the old files/your copies of the files you had activated and the new files to see what’s different so that you can paste that back in.
Final notes
If you see something that was not in the old theme files do not remove it from your new files. We’ve added some features and functions with these updates so if you remove any new coding that you may see in your updated files, you’ll lose those capabilities and that formatting.
I know I’m technologically challenged, but where exactly do I get the updated files? Thanks!
Forgot to mention I’m running the Divine theme!
Yu’ll want to login to your account here on the site and download a fresh new copy!
Thank you. What if I purchased through Creative Market?
Is it the file under available downloads?
Yes! If you login to your account here on the site you should see it under your downloads.
Hi, I’m running the Darling theme and have noticed that I don’t have the theme totally up-to-date. Where do I get the zip file from in order to replace the current version in wordpress please? Thanks, Jane.
Hi! If you’ve created an account here on the site, you should be able to login and download the updated theme files. 🙂
When was the Darling theme last updated? I purchased at the end of October. I”m not sure I”d know if there was an update I’m missing.
The last Darling update was at the end of November. You can always see the latest updates right here.
So everyone needs to update? I downloaded it last month and it hasn\’t gone live yet. I\’m running Divine as well. I checked the change log and didn\’t see any changes after I downloaded.
Hi! If you’ve downloaded the most recent version, then you won’t need to update. 🙂
I’m not experienced with all this kind of stuff and I’m struggling with the instructions.. such as where/how do I delete the child theme? Thanks
Hi Jackie!
When you go to your WordPress dashboard, you should see APPEARANCE > THEMES. Once you click on themes, you’ll see all of the themes that you have downloaded (our child theme, the Genesis framework, and any other free themes that may still be there on your site). Once you do the steps before this, click on ACTIVATE on the Genesis Framework and then DELETE our child theme. Once you delete the OLD version of our theme, you’ll just upload your new copy and activate it. If you’re still having issues, you can use the contact form on the site to email me directly!
I know this question has been asked but I can’t find where to go to download the update. I have logged it but don’t see any downloads. I purchased the Darling Theme and Genesis Framework from Studiopress (if that makes a difference).
Have you created an account with us using the same email address that you used when you purchased your theme? You may want to get in touch with us directly using the contact form here on our site and we can help you out.
Hi,
I just bought the Style theme and sparkle and shine package from you all. Can I buy genesis direct so I can also get updates here for that platform?
Hi Dana!
You will receive updates for Genesis directly from Studiopress. 🙂 We don’t offer support for that theme, but you’ll receive it from theme.
Can’t wait for my new website! 🙂
Hi, I downloaded the latest file for “Bloom” and now I am finding the image on my side bar on my ipad are very small, I’d say 140px140px. How can I fix that? My computer and iphone side bar images look fine.
Hi! Have you run the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin? You can also change the size of the boxes in the actual widget area. If you’re still having trouble shoot me an email using the contact form!
Hi, I would like to purchase the Style theme from you all, I am currently running an elegant themes on my self hosted word press site. Once I download Genesis and purchase your theme, will it automatically remove the Elegant theme? Will there be a conflict? I am not familiar with the Genesis platform.
Hi Megyn! You would actually have to delete the Elegant themes file from your site through the WordPress dashboard if you want to remove it completely, otherwise once you install Genesis + our theme and activate it, it will override the design of the theme you have now. You shouldn’t have any issues!
Hi Lauren. I’ve uploaded the updated Dainty theme and my primary sidebar is now reflecting what is actually a new sidebar I created in the Widget Area for the blog section only.
I don’t have any custom CSS and I double checked it with the DiffNow software to be sure.
The widget areas show the correct widgets, but my homepage is showing the wrong sidebar, how do I fix this?
Thanks!
Hi Sara,
Can you submit a ticket on this so we can look at this closer for you?
Hey, Will the individual updates for the issue you fixed be available?. I know I\\\’ve seen it with your Glam theme.
Yes! Those are listed in our changelog.
Good afternoon,
I just updated my refined theme and I prefer the size of the header on my page with the previous version. I cannot figure out how to increase the size of my header with the new version. Is it okay to just keep the previous version without the update?
Thank you
Hi there!
The size of the logo wasn’t modified at all in the update, so I’m not sure why that’s being affected with the update.
If you’re not needing any of the updates listed on our changelog, you’re welcome to stay on the old version.
Hi!
In the old theme the dimensions of the header image element are listed as 360 x 208
In the new update they are listed as 360 x 125
I would like the updates for the mobile navigation/pintrest portion. Is there a way to edit the image size back to the 360 x 208. I am a super novice at all of this so thank you!
Hi Mackenzie,
Yes! Refer to this article to update your files for the header size: https://restored316designs.com/blog/2015/11/13/how-to-resize-your-retina-display-header-logo/.
My Refine Theme is showing that it does not exist when I go to delete it, so that I can upload the new updated file from the login page. I don\’t believe I missed a step. I have the
genesis framework activated as instructed and am trying to delete the child
theme refine so that I can upload the updated one.
Priscilla,
Go ahead and email me directly at contact@restored316.com and I’ll see what’s going on.
Thanks!
Hi, so if I do this will I have to go back and set the whole theme up again, eg my sidebar changes, subscriber info etc?
Hi Kate,
If you follow the directions provided, then no, everything should transfer over 🙂
Hi, Lauren, how do I install the latest version of Refined Theme when I purchased from Studio Press? My version is the Community Version: 2.0.1 Updated: 5/31/17. Does that mean the changes you made according to the Restored 316 Changelog für Refined: V1.0.2 – 01/14/19 are not contained in my version? Where and how can I upload the update?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Beatrix,
The theme files have been submitted to StudioPress. We are awaiting their review. They should be available within the next couple of weeks.
Hope this helps!
Hi. If I don’t have to go through the original set up for the Refined theme, where can I upload the updated version on the site?
Hi Patricia,
If you purchased the theme from us, you’ll find the updated file in your account.
Hi there. I am following the directions to copy my files by going to APPEARANCE/EDITOR. But Editor does not show up under Appearance in my WP dashboard. Is anyone else having this problem? I know that some of my code has been edited before, so it was accessible in the past. I’m kinda baffled. Is this something I can submit a help ticket on since I don’t see how I can update my theme without being able to access my CSS?
Thank you,
It’s possible that either your host has disabled access to the theme files, or you may have a plugin that is causing a conflict and hiding them.
Regarding my comment above, I figured out that it was my WP Security plugin. I disabled that plugin while making updates.
Hi,
I did what was instructed, however, there is no need for me to put back my CSS and nothing seems to change. How I know the theme is the updated version?
By the way, I did download the theme from my account.
So now I’m not sure should I expect some change or no change?
The theme in your account is always the most recent version of the theme. The site shouldn’t look any different if css changes were made through the customizer. If changes were made to the php files, then those changes will need to be re-implemented in the updated theme. It’s possible when the new version is installed that the widgets may get misplaced. This can easily be fixed by dragging them into the correct widget area.
I will be updating my theme (DIVINE) to the Gutenberg optimized version in the next couple of weeks. I was going to try to do this first on a cloned version of my site first, just to see what changes I come across and will be aware of before I go live with it. First, I just need to know when I download and upload the newer version for the clone, will I also be able to upload on my live site as well. Meaning…Are there any licensing restrictions? Can I upload to more than one? I don’t want to upload to the clone and then suddenly realize that I can’t upload again. I just wanted to check in advance. Thank you!
Hi Kathleen,
You can use the theme on as many sites as you like. So yes, it’s okay to upload it to both the clone site and the live site.
Hope this helps!