install WordPress theme

How to install a WordPress theme?

CMS like WordPress is the most commonly used tool for creating self-hosted websites. It’s likely that you’ve decided to use WordPress for your own website if you haven’t already. Would you like to learn how to install a WordPress theme?

It’s quick and easy to add something amazing to your website whether you’re building a new one or designing an existing one with WordPress themes.

The visual appearance of your WordPress website is always controlled by a WordPress theme. WordPress themes are designed templates professionally that you can install on your site to change your website appearance or layout.
It is by default, each WordPress website comes with a basic theme that is already installed in it. If you visit your website at first, then it will look something like this

Install theme using theme Directory

This is not very suitable or attractive for most websites. But don’t you worry, there are thousands of free and as well as paid WordPress themes that you can easily install and activate on your site.

There are three main methods of installing a WordPress theme:

Install a WordPress Theme by using Theme Directory

In this section, we are going to learn how to install a free WordPress theme from the WordPress.org themes directory, which can be done by using the theme search tool.
Firstly, you have to log in to your WordPress website dashboard and then navigate to the Appearance » Themes page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Install theme using theme Directory

Next, you will be able to find thousands of free WordPress themes that are available for all users in the official WordPress.org themes directory. You can easily sort them by some popular, latest, featured, as well as other feature filters (i.e industry, layout, etc).

Theme Panel

For the sake of any guide for theme selection, we’ll be using Astra. A popular multi-purpose and featured free WordPress theme with flexible design options for all kinds of websites.
Every theme has its name, If you know the name of the free theme you want to install, then you can find and look for it by entering its name in the search field. We are installing Astra just as an example. You can install any other theme that you want by just following the same steps.
WordPress will show you the theme that you search in a search bar. You will then need to take your mouse over to the theme and then click on the Install button.

Install WordPress theme

When you have installed your theme, you can now customize it by clicking on the Customize link under the Appearance menu.
This will launch and activate the theme customizer where you will be able to change your theme settings with a live preview of your website.

Customize a WordPress website

You don’t need to finalize all settings of the theme right away. You will be able to customize it much better by yourself once you have some content on your website.

Install a WordPress Theme by using Upload Method

According to the first method that we discussed, you can install free themes from the WordPress.org theme directory.
A theme you purchased from a developer who does not work within the WordPress themes directory must be uploaded before installation. Simply follow these steps to install the theme you purchased.
To get started, download the theme’s .zip file from the source and place it on your computer.
After that, in the WordPress admin area, go to Appearance » Themes and click the Add New button.

Upload WordPress theme

This will connect you to the free themes featured on the add new theme page. Click on the ‘Upload Theme’ button at the top once you have chosen the theme you want to install.

Upload wordpress theme

In the next screen, you will be asked to choose the zip file you downloaded earlier. Browse to the downloaded file and click Install.

Upload Divi Theme

Once the theme is installed, you’ll see a success message along with a link for activating and previewing it.

Activate WordPress Theme

By clicking the ‘Activate’ link, your WordPress theme will be installed and activated.
Only self-hosted WordPress.org users have access to the theme upload functionality. You won’t see this option if you’re using WordPress.com, since it restricts your options.

Install a WordPress theme using FTP

You can install WordPress themes using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) if you have the theme stored on your local computer. You may delete or modify files using this method, which could result in the loss of your site. Therefore, we recommend that only advanced users install themes this way.

The first thing you need to do is download the theme zip file to your computer. Then, have the theme unzipped.
The theme’s name will be added to the new folder on your computer. We downloaded the Divi premium theme because it’s the most popular multipurpose WordPress theme.
Once the theme files have been downloaded, you are ready to upload them to your website.
In order to do that, you’ll need an FTP client to connect to your website / WordPress hosting account.
You’ll need an FTP client, an FTP hostname, a username, and a password. In this guide, we are using Filezilla as our FTP client.

filezilla Connection


Launch Filezilla, enter your login details, and click the Quickconnect button.
You will see a Remote Site and a root directory (the root directory is the name of your site). Select /rootdirectory/web/content/wp-content/themes.

To upload a theme, select the folder where your saved theme is located, right-click to get more options and choose Upload.

You have now uploaded your theme successfully to WordPress. Once everything is done, log in to your control panel, navigate to Appearance > Themes, and click the new theme. Press Activate to finish.

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