I believe most of us find going to Appearance > Themes > Add New and selecting your zipped theme file the easiest way to install a WordPress theme.
For years I have been installing new themes from the dashboard and I never bothered to learn the alternative until recently when the theme I was trying to upload kept failing to be installed.
You can’t only depend on the admin area of your website, so in this article, I’m going to share with you a step-by-step tutorial on how to use the cPanel to install a WordPress theme.
Your cPanel (Control Panel) is the location of all your website files and databases and it is located in the Hosting Manager of your web hosting account.
Your first time using the cPanel for anything can be scary but the more you use it the easier it gets.
In case you’re afraid of messing things up and probably breaking your website, it’s necessary to back up the content and database. You can do this with either a plugin or manually.
Meanwhile, the cPanel has the full backup option though you can only use it if you host only one website on your web hosting server.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress theme from the cPanel:
Step 1:
Log in to your cPanel and select file manager. Depending on your web hosting company, your cPanel layout might not look like this. But a different cPanel design template should not scare you.
Step 2:
Inside the file manager, you will see the public_html directory. If you see the home directory, make sure you open the public_html from the left-hand sidebar. Then click on the wp-content folder.
Step 3:
Inside wp-content, select the themes folder.
Step 4:
From the themes folder, you’re able to see all themes present on your site. Click on the Upload link located on the cPanel’s navigation menu.
Step 5:
A new tab will open as shown in the image below. Click on Select File and pick the ZIP file you want to upload.
Step 6:
When the upload is complete, refresh the page, and you can see the ZIP file. Right-click thern choose the Extract option.
A popup will appear displaying the path of the directory, where you’re going to extract the file. Click on Extract File(s)
Another popup will appear showing the extraction process, close it.
Step 7:
Lastly, refresh the page, and you will be able to see a folder with the theme’s name.
Now to activate your new uploaded theme, you need to use the admin panel from Appearance > Themes. Open your WordPress site by going to https://www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin >> enter your username and password. Once open, on your left panel, go to Appearance >> Themes >> activate the theme you’ve just installed.
