Updating WordPress safely

Updates fix security holes and bugs, so keeping WordPress up to date is the most important thing you can do for your site.

Updating from the WP Toolkit

1. Sign in to HostPanel and go to WP Toolkit → Updates.
2. You see every available update for WordPress itself, plugins, themes and translations, with the current and new version numbers.
3. Update a single item with its update button, or choose Update All for the whole site.

Looking after several sites? Select them on the left and click Update Everything. You get a summary of what succeeded at the end.

Doing it safely

1. Take a backup first. In WP Toolkit → WordPress Backups, create a Full backup and give it a name such as "before updates". See Backing up and restoring WordPress.
2. Update WordPress first, then plugins, then themes. Update All does this in the right order for you.
3. Check your site: the home page, a few inner pages, your contact form and, for shops, the checkout.
4. If something is wrong, restore the backup and update the items one by one to find the culprit.

For big sites, try updates on a staging copy first.

A frozen site cannot be updated. Unfreeze it, update, then freeze it again. See Freezing a WordPress site.