Managing themes

Themes work just like plugins in DashboardWP: the site’s Themes page lists what is installed, shows which theme is active and which have updates, and every action runs from the dashboard.

The theme list

The page shows each installed theme with its version, the active one clearly marked, and available updates. Like the plugin list it is cached for speed and refreshed automatically after every action; a manual refresh re-reads it from the site on demand.

Installing a theme

Install from the WordPress.org theme directory via the built-in search, or from your private repository if you uploaded a premium or custom theme zip there (see the repository guide).

Activating and updating

Activate switches the site’s live theme; Update brings a theme to its latest version, or to your repository’s version when that is newer. Bulk updating all themes at once is available too, with the same step-by-step progress as plugin bulk actions.

Deleting a theme

Delete removes the theme from the site. Two safety rules apply: you cannot delete the active theme, and you cannot delete the parent of the active child theme. Switch the site to another theme first, then delete.

Good practice

Keep one default theme (for example Twenty Twenty-Five) installed as a fallback; WordPress uses it if the active theme ever breaks. Everything else that you do not use is better deleted: unused themes still receive security updates you would otherwise have to track.