user guide

Keeping sites updated

Updates are the heart of WordPress maintenance, and the place where a central dashboard pays for itself. DashboardWP gives you an Updates page per site and a master Updates page across all sites, both covering WordPress core, plugins and themes.

The site’s Updates page

Inside a site, Updates gathers everything pending in one list: a core update if one exists, plugins with newer versions, and themes with newer versions. For each entry you see the current and the new version, and for plugins the compatibility information WordPress.org publishes (required WordPress and PHP versions). Check for updates re-reads everything from the site on demand.

Updating one thing or everything

Each row updates individually, or you press Update everything and let the dashboard work through core, plugins and themes for you. Operations on one site always run one after another, never on top of each other, so “everything” is safe to click. Progress appears in the notification bell and the page refreshes itself as jobs finish.

Core updates

Core updates bring security fixes, bug fixes and new features. After a core update the dashboard re-reads the site’s real state before reporting success, so the version you see is what the site actually runs. If your site is on an older branch, the recommended update is the lowest safe step forward; security fixes are backported by WordPress across supported branches.

Updates across all sites

The master Updates page (in the icon rail) aggregates pending updates from every connected site, so Monday morning maintenance is one page: see everything outdated across the fleet and update it from there, per item or per site.

Where your repository fits

If you keep premium or custom plugins in your private repository, updates prefer it: when your repository holds a newer version than the one installed, that version is offered and installed, with WordPress.org used for everything else. That is how premium plugins that cannot update themselves get first-class updates in the dashboard.

Updating safely

  • Take a backup before big update rounds; restoring it is one click.
  • If an update misbehaves, Rollback version on the Plugins page installs an older release.
  • Even if a plugin update fatally breaks the site, the dashboard can still reach it through its rescue mechanism and restore a backup; see Restoring a backup.