Over time, the theme or plugin may become incompatible with the latest version of WordPress and begin causing problems on your site. The developer may have abandoned the project or could make updates on a very infrequent basis. Sometimes you may run into a situation, especially with free themes and plugins, where the software is never updated to work with the latest version of WordPress. Your site uses a theme or plugin that has been abandoned or is infrequently updated by the author
If you encounter major changes like this in new versions of WordPress, you may need to revert back to a previous WordPress version while you wait for your theme or plugins to be updated by their authors. A Classic Editor plugin was released that allowed users to continue to use the old WordPress editor interface, giving developers time to catch up while still allowing WordPress users to keep their version of WordPress core up to date. It took some developers months, and sometimes even years, to update their code so that it was compatible with Gutenberg. While most problems you’ll encounter are due to an issue with a plugin or theme rather than a problem with WordPress core, sometimes there are major changes to WordPress that can cause compatibility issues with themes or plugins.įor instance, when Gutenberg was released, there were many plugins and themes that were not compatible right away. A WordPress update included significant changes that are not compatible with your theme or pluginsĪ common reason for wanting to downgrade WordPress is that an update broke a plugin or theme feature. It should only be a temporary measure while you troubleshoot and solve any problems your site is experiencing. Just remember that downgrading WordPress should never be a permanent fix. Reviewing the Common WordPress Errors and FAQ Troubleshooting guidesĪs a last resort, you can then try downgrading WordPress core.Making sure all your plugins and themes are up to date.Switching to a default theme like Twenty Twenty-One.Deactivating all plugins and re-activating them one by one.Then, before reverting to a previous version of WordPress, try other troubleshooting methods like: If possible, you should copy your site to a staging environment and do all your troubleshooting there so as not to further disrupt any functionality on your live site. Since WordPress updates often contain essential security fixes as well as new features, reverting to an old version of WordPress may leave your website vulnerable to hacks or cause further compatibility issues with your themes and plugins.īefore downgrading WordPress or doing any other troubleshooting steps, make a backup of your site. It’s more likely to be a theme or plugin issue. It’s not usually WordPress that is to blame when an issue arises after an update. How to upgrade or downgrade PHP versionsīefore you downgrade WordPress to a previous versionĭowngrading WordPress core shouldn’t be your first step when troubleshooting problems on your website.How to downgrade themes and plugins manually and with a plugin.How to downgrade WordPress manually and with a plugin.Reasons why you might need to downgrade WordPress.In these cases, you may need to downgrade to a previous version so that your website continues to function properly while you troubleshoot any problems or wait for a bug fix to be released.
While WordPress tries to maintain backwards compatibility between versions, you might still encounter changes in a new release that cause issues for your site. But you might run into circumstances where you need to revert to a previous version of a program or operating system you’re using - WordPress is no different in this regard. Most software companies stress the importance of updating, so downgrading can feel quite unnatural.