Reverting to prior theme

  • (Actually, my WP version is 3.8.4 but that’s not in the list.)

    I’m using a theme that I’ve customized via CSS and images but I want to experiment with a different theme. So here’s my question: If I activate the new theme, play with it, customize it, upload header or other images, etc. and then decide in the end that I’d rather revert back to what I had before, is it as simple as reactivating the previous theme? Will reactivating the earlier theme bring all of the customizations back with it so that everything looks exactly as it did before my little dalliance?

    Just to be clear, I don’t intend to delete any images or files. I’m only going to activate the new theme and customize IT before making my decision.

    I’d appreciate anyone’s advice. Thanks!

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  • Yes, you should be able to switch themes without losing any of your customizations. I do it all the time. The only potential problem is how you are making your CSS changes. For example, if you are using a CSS plugin like JetPack or Custom CSS Manager, then the rules in those plugins will be applied to the new theme because the plugin will still be active. Shouldn’t be a problem unless the elements between your different themes happen to have the same classes & structure, but that’s pretty rare. If you made your CSS changes by creating a child theme, then those changes will be safe. Same with any CSS that you entered into a theme’s custom CSS option setting, those settings will be safe.

    If you edited the theme’s style.css file directly, well, shame on you. Haha, just kidding. You have to be cautious about changing any theme’s files directly; any update to the theme (because of bug fixes, feature enhancements, or security patches) will wipe out those modifications.

    Thread Starter nkatz

    (@nkatz)

    Thanks! I would NEVER edit the CSS file – or any theme files – directly! ??

    These are changes I’ve made via the custom CSS fields in Theme Options. We’re upgrading from the Lite version of our theme to the Premium version. I just didn’t expect that change (as opposed to switching from one theme to an entirely different one) to result in the layout being as borked as it was. I had to massage the CSS quite a bit in order to coax things back into their places. Interestingly, the Premium theme automatically imported some but not all of the custom CSS from the Lite theme. I don’t know why it left some of the CSS out. I mean, it isn’t even as though the bits left behind referred to elements that were unavailable in the Premium version – in fact, grabbing some of the unimported code and pasting it into the Premium’s custom CSS field was the key to getting various elements to resume their places.

    Mysterious. The theme is from InkThemes, by the way. Don’t know whether or not there are known issues with their themes…

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