Will I lose my settings if I switch themes??

  • I am running the Tempera theme for my music website. I have spent a lot of time choosing colors, uploading background pics, and installing plugins.

    Now that I have learned a bit more about WP I am curious to try some of the other themes to see if the formatting suits my needs better.

    I don’t want to activate a new theme, though, if I will lose what I have done to the Tempera child theme I am using.

    Can someone explain what will happen if I activate a second theme? Will the plugins transfer? Will I be starting over? And most importantly, can I switch back to Tempera and have the site be exactly the way I have it now????

    Thanks!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator Jose Castaneda

    (@jcastaneda)

    THEME COFFEE MONKEY

    Plugins should have little to no effect on the theme. You can do a live preview of the theme if you have it installed and don’t want to active it.

    There is also a plugin available that has the ability of “test driving” a theme if you want.

    In addition, if you made custom changes to the child theme’s css file your changes should remain intact. Also, save a backup of any work you do before changing themes just to be safe.

    Thread Starter astrali1

    (@astrali1)

    So if I activate a new theme, decide I don’t like it, and switch back to Tempera, will everything look the same as before I switched?

    Just want to be sure I don’t lose my work. For backups, I am exporting the tempera settings. Is that correct?

    Thanks.

    Moderator Jose Castaneda

    (@jcastaneda)

    THEME COFFEE MONKEY

    Yes. You are able to switch back and it will look the same as before you made the switch.

    Do keep in mind that if you made any changes directly to the theme and not a through a child theme and you update it, you may lose some of those modifications.

    Thread Starter astrali1

    (@astrali1)

    OK, thanks.

    To ensure your work will not be lost:

    1. Use a child theme for Tempera.
    1. Tempera is a Parent theme and you run the risk of losing all of your configurations whenever a Parent theme updates.
    2. A Child theme has the “DNA” of the Parent theme (looks and acts just like the parent) but your customizations can survive an update
    3. If you don’t know how to make a child theme follow these instructions: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Child_Themes or try a plugin that can create child themes.
    • Once you have a Child theme, make your customizations within the style.css file using the editor. That way, if you change your theme you won’t lose your work because it will be saved in the child theme folder within the style.css file.

      • However, if you use the Dashboard > Appearance > Customize or > Theme Options, you might lose your work. Not 100% on that because I usually code with the style.css. Hope this helps.

    @jose Castaneda lol. I was just typing that and you beat me to it!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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