Sometimes you may find the automatic plugin update feature in WordPress doesn’t work properly.
This can result in the failure to properly update a plugin.
If this happens, you’ll need to update the plugin manually.
Its a very simple process but make sure you create a backup & restore point for the old version of the plugin and its data just in case.
If your server doesn’t offer this feature you’ll need to create a database backup using a plugin, phpMyAdmin or cPanel.
Backup Your Plugin
You can do this using FTP or cPanel.
If you’re using cPanel, simply compress the plugin which needs updating and download it to your local computer.
Using FTP, you can easily download it to your local pc.
Installing the new plugin
You can use FTP or cPanel to install the new version of the plugin.
If you’re using FTP, unzip the plugin first and upload it, overwriting the files in the old versions plugin directory on your server.
cPanel users will need to upload the new version of the plugin in zipped format and then extract the contents into the old versions directory.
Its best practice to overwrite the older version of the plugin rather than delete it and then upload the new version.
Don’t Delete The Plugin From WordPress
If you delete the plugin from your WordPress dashboard, you may also delete the data including the plugin settings from your database.
You can now activate the plugin from your Dashboard.
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