If you do not like the default WordPress theme or want to find and install a new WordPress theme, you are at the right place. In this article, we will discuss how to change or add a new WordPress theme? Check out the steps below to install WordPress themes to your own WordPress site or blog. From this tutorials you will learn how to install WordPress themes with or without FTP, with a cPanel web hosting, like Bluehost, Hostgator, or other WordPress hosting service providers.
Install WordPress themes from Dashboard
If you are the administrator of a WordPress site or blog, you can go to install a WordPRess theme from the dashboard directly without FTP.
- Log on your WP Dashboard with your username and password.
- Go to Appearance >> Themes
- Click the Add New button right besides the Themes and above your current WordPress theme preview. You will then get a new screen like this:
- From above screen, you can browse through different categories to find and preview the WordPress themes you like. You can click the Featured category, Popular category or Latest WordPress theme category, you can also go to the Feature Filter to search WordPress theme using all kinds of feature filters. If you like you can also search a WordPress theme by keywords here. When you find a WordPress theme, you can click the Preview button to see how it looks like. If you like to install the theme, then click Install button to install a WordPress theme.
Upload WordPress theme Zip file from computer
If you already have downloaded or purchased a WordPress theme, normally it should be a zip file, you can also install the WordPress theme from zip file without FTP client. From the top of the second screenshot above, we should find a Upload Theme option besides the Add Themes. To install WordPress theme from ZIP file, click on Upload Theme, you will then be taken to a new screen as displays below.
Click on the Browse… button you will open a pop-up dialogue where you can choose the WordPress theme file in ZIP format. After that, click Install Now, the WordPress theme will be uploaded from your computer to the right directory on your WordPress site. Go to preview and activate the new WordPress theme following the on screen prompts.
Upload WordPress themes through FTP
If you have FTP account or access to your WordPress hosting server, you can also transfer your WordPress themes from local computer to remote web server using a FTP client like FileZilla.
Make sure to unzip the WordPress theme file on your local machine at first. Otherwise you will need to unzip it on web server. Your FTP client may not be able to help you unzip a compress file. However your WordPress hosting service provider should provide you online file management tools to unzip it. When you choose to install WordPress theme with FTP, you need to make sure to upload the WP theme files to the right folder on your web server, it should be uploaded to the wp-content/themes/. After that, log on your WordPress Dashboard with credentials, go to Appearance >> Themes. You should now find the uploaded WordPress theme there. Click on the Preview button to see how it looks like with your WordPress site. If like, click Activate button to enable it.
Install WordPress themes from cPanel
cPanel hosting is very popular among WordPress users. If you use a cPanel hosting for your WordPress site, it is very easy to install WordPress themes within cPanel. Log on your hosting control panel with your hosting account username and password, open File Manager in cPanel.
You will then see a pop-up dialoge where you can choose to open the root folder of your WordPress site, browse to the wp-content >> themes folder, you can see all your existing WordPress themes there. To install a new WordPress theme, you can click the Upload button to directly upload WordPress theme file in ZIP from your computer to web hosting account in cPanel.
You can upload new WordPress theme in Zip format, then unzip files in cPanel File Manager.
After that, you will need to log on your WordPress admin panel to activate the new WordPress theme from Dashboard >> Appearance >> Themes.
