How to change and upload custom template in WordPress | Computer Series

How do I add a custom template to WordPress?

A Step-By-Step Guide To Creating Custom Page Templates
Find The Default Template. A good way is to start by copying the template which is currently used by the page you want to modify. ...

• Copy And Rename The Template File. ...
• Customize The Template File Header. ...
• Customize The Code. ...
• Upload The Page Template. ...
• Activate The Template

Quick Steps

1. Download the theme’s .zip file.
2. Go to My Sites → Design → Themes.
3. Select Upload Theme.
4. Preview or activate the theme.
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6. Download the Theme's .zip File

Start by downloading the theme’s .zip file from wherever you purchased the theme.

If you’re creating your own custom theme, you’ll need to save it as a .zip file.

For themes purchased through Themeforest, you must choose the Installable WordPress file only option when downloading the theme.

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Upload the Theme

To upload a custom theme, go to My Sites → Design → Themes in your site’s dashboard.

Click Install Theme.

Drag the theme’s .zip file into the box. Alternatively, you can click the box, locate the theme’s .zip file on your computer and double click it.

upload theme

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Preview or Activate the Theme

If you’re ready to start using the theme right away, click Activate.

upload theme activate

To preview the theme before activating it, click Try & Customize to see a live preview in the Customizer.

upload theme

You can adjust your site settings and theme options from the Customizer.

Click Save & Activate when you’re done adjusting the settings and ready to activate the theme.

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Setting up your Custom Theme

Custom themes aren’t created by us at WordPress.com, so we are not specialized in exactly how your custom theme works.

Custom themes may require additional setup after uploading and activating the theme.

Since every custom theme is different, it’s best to check your theme’s specific instructions for how to finish setting it up.

A good place to check for additional theme setup options is in the Customizer. You can access the Customizer by going to My Sites → Design → Customize.

If you can’t find your custom theme’s instructions or aren’t sure how to finish setting up your custom theme, we recommend contacting the theme’s support team. They’ll be the most familiar with the theme and in the best position to help you out.

Depending on your theme, you may need to finish setting up your custom theme from the WP Admin dashboard.

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Choosing a Theme

General factors you should consider when deciding on a theme include:

how it looks

responsive design (so that the theme looks good on all different screen sizes)

how often the theme is updated (frequent updates are a good sign)

a reliable theme support service to help you with bugs and questions

Something else to keep in mind is how much custom functionality is introduced by a theme. Some third-party theme authors bundle huge amounts of functionality in to their themes.

Things like custom sliders, shortcodes, widgets, layout managers and content builders are frequent inclusions. Be careful when choosing a theme like this. If you decide to switch themes at a later date, you will lose all of the custom functionality that you may have come to rely upon. This can be extremely problematic if the functionality is interwoven throughout your entire web site. Imagine you’re using a [slider] shortcode on all of your product pages. When you switch themes you would need to go through all of your products to remove instances of that shortcode – not fun at all!

Our advice would be to always look for a lightweight, lean theme and then add extra functionality via Plugins & extensions. This way, when you switch themes the functionality remains.