How to delete WordPress theme

April 16, 2024

Log in to your WordPress Dashboard:

• Enter your website’s URL followed by “/wp-admin” (e.g., “yourwebsite.com/wp-admin”) in your web browser’s address bar.
• Enter your username and password to log in to the WordPress Dashboard.

Navigate to the “Appearance → Themes” Section:

• In the WordPress Dashboard, go to “Appearance” > “Themes.” This will open the Themes page, displaying all the installed themes on your WordPress site.

Select the Theme to Delete:

• Find the theme you want to delete from the list of installed themes. Hover your mouse cursor over the theme thumbnail to reveal the options.

Delete the Theme:

• Click on the “Theme Details” button below the theme thumbnail. This will open a pop-up window with details about the theme.
• In the bottom-right corner of the pop-up window, you should see a “Delete” button. Click on it.
• WordPress will ask you to confirm whether you want to delete the theme. Click on the “OK” button to confirm and delete the theme.

Verify Deletion:

• After deleting the theme, WordPress will return you to the Themes page, and you should see a message confirming that the theme has been deleted successfully.

Optional Step – Deleting Inactive Themes:

• If you have inactive themes that you no longer need, you can delete them from the Themes page as well. Simply hover over the inactive theme thumbnail and click on the “Theme Details” button, then click on the “Delete” button to remove it.

How to Delete a WordPress Theme Using File Manager

If an error blocks access to your WordPress dashboard, use File Manager provided by your web host or a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client like FileZilla to remove the problematic theme. This method also works for deleting several themes at once.

1. Access your hPanel dashboard and click the File Manager option.

2. From your root directory (public_html), navigate to the wp-content → themes folder.

3. Right-click the theme folder you want to remove and select Delete.

4. A disclaimer pop-up will ask if you want to skip the trash bin and delete the theme files right away. Unchecking that option lets you restore the folder if you accidentally deleted the wrong one. Once you decide, hit the Delete button to confirm.

Why You Should Delete Unused WordPress Themes:

Besides keeping your website’s files organized, here are other reasons why you should delete WordPress themes you no longer use:

• Improved security ‒ hackers can exploit security vulnerabilities within an old theme due to the lack of updates and patches.
• Better performance ‒ having fewer themes installed can boost your site’s performance, leading to faster backup and restoration processes.
• More storage space ‒ removing themes saves you server storage, saving you hosting costs over time.
• Easier maintenance ‒ fewer themes mean fewer updates, simplifying website management.
• Avoiding team confusion ‒ for websites with multiple users or admins, installing only essential themes can prevent confusion and accidental changes to the website’s design.

What Else Should You Delete from WordPress?

Deleting a deactivated theme can leave behind clutter on your WordPress site. Keep your WordPress installation folder clean by deleting the following theme-related content:

• Widgets and shortcodes ‒ custom widgets or shortcodes for a specific theme might still appear in the widgets area or content, although they won’t work properly.
• Demo content ‒ remove images and other files that were uploaded as part of the theme’s demo site from the WordPress media library.
• Child themes ‒ if you delete a parent theme, remove its child themes as well since they are no longer usable.
• Custom post types ‒ posts related to the removed theme’s custom post types may no longer appear correctly on your site, negatively impacting user experience.
• Database entries ‒ some themes create custom tables or entries in the WordPress database that aren’t automatically removed after deleting the theme.

That’s it! You have successfully deleted the WordPress theme from your website. Remember that deleting a theme is irreversible, so make sure you no longer need it before proceeding. If you ever need to reinstall the theme in the future, you can do so by uploading the theme files or reinstalling it from the WordPress theme repository.