Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing a product through one of these links generates a commission for us at no additional expense to you.
It’s not hard to delete a WordPress theme; it’s just hard to find the delete button!
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to remove a WordPress theme from your site and a few tips for keeping your site secure and tidy.
How to remove a WP theme
Inside your admin dashboard, visit the Appearance menu, and you’ll see every theme installed on your site.
You can delete any of them except for the currently active theme at the top left. Your site needs to have an active theme at all times.
To delete a theme, start by clicking anywhere on the theme’s screenshot image. You can also follow the steps in this video:
Subscribe to Compete Themes on Youtube
You’ll see a modal window appear with more info about the theme, and at the bottom right is the Delete button.
Click that button, and the theme will be removed from your site. You can repeat this process to delete as many themes as you want. There isn’t a bulk delete option for themes at this time, so they have to be removed one-at-a-time in this manner.
Before you go, I have a three more tips for theme management.
Always keep a backup theme installed.
There are rare instances where WordPress will switch your theme to keep it online if there is a site-breaking error. You should keep one backup theme installed in addition to your active theme at all times.
Inactive themes don’t slow down your site.
Only the code in the active theme is running, so having additional themes installed doesn’t impact your site’s performance.
You might lose your settings.
Deactivating a theme doesn’t affect the settings, but deleting it might. Not all themes delete their settings when removed, but since some do, make sure you are okay with losing the settings you configured for that theme before deleting it.
A tidier dashboard
Once you know where to find the delete button, you can remove a WordPress theme in just two clicks.
If you want more ways to optimize your WordPress website, you might enjoy our articles on fixing and securing WordPress or our performance optimization category.
Thanks for reading this tutorial on how to delete a WordPress theme, and please consider using the social share buttons below.
