How to Restore Plugins to a Previous Version with WP Rollback

Have you ever updated a plugin and wished you could return to the previous version? Now you can! I won’t do a site without the WP Rollback plugin. It has saved my bacon more than once.

In this quick tutorial I’ll show you how to safely update your plugins so you can easily roll them back, if you ever need to.

The transcript is below the video.

FYI – some plugin breaks may be caused by having too low a PHP version at your host.
READ: How and why to switch to PHP 7 for more details.

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Transcript

Install the WP Rollback plugin and activate it.

There are no settings or configuration options to do.

Next

Once active, all of your plugins that can be rolled back will have a new link in their description.

Next

Let me show you the trick to being able to access that rollback link, even if a plugin update gives you the white screen of death.

First, it’s always good practice to take a backup before you update anything on your site.

Next, leave this installed plugins list page open.

Next

Then open a new tab and go to your site.

You should be logged in on that tab too.

Click the Updates tool in your black admin bar at the top.

That will take you to your WP Updates page.

Or go to Dashboard > Updates.

Next

Scroll down to the plugins section and select the plugins you would like to update.

You definitely want to do these one at a time, or in extremely small batches.

Then click the Update Plugins button.

Next

From this tab, poke around your site and ensure all is well, especially the function of the plugins you just updated.

Next

If you get a white screen, or anything else is wrong, then jump back to the tab with the plugins list.

Find the plugin you just updated.

As you’ll see, there have been no updates on this page, which is the way you want it.

Then click Rollback.

Next

Select the previous version, which should be just one down from the top.

And then click the Rollback button at the bottom.

You’ll see a pop up confirming that you want to do this.

Click that Rollback button.

Next

There! Your site should be back to the previous version of the plugin.

The trick is to not refresh that plugin list tab and only use the 2^nd open tab to do the updates and check your site.

This update method is not foolproof, as on rare occasion there have been plugins that toast a site so bad that it freaks out the rollback. And that’s what you have your full backup for, if it comes to that.

But, this little plugin has saved my bacon 3 times in as many years, and worked without a hitch.

And not all plugins are available to be rolled back. I find that they are not well coded plugins in general. So, you might want to consider switching to a plugin that is better coded and can be rolled back if needed.

Next

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tutorial on using the WP Rollback plugin.

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