Updating Theme + Visual Composer

[ckarlson]

Hi there -

I have a site that was built years ago that we haven’t had to update very often. I recently logged in to add / update a button and noticed that Visual Composer was not loading. The version of the theme that is loaded is 1.8.1

I know there are a TON of updates that need to be done to the site, but I have no idea which to do first / what might break the site.

I do not see an option to update the X theme when I go into “Themes” - I also don’t see an option to update or see the theme listed when I go to “Updates.”

I have downloaded the most recent version but do I need to manually update? If so, how?

I also don’t know what to do about Visual Composer. Do I need to update that as well or will it update when I update the theme? There is also no option to “update” VC. It’s currently running version 4.04.

Will everything break if I do this?

I also see PHP / Wordpress update requirements as well. Current WP version is 5.3.29.

I have no idea what order to run these updates in and I don’t want to break anything.

Is there a support service that I can subscribe to to help with this?

Thanks!

[nabeel]

Hi @ckarlson,

Thank you for reaching out to us. The version you currently have must be updated manually first because automatic updates were not available at that time. To manually update both X and Cornerstone please follow https://theme.co/docs/how-to-update#how-to-perform-a-manual-update

@ckarlson

I also don’t know what to do about Visual Composer. Do I need to update that as well or will it update when I update the theme? There is also no option to “update” VC. It’s currently running version 4.04.

Yes you need to update the Visual Composer to the latest version to avoid incompatibility issues but before you do that make sure both X and Cornerstone are updated and your theme is validated https://theme.co/docs/installation-and-validation#how-to-validate-your-theme

Now you can follow this thread 'X' Theme will not save any updates to update Visual Composer.

@ckarlson

I have no idea what order to run these updates in and I don’t want to break anything.

I would recommend that you create a staging site. This is very useful because you can test drive any X and Pro updates in the staging area, do the customizations and troubleshooting without disrupting your live site. Once everything is perfect, you can easily and flawlessly proceed the update in the live site. To know how to create a staging area, please check out these articles:
http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-staging-environment-for-a-wordpress-site/, https://maintainn.com/2015/02/how-to-create-a-staging-site-for-wordpress/

@ckarlson

Is there a support service that I can subscribe to to help with this?

You can avail of our newly launched service called One, where the customization questions are answered.

Hope this helps!