How to Change WordPress Theme Without Losing Content 

TLDR: You can change your WordPress theme without losing content by backing up your site, saving any custom code, previewing the new theme, and testing key pages after activation.

I’ve changed WordPress themes plenty of times, and I’ve broken things in the process. It’s easy to lose your sidebar, mess up your layout, or forget the one bit of custom code that makes everything work.

That’s why switching themes without losing content comes down to preparation and testing, not guesswork.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I use to switch themes safely. Whether you’re activating a new theme from WordPress.org or building a custom theme with SeedProd, you’ll know what to do before, during, and after the change.

What Changes When You Switch WordPress Themes?

You won’t lose your posts, pages, or images when you switch themes. WordPress stores your content in the database, so your theme mainly controls design and layout.

What usually changes is your site structure and styling, like menus, widgets, and templates. That’s why the checklist below matters.

• Custom theme code can disappear: tracking scripts and functions.php snippets need saving and re-adding.
• Your content stays the same: posts, pages, media, comments, users, and most plugin settings.
• Your layout can change: header/footer, menus and menu locations, sidebars/widgets, homepage layout, and theme styles.

Pre-Switch Checklist (Do This Before You Activate a New Theme)

Before you change your WordPress theme, take a few minutes to prepare your site. This checklist prevents the most common problems, like missing menus, broken layouts, or lost tracking codes.

You only need to do this once. After that, you can preview and switch themes with far less risk.

• Create a full site backup so you can restore everything if something goes wrong.
• Save any custom code added to your theme, including tracking scripts and functions.php snippets.
• Note your current menu structure and which menu is assigned to each location.
• Check your homepage and blog settings under Settings » Reading.
• Take screenshots of your header, footer, sidebars, and homepage layout for reference.
• Test your current page load times so you can compare performance after the switch.
• Use a staging site or enable maintenance mode to hide changes from visitors.

Once you’ve completed this checklist, you’re ready to preview your new theme and start the switch.

Method 1. Preview Your New Theme Before Activating It

After completing the pre-switch checklist, preview your new theme to check layouts, menus, and widgets before making it live.

If you’re using a classic WordPress theme

Go to Appearance » Themes in your WordPress dashboard.

Hover over the theme you want to try and click Live Preview. This opens the theme in the WordPress Customizer.

Click through your homepage and a few key pages. Check menus, sidebars, and page layouts.

If you’re using a block (Full Site Editing) theme

Block themes don’t use the Customizer. After activating the theme, go to Appearance » Editor.

Review your templates, header, footer, and navigation blocks. Make sure everything appears in the correct place.

If something looks missing, it usually means the new theme uses different templates and content needs re-placing.

Method 2. Change WordPress Theme with Theme Switcha Plugin

Another option for previewing and testing your WordPress theme before going live is to use the Theme Switcha Plugin. This lets you preview your new theme without going live with the changes.

First, download, install and activate the free plugin. Then go to Settings » Theme Switcha from the left-hand sidebar of your admin panel.

From the general settings page, select the Enable Theme Switching option. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

At the bottom of the page, the plugin will now display all your installed themes. Click your new theme to preview it in a new browser tab.

Method 3. Change WordPress Theme with Staging Environment

Many WordPress hosting companies now have the option to clone a copy of your website onto a special staging environment so you can test out changes before publishing them.

Here’s an example of creating a staging environment using Bluehost. From your admin panel, select Bluehost » Staging. This will bring up a page that asks if you’d like to copy your production (live) site to a staging site.

Click Create Staging Site to begin making the clone.

After a short while, you’ll see a page with a success message telling you your staging environment is ready to work on.

Click Go to Staging Site to go to this version of your website.

You can now test that your theme works properly without any changes affecting your site’s original version.

I’ll discuss how to publish the changes next.

Note: Some hosting plans don’t offer staging sites unless you use an advanced plan.

Method 4. Change WordPress Theme on Live Website

Now that you’ve tested your new theme, you’re ready to make it live. First, you need to add the new theme files to your site.

Go to Appearance » Themes and click Add New. Upload your theme’s zip file and click Install.

Once installed, hover your mouse cursor over your chosen theme. Then click the Activate button.

If you head to your homepage, you’ll see your new WordPress theme in action.

To publish your new theme from a staging environment, follow these steps.

Go to Bluehost » Staging Site and scroll down the page from your staging environment. You’ll see 3 options for copying your test site to your original, live site.

1. Deploy files only.
2. Deploy files and database.
3. Deploy database only.

In most cases, you should choose the Deploy Files and Database option since it will include any changes to your site.

It may take a minute or 2 for the information to copy over. You’ll see a success message when the process is complete.

After doing that, navigate back to your main (production) site, where your new theme will be in action.

Some people prefer using an older method of changing their WordPress theme using File Transfer Protocol (FTP client) to upload files to WordPress. Others prefer to configure themes via their WordPress host’s cPanel.

Check this beginner’s guide on using FTP to learn how to upload themes on your web hosting with FTP.

Method 5. Change WordPress Theme via FTP

Warning: This method is for advanced users. Please ensure you have a full backup of your site before proceeding.

If you can’t access your WordPress dashboard, you can install a theme manually. You can use an FTP client like FileZilla for this.

First, connect to your hosting account using FTP. Navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder.

Next, unzip your theme folder on your computer. Upload the entire unzipped folder to the themes directory on your server.

This installs the theme files safely. If you were locked out of your site, you can now rename your old theme folder to force WordPress to switch to a default theme. Then you can log in and activate the new one you just uploaded.

What to Do After Replacing Your WordPress Theme

After switching themes, take a few minutes to check that everything works as expected. Most issues are small and easy to fix if you catch them early.

• Check your pages, posts, menus, widgets, and forms to make sure nothing is missing or misaligned.
• Test your site in a few different browsers to confirm the layout looks consistent.
• Add back any tracking codes or custom snippets you saved before the switch.
• Disable maintenance mode so visitors can see your updated site.
• Test your page load times and compare them with your old theme.

If everything looks good, your theme change is complete. Your content is intact, and your site is ready to use.

FAQs on Changing Your WordPress Theme

You now know how to change your WordPress theme without losing your content, which makes redesigning your site far less stressful.

For more helpful WordPress guides, see these posts next:

• How to Add or Remove Space Between Blocks in WordPress
• How to Add a Different Sidebar for Different Pages in WordPress
• How to Add Custom CSS in WordPress (Beginner Friendly)
• How to Add a Box Shadow in WordPress: 4 Easy Ways

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