How to – Downgrade WordPress to Previous Version? (Quick & Easy Guide)

If you’ve recently updated your WordPress site and found that your plugins or themes have run into compatibility issues, don’t worry—you’re not alone! Many website owners face this problem after installing the latest WordPress updates, which may cause conflicts with existing plugins or themes. In this post, I’ll show you how to Downgrade your WordPress website to a previous version quickly and easily.

Whether you’re dealing with bugs, errors, or simply prefer a previous WordPress version, this step-by-step guide will help you downgrade WordPress in a matter of minutes using a plugin.

Want a video version of this blog?
Checkout:

Why Would You Want to Downgrade WordPress?

WordPress frequently rolls out updates to improve functionality, security, and performance. However, with each update, plugins or themes may not work as expected if they’re not updated for compatibility. This can result in broken features or site malfunctions.

Downgrading WordPress to a stable version where everything works smoothly might be the best solution in such cases. The great news is that you don’t need advanced technical skills to do this. Let’s dive into the process.

Step 1: Prepare Your WordPress Site

Before making any changes to your WordPress version, it’s highly recommended to create a backup of your site. This ensures that you can restore your site in case anything goes wrong. While the downgrade process is generally smooth, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Use a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or any similar plugin to back up your files and database.

Some recommended backup plugins:

Step 2: Install a Downgrade Plugin

To downgrade your WordPress version, we’ll use a simple plugin. Begin by logging into your WordPress dashboard.

1. In the WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins and click Add New.
2. In the search bar, type WordPress downgrade and find a plugin that has high active installations and good ratings. In this case, the plugin used is WP Downgrade.
3. Click Install Now and then Activate the plugin.

You can choose any reputable plugin, but we’ll be using WP Downgrade for this guide. This plugin is widely trusted and simple to use.

Step 3: Select the WordPress Version You Want

Once the plugin is activated, the plugin settings can be accessed via the Settings menu in your WordPress dashboard.

1. Go to Settings and select WP Downgrade
2. In the Target Version field, enter the WordPress version you wish to downgrade to. In the example from the video, WordPress version 6.5.5 was chosen, but you can check which version suits your needs.

To find a specific WordPress version, you can visit the WordPress Release Archive, which contains all previous versions of WordPress. Pick the version you want based on the release dates or version history.

Step 4: Downgrade WordPress to the Selected Version

After entering the version number, save the changes. Next, follow these steps to initiate the downgrade:

1. Go to Dashboard > Updates.
2. Scroll down to the section that says Reinstall WordPress. You’ll now see the option to reinstall the specific version you entered earlier.
3. Click the button labeled Reinstall (which will now install the older version, effectively downgrading your WordPress).

During this process, WordPress will pull the necessary files from wordpress.org and replace the current installation with the older version. The process should only take a minute or two.

Step 5: Verify the Downgrade and Test Your Site

Once the downgrade is complete, your WordPress site should be running on the version you selected. You can check this by going to the WordPress dashboard home screen and looking at the footer, where the version number is displayed.

Now, test your website to ensure that the issues you experienced with plugins or themes have been resolved. If everything is working as expected, you’ve successfully downgraded your site.

Important Tip: If You Encounter Issues

While this process is generally reliable, there’s always the chance something might go wrong. That’s why we recommended taking a backup earlier. If your site doesn’t function properly after the downgrade, restore the backup, and try troubleshooting by checking plugin and theme compatibility.

Final Thoughts

Downgrading WordPress to a previous version is a useful solution when an update breaks your website’s functionality. With the help of the WP Downgrade plugin, it’s a quick and easy process that anyone can follow. Just remember to back up your site before making any changes to avoid losing important data.

Feel free to try this method the next time you face WordPress update issues. And if this guide helped you, let us know in the comments or share it with others who might benefit!

Happy website managing!