How to Update RealHomes Theme Safely

Backup Your Website

The first most important step of the update process is to backup your website. For backup, a free and good backup solution is UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin. You can find a more detailed guide to configure UpdraftPlus by reading this article.

Download Full Package of RealHomes Theme

In order to make sure you have the most recent/latest and secure (virus/malware-free) version of RealHomes Theme, follow the steps below.

1. Login to https://themeforest.net with your account and go to the Downloads section ( http://themeforest.net/downloads ).
2. On the Downloads page, you will see the RealHomes theme and the Download button there.
3. When you will click on the download button you will see a drop-down with multiple options.
4. In this drop-down list click on All files and documentation to download the full package of the RealHomes theme (screenshot below).
   
5. Now you have the full package of the latest version of RealHomes Theme, extract it, and continue with the rest of the update process below.

Activate Maintenance Mode

It is not a good idea to leave the website as is while it is under an update process so you should display a nice message and activate the maintenance mode and in this case, our recommendation is Coming Soon plugin.

Prepare For Update

Before updating RealHomes Theme, there are few things to take care first. So, make sure to go through the following points.

• Disable Caching Plugins: First of all, if you have any caching plugin activated then purge all the caches using the plugin’s options and deactivate this plugin.
• Update All Out-dated Plugins: Many of us use translation and other plugins, so if you have any translation and other plugins make sure to update them to their latest version.
• Update WordPress: WordPress must also be updated to its latest version.
• Secure Important Customizations: One of the most important things to check is if you have made any customizations then they should be in the child theme which is the best practice. So, if you have made any code-level customizations/changes then move/copy them to the child theme (if you are not running your website using the child theme then install and activate the child theme and then copy/move the modified files to it).
• Critical Step Before Update: If you are using RealHomes Theme version 2.7.0 or earlier with some code-level customizations then you must compare your modified code with the latest codebase of RealHomes Theme because in version 3.0.0 or later major file and folder structure changes and code changes are implemented with an entirely new design called “Modern“. So, update your old modified files according to the new version and then update the theme.

Update RealHomes Theme

At this point, we are assuming that you have followed all of the above steps to be on the safe side before updating the theme. So, simply update the theme manually. After completing the update process activate all the plugins (caching or other).

Switching Design Properly

If you are updating the theme from version 2.7.0 or earlier then you might want to switch to the Modern design for a fresh look so you can follow the following steps.

1.  Navigate to Dashboard → RealHomes → Design and select the design of your choice and save the settings.
2. After saving the settings the next step is to regenerate all the images according to the new design chosen in the first step. So, install and activate the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin. After activation, navigate to Dashboard → Tools → Regenerate Thumbnails and regenerate all thumbnails.
3. Once it is done, then make sure to check all the page-related options.
4. Navigate to Dashboard → RealHomes → Customize Settings and then go into Properties Search → Properties Search Page and choose the Property Search Page in Select Search Page settings. You might want to take a look at the new options/features for advance search so please read this guide to properly set up all the advance search features accordingly: https://realhomes.io/documentation/properties-search-page-modern/#step-1-select-property-search-page
5. Go through all the steps written in this documentation section which allows you to activate User Registration and Login options: https://realhomes.io/documentation/login-and-registration/.
6. If you would like to allow your users to log in using their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, etc. then you should read these guides: https://realhomes.io/documentation/setup-login/ and https://realhomes.io/documentation/setup-registration/
7. Also make sure the Property Submit page is properly set up according to this guide: https://realhomes.io/documentation/submit-property/.
8. My Properties and Edit Profile pages are also needed to be set up properly so read both of these sections of the documentation for RealHomes Theme: https://realhomes.io/documentation/my-properties/ & https://realhomes.io/documentation/edit-profile/.
9. Don’t forget to set up the Favorites page by reading this section: https://realhomes.io/documentation/favorites-page/

Make Sure Everything is Working

Once the theme is updated to its latest version, you must check every page of your website to make sure everything is running smoothly. This doesn’t require any special steps, just go through each page of your website from the frontend.