Updating a theme

Updates to the theme ensure compatibility with the latest Ghost version, performance improvements and minor bug fixes. So it is important that you use the latest available theme version.

If your theme features custom code, updating it with the latest versions will overwrite all your customizations.

Step-by-Step

Download the latest version of the theme, then unzip the archive locally.
Choose a theme version that is compatible with your Ghost version.
Go to the 'Theme' settings in the Ghost Admin and click 'Change theme' button.
Then click the 'Upload theme' button in the upper right corner.
Once uploaded, click 'Activate' to activate the theme on your site.

Tip: What if you’ve already edited the theme, and want to update it without losing your changes?

That’s a bit trickier to deal with but not impossible, as long as you can remember what the changes were, or more specifically which files you edited. Unfortunately in Ghost when updating a theme you have to re-enter your changes.

For more advanced users, it can be helpful to use a comparing files app like Sublime Merge ↗ – that way you can find your changes if you don’t remember them.

Tip: After uploading the theme my settings in 'Design & branding' section were reset, what should I do?

The best solution is to always use the same name e.g. theme-name.zip – that way you will not have to enter your settings again after uploading a theme.

Ghost assigns the settings in the 'Design & branding' section to the name of the uploaded archive. If you upload theme-v1.zip and theme-v2.zip – Ghost will recognize them as two different themes – so the settings will reset.