How to Delete Themes in WordPress

Looking for steps to delete themes in WordPress? Perfect, we’ve got ’em. Before we go into it, let’s give you a few tips. First, always make a backup of your website. Second, we recommend backing up the theme before deleting it, especially if you made adjustments to it. And, instead of installing and activating themes to test them, consider installing WordPress locally, separate from your website. With that out of the way, here’s how to delete themes in WordPress.

How to delete themes in WordPress using the Admin dashboard

1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Section.
2. On the left-hand side, hover over an option named Appearance.
3. Click on Themes.
4. You cannot delete or uninstall an active theme. If you are currently using the theme you want to delete, pick any other theme, click on it, and click on Activate.
5. Click on the theme you want to delete. In the preview window, click on Delete in the bottom right-hand corner.

Deleting WordPress themes via FTP

If you don’t have an FTP client installed on your computer, feel free to pick any of the FTP clients we recommend.

1. Open your FTP client. A Login window will appear.
2. Enter the hostname, username, and password given by your hosting provider. Unless otherwise specified, leave the Port Number and Protocol on default.
3. Once the connection is established, a list of files will appear. Navigate to /wp-content/themes of your website.
4. Find the folder with the name of the theme you want to delete.
5. Optional. Copy the folder to a location on your computer to create a backup.
6. Right-click on the folder, then choose Delete.

Deleting WordPress themes using File Manager

Instead of downloading an FTP client, you can use an online version of it. Most of the cPanel powered hosting services such as Siteground comes with an in-built file manager.

1. Log in to the Dashboard on your hosting provider’s website. They were provided at the time of purchase.
2. Find a category called Storage, Files, Data, Advanced, or something similar.
3. Find an option called File Manager or FTP.
4. This time, you need to find the root folder, most often named public_html.
5. Once again, go to /wp-content/themes.
6. Delete a folder with the name of the theme.

So, now you know of a way to delete themes in WordPress. As mentioned, only delete a theme you modified if you are absolutely sure you won’t be using it again, and be sure to take a backup.