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The Manage Updates feature lets you run WordPress core, plugin, theme, and translation updates across all your child sites from your Dashboard. Configure automatic updates for trusted items, ignore updates you want to skip, and take advantage of the built-in rollback feature to recover from failed updates.

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What You’ll Accomplish

  • Update WordPress core, plugins, themes, and translations individually or in bulk
  • Configure automatic updates for trusted plugins, themes, and translations
  • Ignore specific updates globally or per site, including WordPress core and translation updates
  • Use the rollback feature to recover from failed updates

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Prerequisites

  • MainWP Dashboard installed and activated
  • At least one child site connected to your Dashboard
  • Sites synced recently to have current update data
Before running updates, synchronize your child sites to ensure all available updates are displayed.

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Find Update and Trust Settings

Use Sites > Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage) to run manual updates. Trust controls are on separate pages:
  • Sites > Plugins > Advanced Auto Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=PluginsAutoUpdate)
  • Sites > Themes > Advanced Auto Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=ThemesAutoUpdate)
On either trust page, click Show Plugins or Show Themes, select the items you want to trust, then choose Mark as Trusted from Bulk Actions and click Apply. The trust action is not on the manual Updates or Manage Plugins/Themes pages. To enable automatic updates, open the user menu in the top-right corner and select MainWP Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings). In General Settings, find the Updates Settings section. Marking items as trusted and enabling automatic updates are separate steps.

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WordPress Core Updates

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Update All WordPress Installations

1

Navigate to WordPress Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > WordPress (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=wordpress-updates).
2

Update all sites

Click Update All WP Cores in the action bar.
3

Confirm

Confirm when prompted.

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Update a Single WordPress Installation

1

Navigate to WordPress Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > WordPress (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=wordpress-updates).
2

Locate site

Find the WordPress installation in the table.
3

Update

Click Update Now in its row.

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Auto Update WordPress Core

Enable automatic WordPress core updates in two steps: enable the feature, then enable it for individual sites.

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Enable Auto Updates Feature

1

Navigate to Settings

Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings).
2

Find Update Settings

Locate the Updates Settings section in General Settings.
3

Enable

Set WP Core advanced automatic updates to Install Trusted Updates.
4

Save

Click Save Settings.

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Enable Auto Update for a Site

1

Navigate to Manage Sites

Go to MainWP > Sites > Manage Sites.
2

Edit site

Find the site and click Edit from the actions menu.
3

Enable auto update

Set Auto Update Core to YES.Child Site Edit page showing Auto Update Core option set to Yes
4

Save

Click Save Settings.
MainWP advanced automatic updates are independent from WordPress native auto-updates. Configure Frequency of automatic updates, Select time, and Advanced automatic updates delay in Updates Settings. These settings are separate from automatic sync frequency. See Update Frequency Settings for scheduling and cron requirements.

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Ignore WordPress Core Updates

You can ignore WordPress core updates for individual child sites, or ignore a specific WordPress core version from the WordPress Updates table.

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Ignore Core Update for a Site

1

Navigate to Manage Sites

Go to MainWP > Sites > Manage Sites.
2

Edit site

Find the site and click Edit from the actions menu.
3

Enable ignore

Set Ignore Core Update to YES.
4

Save

Click Save Settings.

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Ignore a Specific Core Version

1

Navigate to WordPress Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > WordPress (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=wordpress-updates).
2

Locate the site

Find the child site with the WordPress core update you want to ignore.
3

Select an ignore option

Use the row action to select Ignore this version, Ignore this version globally, or Ignore all versions.

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Un-ignore Core Update

Use the same child site settings steps and set Ignore Core Update to NO. To review ignored WordPress core versions, go to Sites > Updates > WordPress (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=wordpress-updates) and click View Ignored Updates. This button appears only when ignored WordPress core updates exist. The ignored WordPress core updates page uses wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=updates-ignore, but it is not shown as a separate Updates menu item. MainWP opens it from the View Ignored Updates button on the WordPress Updates tab.
If WordPress core is up to date but ignored WordPress core updates still exist, the action bar remains visible. View Ignored Updates stays clickable, while Update Selected WP Cores and Update All WP Cores are disabled because there are no actionable WordPress core updates on the current tab.

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Plugin Updates

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Update All Plugins on All Sites

1

Navigate to Plugin Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates).
2

Update all

Click Update All Plugins.Update All Plugins button in the Plugins Updates page header
3

Confirm

Confirm when prompted.

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Update a Single Plugin on All Sites

1

Navigate to Plugin Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Item.
3

Locate plugin

Find the plugin you want to update.Plugins Updates table showing available plugin updates per item view
4

Update

Click Update All in the plugin row.

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Update All Plugins on a Single Site

1

Navigate to Plugin Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Site.
3

Locate site

Find the child site.Plugins Updates table in per-site view showing child sites with available updates
4

Update

Click Update All in the site row.

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Update a Single Plugin on a Single Site

1

Navigate to Plugin Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates).
2

Select view

Select Show updates per Site.
3

Locate site

Find the child site and expand its row.
4

Update plugin

Find the plugin and click Update Now.Expanded site row showing individual plugins available for update with Update Now buttons

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View Plugin History

The plugin update rows include a History action so you can review recent change activity before or after updates.
1

Open a plugin row with History

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates) and use the Site, Item, or Tag view. You can also use History in plugin rows in individual site update tables.
2

Open the history modal

Click History in the plugin row.
3

Review activity details

Review the action timeline with actor, source (Dashboard or WP Admin), timestamp, and version change when available.
4

Switch history views

Use Day History to group actions by date, then use Plugin History to switch to plugin-grouped actions for that day.
5

Load older records

Click Load More in the modal to display earlier activity.
If you see “This plugin has no recorded activity in Dashboard Insights,” check Network Activity and Dashboard Insights settings to confirm logging and retention are configured.

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Plugin Auto Updates

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Enable Auto Updates

1

Navigate to Settings

Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings).
2

Find Update Settings

Locate the Updates Settings section.
3

Enable

Set Plugin advanced automatic updates to Install Trusted Updates.
4

Save

Click Save Settings.

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Mark Plugins as Trusted

1

Navigate to Advanced Auto Updates

Go to Sites > Plugins > Advanced Auto Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=PluginsAutoUpdate).
2

Filter plugins

Use Plugin Status to Search, the trust-status dropdown under Search Options, and the Plugin name field to find plugins.
3

Search

Click Show Plugins.
4

Select and trust

Check the plugins to trust, select Mark as Trusted from Bulk Actions, and click Apply.

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Ignore Plugin Updates

1

Navigate to Plugin Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Item.
3

Ignore

Find the plugin and select your ignore option.Plugin ignore options dropdown showing Ignore Globally, Ignore this version, and other options

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Un-ignore a Plugin

When ignored plugin updates exist, you can click View Ignored Updates on Sites > Updates > Plugins (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=plugins-updates). You can also use the Plugins menu path below.
1

Navigate to Ignored Updates

Go to Sites > Plugins > Ignored Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=PluginsIgnore).
2

Un-ignore

Find the plugin and click Unignore.Plugins Ignored Updates table showing Unignore button in a plugin row
If there are no available plugin updates but ignored plugin updates exist, the Plugin Updates action bar remains visible. View Ignored Updates stays clickable, while plugin update buttons such as Update Selected Plugins and Update All Plugins are disabled.

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Theme Updates

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Update All Themes on All Sites

1

Navigate to Theme Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates).
2

Update all

Click Update All Themes.
3

Confirm

Confirm when prompted.

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Update a Single Theme on All Sites

1

Navigate to Theme Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates).
2

Select view

Select Show updates per Item.
3

Locate theme

Find the theme you want to update.Theme Updates table with Update All button for updating a single theme across all sites
4

Update

Click Update All in the theme row.

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Update All Themes on a Single Site

1

Navigate to Theme Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Site.
3

Locate site

Find the child site.Theme Updates table showing Update All button for a single child site
4

Update

Click Update All in the site row.

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Update a Single Theme on a Single Site

1

Navigate to Theme Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Site.
3

Locate site

Find the child site and expand its row.
4

Update theme

Find the theme and click Update Now.Themes Updates per-site view showing expanded row with individual theme Update Now button

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View Theme History

The theme update rows include a History action so you can review recent change activity before or after updates.
1

Open a theme row with History

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates) and use the Site, Item, or Tag view. You can also use History in theme rows in individual site update tables.
2

Open the history modal

Click History in the theme row.
3

Review activity details

Review the action timeline with actor, source (Dashboard or WP Admin), timestamp, and version change when available.
4

Switch history views

Use Day History to group actions by date, then use Theme History to switch to theme-grouped actions for that day.
5

Load older records

Click Load More in the modal to display earlier activity.
If you see “This theme has no recorded activity in Dashboard Insights,” check Network Activity and Dashboard Insights settings to confirm logging and retention are configured.

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Theme Auto Updates

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Enable Auto Updates

1

Navigate to Settings

Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings).
2

Find Update Settings

Locate the Updates Settings section in General Settings.
3

Enable

Set Theme advanced automatic updates to Install Trusted Updates.
4

Save

Click Save Settings.

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Mark Themes as Trusted

1

Navigate to Advanced Auto Updates

Go to Sites > Themes > Advanced Auto Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=ThemesAutoUpdate).
2

Filter themes

Use Theme Status to Search, the trust-status dropdown under Search Options, and the Theme name field to find themes.
3

Search

Click Show Themes.
4

Select and trust

Check the themes to trust, select Mark as Trusted from Bulk Actions, and click Apply.

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Ignore Theme Updates

1

Navigate to Theme Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates).
2

Select view

Set Show updates per to Item.
3

Ignore

Find the theme and select your ignore option.Theme ignore options dropdown showing Ignore Globally, Ignore this version, and other options

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Un-ignore a Theme

When ignored theme updates exist, you can click View Ignored Updates on Sites > Updates > Themes (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=themes-updates). You can also use the Themes menu path below.
1

Navigate to Ignored Updates

Go to Sites > Themes > Ignored Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=ThemesIgnore).
2

Un-ignore

Find the theme and click Unignore.Themes Ignored Updates table showing Unignore button in a theme row
If there are no available theme updates but ignored theme updates exist, the Theme Updates action bar remains visible. View Ignored Updates stays clickable, while theme update buttons such as Update Selected Themes and Update All Themes are disabled.

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Premium Plugin and Theme Updates

MainWP Dashboard 6.2 includes built-in update compatibility for many premium plugins and themes. Available premium updates still appear in the normal plugin and theme update screens described above. If a premium update is missing, check its license and update availability on the child site, then sync again. For products that need extra compatibility, go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > Premium Updates (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=PremiumUpdates) and add a Custom Identifier. Premium Updates settings with licensing guidance and custom identifier controls See Premium Updates for setup. An active vendor license or account connection may be required on each child site before an update can download. If an individual premium update fails, try it separately and follow the premium update troubleshooting steps.

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Translation Updates

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Update All Translations on All Sites

1

Navigate to Translation Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Translation (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=translations-updates).
2

Update all

Click Update All to run all available translation updates.

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Update Translations on a Single Site

1

Navigate to Translation Updates

Go to Sites > Updates > Translation (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=UpdatesManage&tab=translations-updates).
2

Switch to Site view

Set Show updates per to Site.
3

Update the site

Find the child site and run the available translation updates for that site.

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Translation Auto Updates

Configure translation auto-updates globally in top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings), under the Updates Settings section.
1

Navigate to Settings

Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > General Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Settings).
2

Find Updates Settings

Locate the Updates Settings section.
3

Enable translation auto updates

Set Translation advanced automatic updates to Install Trusted Updates.
4

Save

Click Save Settings.
Translation auto-updates use trusted plugin and theme context. Per-site translation control is available through Ignore translation updates in MainWP > Sites > Manage Sites > Settings.

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Automatic Update Summary Emails

After an automatic update run finishes, MainWP Dashboard sends an Auto Updates Email summarizing successful updates, grouped by child site. The email is processed in the background, so it may arrive after the updates finish.
  • The summary includes successful updates only. It is not a complete report of failed or skipped updates.
  • No summary is sent when the run has no successful updates to report.
Auto Updates Email is separate from Daily Digest and does not wait for the next digest.

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Disable Auto Updates Email

  1. Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > Email Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=SettingsEmail).
  2. Click Manage beside Auto Updates Email.
  3. Turn Enable off and click Save Settings.
Automatic updates continue to run when this email is disabled. See Email Settings for general notification configuration.

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Safe Updates / Rollback

MainWP 5.1 introduced a rollback feature that integrates with the WordPress core rollback feature from WordPress 6.3.
Child sites must run WordPress 6.3 or above for the rollback feature to work.

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How Rollback Works

The rollback feature is active on all MainWP Dashboard pages where updates can be triggered, including the Updates page, Manage Plugins, Manage Themes, and add-on pages. It works for both individual and bulk updates. Shows the rollback feature in action after a failed plugin update.

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Rollback Notices

When a rollback occurs, an orange icon with a tooltip appears. This notice persists on relevant Dashboard pages until the plugin or theme is successfully updated. Rollback icon signifying a rollback persisting throughout the Dashboard.

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Manual Rollback

During updates, WordPress stores the current version temporarily. If the update fails, that version is restored. There is no permanent storage for manual rollback to previous versions. To install a previous version of a WordPress.org plugin:
1

Visit plugin page

Navigate to the plugin page on wordpress.org (e.g., https://wordpress.org/plugins/mainwp/).
2

Open Advanced

Click Advanced in the sidebar.
3

Download version

Select the desired version from the dropdown and click Download.Downloading older versions of plugins from wordpress.org
4

Install

Upload and install the plugin via Install by Upload.
For premium plugins and themes not on wordpress.org, use the Favorites Extension to store versions for rollback.

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Self-Check Checklist

  • WordPress core updates complete successfully
  • Plugin updates work for individual and bulk operations
  • Theme updates work for individual and bulk operations
  • Auto updates are configured for trusted items
  • Ignored updates no longer appear in update lists
  • Rollback feature functions on WordPress 6.3+ sites