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Hi Enfold Support Team,
I’m working on a client’s website and need your guidance before proceeding with a major update.
Current situation:Enfold version: 4.8.3 (last updated around 2020)
WordPress: 5.9.12
PHP: 7.4.33
The site has been running without major updates for approximately 5 yearsWhat needs to be updated:
Enfold: 4.8.3 → latest version (6.0+)
WordPress: 5.9.12 → 6.8.3
PHP: 7.4.33 → 8.3My concerns:
I’m worried about such a large version jump potentially breaking the website. The site is live and actively used by my client, so I need to minimize any risks and downtime.
My questions:Is it safe to update directly from Enfold 4.8.3 to the latest 6.0+ version, or should I update incrementally through intermediate versions?
Are there any known breaking changes or compatibility issues between version 4.8.3 and 6.0+ that I should be aware of?
What is the recommended update sequence? Should I update Enfold first, then WordPress, then PHP?
Will existing layouts built with Avia Layout Builder continue to work after the update?
Are there any specific settings, customizations, or files I should backup or document before updating?
Should I expect any visual or functional changes that might require adjustments after the update?I have a full backup prepared, but I want to understand potential issues and the safest approach before starting the update process.
Thank you very much for your help and guidance!
Best regards,Hey Patrycja,
Thanks for your question, glad to hear that you have a full backup prepared, including the database, while we don’t expect any issues updating from v4.8.3 to v7.1.3 (lastest version) since Enfold mantins a good backward compatibly, we would note that your PHP version, 7.4.33 is quite old and some plugins (if any) may not work well with PHP v8+ Enfold now uses PHP v8+ as well as WordPress so you should expect to also update this.
I recommend creating a staging site to test the update on.
Then on the staging site, disable all plugins including any caching plugin and server caching & the Enfold theme caching in the Performance theme settings.
Then update to v7.1.3, and reload the site on the frontend using the browser “hard reload” to clear the browser cache. This will help clear the “post-css” files which serve the css background images in the color sections (if used).
Then update your PHP to v8+, I recommend the lower end like v8.2 or such, not the “bleeding edge” highest version like v8.5, you can test this later if you wish.
If you are using a child theme and have modified header.php, footer.php or any other core theme files in the child theme, please save these to your computer and remove them from the child theme, these will be different in the current version & will most likely cause an error when updating.
When you update, you may not be able to update though the theme panel “update” feature as just about v4.8.3 Envato (Themeforest) changed from the API key to the Token key, so the best approach is to download the latest installable WP version from your Theme Forest account and upload it to your WordPress ▸ Appearance ▸ Themes ▸ Add Themes ▸ Add New, after you choose the zip file and click install, you will see a This theme is already installed message because you are updating, you can continue. Then you will see the Theme updated successfully message.
After updating see our documentation for creating an Envato Token so future updates can be done in the theme panel.
If you try to update via FTP, do not try to overwrite the theme files, as this will leave old files behind and cause errors, you would need the delete the old theme directory and then upload the new one, using the WordPress ▸ Appearance ▸ Themes ▸ Add Themes ▸ Add New is the easiest solution.Best regards,
Mike
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