Plesk for Windows
Plesk for Linux
kb: how-to
ext: wptk
Applicable to:
- Plesk for Linux
- Plesk for Windows
Question
How to make WordPress plugins and themes automatically updated?
Answer
The feature to automatically update WordPress plugins and themes is available starting from WordPress Toolkit 3.1.0 for Plesk Onyx 17.8:
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In Plesk, go to WordPress Toolkit.
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In a WordPress instance section, click View next to Updates.
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Click Update Settings.
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Select Update plugins automatically and Update themes automatically to Yes. Click OK.
Comments
13 comments
@Ramsey, the work on this feature is currently in progress. Hope that it will be released soon.
Is there a way to filter out specific plugins from the automated list of upgrades? I have some conflictive plugins that need further backups before they are updated.
Hi Christian, at this moment it can only update all. Though we might consider implementing such a possibility in future versions.
What's the update frequency of the WordPress Toolkit when Automatic Updates are enabled for a WordPress-website in the Wordpress Toolkit? And is it possible to edit the frequency?
Does it for example check for new updates every night and automatically applies them?
@Anton, My customer's preferences should take priority. If they have configured their own Wordpress installations with their preferences, those preferences should be respected (instead of Wordpress Toolkit disabling their configured auto-updates). I, however, still want to see the state of the instances on the server and be able to mitigate issues, on demand, so I don't want to disable Wordpress Toolkit.
@Bob, why not then do all the preferences via Wordpress Toolkit including update options?
Hi Jannick Nijholt, yes you can do this in Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks. Look for the instances-auto-update.php task.
@Bob,
Hi there!
This is expected behavior. Once instance is attached to WordPress Toolkit, extension manages its update settings. In order to avoid any conflicts during updates, WordPress Toolkit disables WordPress native automatic updates tool. If you would like to use WordPress native tools, you can detach instance from WordPress Toolkit in WordPress > Instances > select your instance > Detach.
Has there been any progress on this? Would be great to be able to set WordPress auto updates to minor and enable Plugins auto updates through the Plesk control panel.
@Anton, Because I would be overriding my customer's preferences that they have configured in Wordpress. Many hosting customers don't ever log in to Plesk. Once Wordpress is working, they only log in to Wordpress.
@Bob, let's say Plesk Toolkit configured to install "minor changes" and Wordpress code "major changes" automatically. As a result setting from Toolkit won't work properly, because core always does a major upgrade.
Also, could you please share the use-case why to keep both? Generally, Wordpress Toolkit do all the same but adds additional features like automatic backups before the upgrade and etc.
It appears that the Plesk Wordpress Toolkit DISABLES Wordpress's built-in automatic updates by adding the following to wp-config.php:
<?php
define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false);// This setting is required to make sure that WordPress updates can be properly managed in WordPress Toolkit. Remove this line if this WordPress instance is not managed by WordPress Toolkit anymore.
/**
Why is this done and can that change be reverted, in mass, for all affected Wordpress instances?
If a Wordpress installation was configured for automatic updates, that setting should not be overridden by adding "WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false" to a customer's wp-config.php
Help me to understand why Plesk would make that change to a customer's configuration.
Thanks for the info. I'd really like to have the viability, that Toolkit provides, into Wordpress instances on my server, including out-of-date core, plugin, and theme, notifications, without disabling Wordpress's native core update functionality. I don't understand why the two cannot coexist.
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