How to Update Your Divi Website SAFELY to Divi 4.0

by | Oct 17, 2019 | Divi Tutorials | 77 comments

Today is the day that Divi 4.0 is released! It’s super exciting and the long awaited Divi Theme Builder is finally here!

However, this is a major version update, which means you need to be EXTRA careful when updating.

The video goes through the steps you should take to help avoid disaster, and how to easily back step if things do go wrong.

You can also watch the tutorial on Facebook, if you prefer.

If you have questions, or have requests on what you’d like to see covered, please leave a comment below, or on YouTube or Facebook 🙂

Step by Step Guide on How to Update Your Divi Website Safely

Step 0: Wait a few weeks…

  • Step 1: Back Up the Website!
    • Server Level Backup (WP Engine, Flywheel, etc)
    • Backup Plugin
    • Updraft Plus
    • All in One WP Migration
    • BackWPup
    • Backup Buddy
  • Test the Update in a Staging Environment
    • Test in Your Built-in Server Staging (WP Engine, Flywheel, etc)
    • Clone Your Site in Your Hosting Environment (manual staging)
    • Migrate Site to Local (Local by Flywheel)
  • Download the Current Version of Divi You’re Running and Store Safely
    • Download via FTP
    • Use File Manager Plugin to Download Current Version
  • Test EVERYTHING (while in Staging)
    • All Major Pages
    • All Functionality
    • All Devices
  • Update Live Site, and Test More
  • Something wrong? Need to Revert?
    • Divi’s Built in Revert Tool
    • Your Downloaded Copy of Divi in the previously working version
    • Your Backup

 

77 Comments

      • Avatar

        I’m so glad you posted this, the backup literally saved me HOURS! thank you so much!

        Reply
        • Avatar

          That’s awesome to hear!! 🙂

          Reply
    • Avatar

      This theme is awesome.

      Reply
    • Avatar

      YES! Me too, can’t wait. Only a little while left, assuming the countdown timer is perfectly accurate 🙂

      Reply
      • Avatar

        Divi 4, Season 4 of the Brexit drama climax, Ireland v The All blacks? I’m completely conflicted. What to watch???

        Reply
        • Avatar

          Haha!! Divi 4 of course! 🙂

          Reply
    • Avatar

      Thanks for tuning in Puya 🙂

      Reply
  1. Avatar

    replay

    Reply
  2. Avatar

    Replay

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Great, thanks for watching Natasha 🙂

      Reply
  3. Avatar

    Hi, We are all excited to work with Divi 4.0 and thanks for sharing such great informative vides to your valuable customers. Thank You.

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re welcome! I’m glad you found the info useful 🙂

      Reply
  4. Avatar

    Watching on Divi Life

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to watch, Maureen 🙂

      Reply
  5. Avatar

    replay

    Reply
  6. Avatar

    Hi there, thanks for the helpful steps. Do you have a step by step list we can follow as well?

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Yep! The list has just been published 🙂

      Reply
  7. Avatar

    Could you publish and make available a cheat sheet with these points?

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Hey Mark! Yes, the post has just now been updated with the step by steps written out 🙂

      Reply
  8. Avatar

    Some really great tips, Tim. I have downloaded Divi version 3.29.3 (probably the last version before 4.0) just to be safe. 🙂

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Glad you liked it, Andrej. And awesome, great idea! 🙂

      Reply
  9. Avatar

    Will you be updating your Divi plugins to work with the updated theme?

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Yes, absolutely! We will definitely be updating our plugins asap if needed. Unfortunately 3rd party product companies like us aren’t given early access to releases in order to test, so we won’t know for sure if there’s anything that will break with Divi 4.0 until it’s released today. We don’t anticipate any major issues though, and all of our plugins will still be relevant. There’s A LOT of 3rd party Divi products that will be obsolete (or mostly obsolete) after Divi 4.0 is released, however luckily that won’t be the case with Divi Life products. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Avatar

    You’re on a roll, Tim! Wow. Loving this content, thank you!

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Thanks Lilly!! I’m glad you’re loving it. Let me know if you have any topics you’d like me to cover 🙂

      Reply
  11. Avatar

    Hi Tim, sounds like some great new features but also something that is going to cause me some stress. Disaster is not an option… Couple questions: will the new update affect Woocommerce installations? What folder do I upload the current version of Divi to so I can quickly activate it if needed?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Hi Bev, I think if you follow the steps I’ve outlined, everything will be fine. It could be that this is a super smooth update and nothing will break. But it’s always better to be safe and exercise caution. As for WooCommerce, I’m not sure exactly, but these same steps will help avoid disaster altogether. It’s best to have the last known working version of Divi to be downloaded to your computer as a local copy.

      Reply
  12. Avatar

    Replay

    Reply
  13. Avatar

    replay

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Great, thanks for watching 🙂

      Reply
  14. Avatar

    Hi,

    Very good, I will apply on the websites in agency.

    Regards.

    Reply
  15. Avatar

    Replay. Thanks Tim.

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re welcome, thanks for watching!

      Reply
  16. Avatar

    Replay

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re welcome! Thanks for watching! 🙂

      Reply
  17. Avatar

    Replay. Appreciate your practical, step-by-step approach. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful, and I appreciate the feedback 🙂

      Reply
  18. Avatar

    hello,

    how can i update to Divi 4.0?

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Go to the WordPress update screen from within WP Admin. If you have an active Divi subscription, and you’ve added your credentials to the Update tab within Divi Theme Options, then you should see the update show up. Just remember to follow the best practice steps I’ve outlined in this tutorial 🙂

      Reply
  19. Avatar

    Replay

    Reply
  20. Avatar

    Thanks, Tim, great tips!

    What will 4.0 mean more concretely for the RoyalCommerce child?

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re welcome! We will be rebuilding and repackaging all of our child themes including RoyalCommerce to take advantage of the new features in the Theme Builder. But for now, everything should still be fully compatible. 🙂

      Reply
  21. Avatar

    Replay. Good information. Thank you so much.

    I would love to see a tutorial specifically on how to do this step:

    Download the Current Version of Divi You’re Running and Store Safely
    •Download via FTP
    •Use File Manager Plugin to Download Current Version

    Reply
    • Avatar

      Glad it was helpful, Jenn! And yes, I can add that to the list for future tutorials. Here’s a quick step by step though so you don’t have to wait:

      1. Install and activate the File Manager plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
      2. From the file manager, go to wp-content > themes >, then select Divi and then click the Download button from the file manager toolbar. (if you hover over each of the icons in the toolbar, it will tell you what icon does what). It will zip the Divi folder and download it automatically 🙂

      Reply
      • Avatar

        Thank you, Tim!

        Reply
  22. Avatar

    Replay
    Thanks for the show. Very helpful. I’ll be back 😉

    Reply
    • Avatar

      You’re very welcome! Sounds great 🙂

      Reply
  23. Avatar

    Thank you so much! This was really helpful 🙂

    Reply
  24. Avatar

    Replay 10/31/19

    Thank you for keeping this available!

    Reply
  25. Avatar

    I got divi and it’s great

    Reply

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