Updating Genesis Blocks Pro can be done automatically or manually depending on where you accessed it (through your WP Engine hosting account, a Genesis Pro subscription, or your StudioPress Pro Plus account).
Table of Contents:
- Automatic updates (for WP Engine and Genesis Pro customers)
- Manual updates (for StudioPress Pro Plus customers)
Automatic Updates
If you accessed the Genesis Blocks Pro plugin through your WP Engine hosting account or your Genesis Pro subscription, you can update it automatically by logging in to your WP-Admin and following these steps:
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- Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
- Click the update now link that appears under the Genesis Blocks details.
Manual Updates
If you accessed the Genesis Blocks Pro plugin through your StudioPress Pro Plus account, you will need to update it manually.
Download the updated plugin
Before you get started, you’ll need to download the updated plugin.
To do this, log into your My StudioPress account and download the latest version of the plugin .zip file as shown in the image below.
Note: When you download Genesis Blocks Pro, the zip file will be named genesis-page-builder.x.x.x.zip (x.x.x represents the version number of the plugin).
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Now that you’ve downloaded the updated plugin, select the method you’d like to use to upload it to your website. You can either upload it via the WP-Admin dashboard or via FTP.
Upload via the WP-Admin Dashboard
The easiest way to upload the plugin is through the WP-Admin dashboard.
To do this, you must first go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and deactivate the old version of Genesis Blocks Pro. Then on the same screen, delete the now deactivated plugin.
Then to upload the plugin via the dashboard, follow these steps:
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- Go to Plugins > Add New and click Upload Plugin.
- Click Choose File and find the plugin .zip file that you downloaded onto your computer. The file will be named genesis-page-builder-x.x.x.zip (x.x.x represents the version number of the plugin).
- Once you have selected the plugin .zip file for upload, click the Install Now button and then follow on-screen instructions to activate the plugin.
Upload via FTP
To upload the plugin via FTP, follow these steps:
- Extract the updated plugin files.
- Connect to your site’s server using an FTP client.
- Back up and then delete the old version of the plugin.
- Upload the new version of the plugin.
- Verify everything is working correctly.
1. Extract the updated plugin files.
Extract (or unzip) the genesis-page-builder-x.x.x.zip file to reveal the genesis-page-builder folder.
In the example below, the version number is 1.6.0.
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- To unzip files on a Windows computer, right-click on the .zip file to select Extract All, and then follow the on-screen instructions.
- To unzip files on a Mac computer, double click on the .zip file.
2. Connect to your site’s server using an FTP client.
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. An FTP client is software that transfers files between a computer and a server over the internet. The client needs to be installed on your computer and requires a live connection to the internet.
Some popular FTP clients include:
Some of these FTP clients are PC or Mac specific. Be sure to select a client that is compatible with your operating system.
If you are unsure how to connect to your website’s server using FTP, contact your web host.
Also, here are links to tutorials and guides for these popular FTP clients:
3. Back up and then delete the old version of the plugin.
Once connected to your server with the FTP client, navigate to public_html/your-site/wp-content/plugins where you’ll find the old genesis-page-builder folder.
Because you can’t upload the new version while the old version still exists on the server, you’ll need to delete the old version.
However, before deleting it, we recommend renaming the existing genesis-page-builder folder to something like genesis-page-builder-old so you can preserve the older version in case you need to restore it for any reason.
You can rename the folder by right-clicking on the folder name and selecting Rename.
After you rename the folder, you can download it to your computer for safe keeping (right-click and select Download). Then you can delete it from the server (right-click and select Delete).
The image below shows what this looks like using the Filezilla FTP client. The left side shows the files on the computer and the right side shows the files on the server.
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4. Upload the new version of the plugin.
While still inside the FTP client, navigate to the updated genesis-page-builder plugin folder you extracted step 2, right-click on it, and select Upload to add it to the public_html/your-site/wp-content/plugins folder on your server.
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5. Verify everything is working correctly.
Finally, visit your WP-Admin dashboard and the front end of your website to ensure the updated plugin is active and functioning correctly.