You are about to change the theme on a WordPress site and want to do it without losing anything. Your posts, pages and media are safe in any theme switch. What is at risk is everything the old theme added on its own, and that is what this page helps you protect. It applies to any theme change, to or from any theme.
#First, decide which kind of switch this is
- A new look for the same content
The site keeps its posts, pages, URLs and users, and only the design changes. This is the most common case, and the one where preparation matters most, because there is real content to protect.
- A full rebuild
The site is rebuilt from scratch: new structure, new pages, often new content imported from a demo. The old content either goes or is moved across selectively. Here the risk is less about losing data and more about deciding what to carry over.
On an empty or brand-new site, there is nothing to lose. Run the basic checks at the end of this page and carry on.
#What a theme switch does to your data
WordPress keeps your content separate from the theme that displays it. Posts, pages, media, categories, tags, comments, users and menu items belong to WordPress and survive any switch untouched. Anything the old theme itself provided stops working, even though its data usually stays in the database.
#The biggest risk: features the old theme registered itself
If your current theme added its own content types or fields, they will very likely stop working when you switch.
This is the most common way content "disappears" after a theme change, and a backup alone does not solve it.
Many themes, especially large multipurpose ones, register their own:
- Custom post types
Separate kinds of content such as Portfolio, Testimonials, Team, Events or Reviews. When the theme that registered them is gone, the entries vanish from the admin menu and their pages return 404.
- Custom fields
Extra data attached to posts, such as a price, a rating or a project date. The values stay in the database with nothing left to show or edit them.
- Shortcodes and page builder elements
Content built with the old theme's own shortcodes or builder shows up as raw text or empty space.
To check whether you are affected, look at the admin menu. Any content section that is not a standard WordPress one (Posts, Media, Pages, Comments) and that does not come from a plugin in Plugins probably belongs to the theme.
#Keeping custom post types alive
If you want to keep a custom post type, register it in a plugin before you switch, so it no longer depends on the theme:
Note the exact name of each custom post type
Open that section's list of entries in the admin. The address bar shows its internal name after post_type=, for example portfolio. The name has to match exactly, or WordPress treats it as a different type.
Register the same type in a plugin
Custom Post Type UI lets you register post types and taxonomies from an admin screen, with no code. For custom fields, Advanced Custom Fields or Secure Custom Fields can define the same field names so the stored values reappear.
Switch themes on a staging copy and check
The entries should be back in the admin, with their data.
Keeping the data is only half of it.
A plugin brings the content back into the admin, but the new theme has no templates designed to display it. Showing that content well on the front end means building those layouts yourself or hiring a developer. For a large site, this is a proper migration project.
#Data does not move from one theme's features into another's
Two themes can have features with the same name and store them in completely different ways. Content from one never flows into the other on its own.
For example, if your old theme had its own "Reviews" section and the new theme offers reviews too, your old reviews will not appear in the new one. They are different data structures, declared differently, with different fields. Moving them means a deliberate migration, entry by entry or with an import tool, and that work sits outside theme support, as the Support Policy states under content work. See third-party plugins and where responsibility sits.
The same applies in every direction:
- Moving to a jkdevstudio theme: content types, fields and settings from your previous theme do not turn into our features. Our reviews, FAQ entries and other integrations start empty.
- Moving from a jkdevstudio theme to another theme: data stored by our integrations, such as review scores or FAQ entries, stays in the database but will not show up in a theme that does not support those integrations.
- Moving between two other themes: the same rule, for the same reason.
#Prepare the switch
Take a full backup
Files and database, stored somewhere other than the same server. A posts export is not enough; take a complete backup. It is the one step that gets you out of any trouble that follows.
Work on a staging copy
Install the new theme on a copy of the site first. Many hosts create one in a click. On our themes, every license includes a free slot for a staging domain; see Moving a license to another domain, and using it for staging.
Protect what the old theme registered
Move custom post types and fields into a plugin, as described above. List every page that uses the old theme's shortcodes or builder, so you know what to rebuild.
Write down your current setup
The old theme takes its settings with it, so note:
- which menu is assigned to which location
- which pages are the front page and the posts page
- what sits in each sidebar or widget area
- the logo, colors and fonts you want to keep
Temporarily deactivate third-party plugins
With plugins off, anything that goes wrong belongs to the new theme, and anything that returns when a plugin comes back belongs to that plugin. Deactivating a plugin keeps its data. Turn them back on one at a time afterwards.
Keep your permalinks unchanged
Changing the URL structure during a theme switch breaks every existing link and the search rankings attached to it. Leave SettingsPermalinks as it is.
A demo import adds content; it does not replace yours.
On a site that already has content, import a demo only on a staging copy, or import only the parts you need, such as a single page. See How demo import works.
#Basic checks for any site
You have file access over SFTP or the hosting File Manager, in case the admin becomes unreachable
Search engine visibility is not switched off by accident in SettingsReading
The time zone and date format are set in SettingsGeneral
Caching is off, or you know how to clear it, while you work
The server meets the new theme's requirements; see server requirements
#Change one thing at a time
Do not move the site to a new domain, update PHP or install a batch of new plugins on the same day as the theme switch. When several things change at once, nobody can tell which one broke the site. And avoid starting late on a Friday: if you need your host, they may not be there until Monday.
#Common questions
Will switching themes delete my posts?
No. Posts, pages, media, users and menu items belong to WordPress. What you lose is the old theme's settings, widget placements, menu assignments and anything the theme registered itself.
My portfolio or testimonials disappeared after switching
They were most likely a custom post type registered by the old theme. The entries are still in the database. Register a post type with exactly the same name in a plugin such as Custom Post Type UI, and they reappear in the admin.
Will my old theme's reviews or listings move into the new theme's features?
No. Each theme stores its features in its own way, and nothing maps one onto the other automatically. Moving that content is a migration you or a developer carry out, and it is not covered by theme support.
Can I preview the new theme before switching?
Yes. Live Preview in AppearanceThemes shows the theme with your real content without switching visitors over. It does not show everything a full setup does, which is why a staging copy is still the safer test.
Something is already broken before I start
Fix it first. Installing a new theme on a site with an existing error makes the error look like the theme's fault and costs you the one clean comparison you had.
Can I go back to the old theme?
Yes, as long as it is still installed. Reactivating it restores its settings, which WordPress keeps stored per theme. That is another reason not to delete the old theme until the new one is settled.
#Still stuck
Open a support ticket and say what you tried and where it stopped. Your product, your domain, a screenshot and the exact message you saw are usually enough to settle it in one reply.
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