Say G’day to Automate! Never Manually Update WordPress Plugins or Themes Ever Again

When was the last time you logged into WordPress and didn’t have to update your plugins, themes or WordPress itself? I’m gonna to bet your answer is “never”.

Let’s face it. People don’t log in to WordPress every day. So when you do log in and you’re confronted with notifications galore nagging you to update your plugins, themes, and core to access new features and fix security issues, bugs and fixes, well, it’s just unacceptable. This, in my opinion, is one of the worst aspects of the WordPress UX.

I mean, I’ve been using WordPress for 10+ years so I’m used to pushing buttons and updating settings to get my website just right. But for admins who run multiple WordPress sites like a lot of WPMU DEV members, manually updating WordPress each and every time you log in is a bloody nightmare!

So we decided to do something about it.

Today, I’m excited to announce Automate, the newest and coolest feature to join the WPMU DEV WordPress toolkit!

Basically, Automate does two very simple but absolutely essential things for your WordPress site automatically:

• Updates for your plugins, themes and WordPress core files, and
• Runs scheduled backups.

Let’s go over these features in more detail.

How Automate is Going to Change Your (Admin) Life

If you manage a bunch of WordPress sites like I do, staying on top of all the updates is time consuming (or as we say in Australia, hard yakka!). The fact is, keeping your site up-to-date is one of the most important things you can do to keep WordPress secure. After all, more than 50% of all hacked WordPress sites is because a plugin or theme was not updated to the latest version.

Thanks to Automate, you’ll never have to worry about manually updating WordPress ever again.

Automate automatically detects when your website is running out-of-date plugins, themes or a major or minor version of WordPress, and automatically updates your website to run the latest versions of all software that’s available.

BUT before Automate does its thing, it can automatically and safely backups your site for you. So if you run into any issues, you can simply restore your site. Too. Easy.

Automatically Run Updates for Plugins, Theme and WordPress Core

One of Automate’s greatest strengths is that you can choose which plugins and themes you want to automatically update, as well as whether you want to enable WordPress core updates.

Or, you can simply auto-update all plugins, themes and core files!

Don’t want to update WordPress core files automatically? No worries mate! Just turn it off.

Automatically Run Scheduled Backups

Automatically running backups before you auto-update files is as easy as switching it on in Automate’s settings.

And if you like being across all activity on your site, we’ve got you covered there too! With Automate, you can enable update reports so you get an email each time Automate runs or daily or as a weekly digest. Or not at all. It’s entirely up to you.

If you do choose to get email updates, you’ll receive links to all updates, readmes and your website, so if you can double-check everything has gone smoothly.

We’re even working on automating email reports too. Coming soon :)

Automate Activity Logs

As we well know down here this ‘aint no Terra nullius. And neither are your Automate logs.

Automate records every single thing that it does on your site like our lives depend on it. Just check your activity log and there’s a positive swag bag of info there so you can see all the good things we’ve been doing for ya.

Yep, we’ve got you covered with automated updates and backups, which you can use on unlimited sites as often as you like, completely free with your WPMU DEV membership

Never Waste Time on Manual Updates Ever Again!

Ready to get started? Automate is available right now in The Hub. Just click the Automate icon to configure the basic settings for auto updates and auto backups.

Give it a miss and you’re a flamin’ galah!

Give it a go and you’re a bloody legend!

Translation: Try Automate out now! It’s awesome and works a treat on my own WordPress websites :)