What to do after plugin is updated?

Updating plugins to the new version is essential to ensure that you always have the latest features, updates, and fixes. But, updating the plugin is only part of the update process, there are few more things you need to do.

Updating the plugin can be done in different ways, and you can read more about that here: Plugin Installation & Update. All Dev4Press plugins are made so that settings will remain as is after the update. It is important to follow the post-update procedure to make sure all is working as expected. Also, make sure you read about the post-installation process.

Post Update process

Similar to installation, post update for Dev4Press starts with the notice on top of the admin pages. Once, you open the update panel, you will see something like this:

It is quite similar to install panel and it makes sure everything is OK with the new version settings, database tables, and other things that might need updating.

Database Update

Sometimes, new plugin version includes new database tables, or they modify existing tables with new columns or indexes. It is very important that database update is completed without errors.

If there are any errors reported related to the database tables, you should attempt to update database tables manually. Each plugin has a knowledge base article with the full database schema, and you need to use that schema to create tables in your website database.

Dealing with cache

Updating plugin is more critical then installing the new plugin.

Cache Plugins

If you use any cache plugins, make sure to clear its cache. Most cache plugins will offer to do that any time the new plugin is installed. It is important to do this, to make sure cache plugin recreates all cached pages with the newly installed plugin active.

CDN Cache

If you use CDN (Content Delivery Network), you need to clear all cached files from the CDN to make sure new files (images, JS, CSS, fonts) are cached again. All Dev4Press plugins will unique query string to clearly mark JS/CSS files as new, but some CDN networks ignore query strings, and that’s why it is essential to clear CDN cache after the update.

Server Side Cache

If you use a server-side cache (like OPCache, APC, Varnish), make sure to clear all the cache for it. OPCache is caching compiled PHP scripts, and whenever you make changes to the website code, it is a good idea to clear the cache. These cache methods can be configured to automatically clear cached scripts when they detect changes, but in some cases, these cache extensions are not properly configured, and they require manual cache clear when the code on the website changes.

This step is critical when the plugin is updated, so, before you report that new plugin version has bugs, clear all server side cache first, in many cases that are the post update problem.

Proxy Cache

If you use CloudFlare or similar proxy cache system, you must clear the cache for the proxy too. CloudFlare will usually detect when something is changed, but in case that doesn’t happen, clear the cache manually.

Browser Cache

Finally, when JavaScript and CSS files change with new plugin version, it is important to flush browser cache. The plugin adds the query string to JS/CSS files to mark new files versions, but in some cases, these query strings can be removed, and browsers can load old files from the cache instead. Any time you update any plugin, clear your browser cache.

Plugin Settings

When you complete plugin update, make sure you check out all plugin settings and make updates where needed. Major plugin updates usually bring new settings and features, and it is important to configure them.