Envato WordPress Toolkit Plugin: A Quick Guide to Download, Install and Setup
Millions of people use WordPress themes, and many users and developers choose to purchase premium themes from Themeforest. It’s a reputable theme store they can trust that is known for quality WordPress themes, and awesome theme authors. Another great feature of Themeforest is their Envato WordPress Toolkit plugin for automatic WordPress theme updates. Envato created this plugin so that Themeforest authors can provide buyers with fast, efficient updates to keep their themes bug-free and compatible with the latest version of WordPress. This quick guide will show you how to download, install and setup the Envato WordPress Toolkit plugin.
Get Your Envato API Key
Before you install the plugin, you should request your Envato API key since it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for the key to be recognized. All you have to do is login to Themeforest and visit your user profile page. Click on Settings. You Should see an API Keys tab below. Just click the button to generate your API key.
Envato will create a random 32 character API key for you to use. You can create multiple keys if you need to (some users prefer to do this if they are installing each theme purchase on a different domain).
Download, Install & Activate The Envato WordPress ToolKit Plugin
Now that you have your API key, you’ll need to get the plugin. Visit the Envato WordPress Toolkit Github page to download the plugin zip file.
You install the Envato WordPress Toolkit just like any other plugin. Login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the plugins section. Click Add New, then select the Upload method. Browse for the plugin file you downloaded from Github (it should be named “envato-wordpress-toolkit-master.zip” or something similar). Click Install Now, then Activate the plugin.
Once installed and active you should see an Envato Toolkit menu item in your dashboard.
Setting Up The Envato WordPress Toolkit
Setting up the plugin is super easy since you already have your Envato API key. Simply click on the Envato Toolkit menu item in your dashboard and enter in your Envato username and API key. Then Save your settings.
Once saved, the toolkit should recognize your API key and display all of your Themeforest purchases. If the plugin doesn’t recognize your API key it’s possible your key is still too new. Remember I mentioned that it can take a few minutes or a few hours? Try clearing your cache or refreshing your browser, and if that doesn’t work then wait it out by reading our WordPress blog for an hour and try again in an hour.
So, once you have your list of purchases displayed you can install and update your Themeforest themes right from your dashboard. This means you don’t have to log in to Themeforest to check for theme updates – you can quickly, easily and automatically update your themes instead.
Automatically Update Your Themes
All you have to do to update a theme is click on the Update Automatically link for that theme in your toolkit. The plugin will prompt you to confirm your update. This is to remind you that if you’ve edited your stylesheet or other core files without using a child theme you will lose your changes. Don’t worry about the styling options you’ve set in the WordPress Theme Customizer or in the Theme Options Panel – those options will not be affected by updating your theme.
Since you always follow best practices and you have used a child theme for any changes to the theme’s code, click OK to update your theme. Next, you’ll see an update screen that you’re used to.
Once the update is complete, if you go back to the Envato Toolkit tab you’ll see that your theme is now up to date.
That’s it. Easy right? Just check the Envato WordPress Toolkit Github page from time to time to see if there’s a plugin update. At the moment it doesn’t feature an auto-updater so you won’t see an update notification in your WordPress dashboard.
It’s always a good idea to fully update your themes since authors are frequently fixing bugs, updating for the latest version of WordPress and adding new features. Hopefully, this quick tutorial will help make updating your Themeforest themes even easier!
