In fact, all software is constantly evolving to meet people’s demands and WordPress is no exception. WordPress has been releasing a lot of new versions to bring new features, security fixes as well as better performance for your website. Therefore, checking the current WordPress version you are using is very important. For this reason, this post will show you some methods to help you check your WordPress version. Let’s keep reading.
Why do you need to check your current WordPress version?
To make sure that your WordPress website is always compatible with all plugins and themes, it is necessary to check your WordPress version regularly to keep it up to date with the software’s latest version.
In addition, checking the current WordPress version also keeps your site safe from malicious threats and unwanted attacks. This is because most new WordPress versions fix earlier errors in the code.
How to check your current WordPress version?
There are several methods that allow you to check your current WordPress version. In today’s tutorial, we are going to demonstrate the easiest ways to help you tackle this issue. Now, let’s go through the following methods.
Method 1: Check WordPress version in the admin area
This is the simplest way to check the WordPress version, because the WordPress admin area displays plenty of useful information including the current WordPress version you are using.
To use this method, first of all, you need to log in to the WordPress dashboard and go to Dashboard > Updates. You will see the currently installed version of WordPress along with the latest WordPress version released.
If the message says that your site isn’t running the latest version, it is time to upgrade your WordPress version. However, make sure to back up your entire site before upgrading.
Alternatively, you can find the WordPress version you are using by scrolling down any page of the admin area. Have a look at the footer of the page, you will see the WordPress version number displayed in the bottom right corner of the page.
However, if your website is using an outdated version of WordPress, you will see a link to the newest version instead.
Moreover, you can also find the WordPress version number in the “At a Glance” admin widget on the dashboard page. The location of this widget may vary depending on the settings of your site. In our example, we are using WordPress version 5.8.2.
Method 2: Check WordPress version in the page source
Instead of logging into the WordPress admin dashboard to check the current WordPress version, you can also check the WordPress version number in the site’s source code. This method even allows you to check the currently installed version of another WordPress site.
To use this method, open your WordPress website in a web browser. Then right-click any area on your site and choose the “View Page Source” option.
A new tab will open that contains the source HTML code of the page.
Now, you need to press CTRL + F or COMMAND +F(macOS) to open the browser’s search feature. Enter “generator” in the search bar.
If the generator tag is not disabled, you will see a line similar to the one below.
<meta name=”generator” content=”Wordress 5.8.2″/>
However, this method is only feasible if the website owner still retains the default settings. In fact, many websites hide their WordPress version in the source code, because showing it may cause a lot of unwanted issues, such as malicious attacks and much more. Hence, we also recommend hiding the meta tag to keep your site safe.
You can hide the meta tag by making changes in the functions.php file of your active theme. Let’s access the WordPress admin panel and then go to Appearance > Theme Editor.
Let’s select the site’s current theme and choose the functions.php file. Then, you need to copy the following code and paste it at the bottom of the file.
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');
After that, don’t forget to click on the “Update File” button to save your changes.
Summary
Hopefully, all the methods we have just provided can help you answer the question “How to check the Current WordPress version you are using?”. If you have any trouble with these methods, feel free to write your queries in the comments below. We will support you as soon as possible.
Moreover, the appearance of each website plays an important role in drawing visitors’ attention. Therefore, our free WordPress themes provide hundreds of beautiful, modern designs to help your site get an eye-catching look. Don’t miss our website.
