Installation Guide › Steps to install
Upgrading the Plugin
Back up, update WP EasyCart, PRO and your extensions, and let the database update finish. 8 parts.
Quick links
Where to find it:WP Admin › Dashboard › Updates
Before you start
How updates work, and a backup
What an update replaces, what it never touches, and what to back up.
Why updates are safe
Code in one folder, your store in another
Updating WP EasyCart replaces the plugin code and nothing else.
Your store data (products, orders, customers, settings) lives in the WP EasyCart tables in your WordPress database. An update never removes it.wp-content/plugins/wp-easycart is the plugin code. WordPress deletes and replaces it on every update, so never put your own files there.wp-content/plugins/wp-easycart-data holds your files: uploaded product images, download files, customer uploads and any template copies you customised. Updates do not touch it.
Keep WordPress, WP EasyCart, PRO and your extensions up to date together. Updates carry security fixes as well as features.
⚠️ Careful: Never edit files inside wp-content/plugins/wp-easycart. The next update deletes them. Custom templates belong in wp-easycart-data.
Step 1. Back up first
Database and the data folder
Take a backup you know how to restore before any update:
The whole database, including the WP EasyCart tables. Their names start with ec_ and have no WordPress prefix, so check your backup tool includes every table, not only the ones that start with wp_.
The files, at least wp-content, which includes wp-easycart-data.
Most hosts offer a snapshot from their control panel. A busy store is best updated at a quiet hour.
Update
Five steps, in this order
The free plugin, PRO, the extensions, then the database.
Step 2. Update WP EasyCart
From Dashboard › Updates or Plugins
The free plugin updates like any plugin from wordpress.org. Either:
Go to Dashboard › Updates, tick WP EasyCart and press Update Plugins. Or:
Go to Plugins › Installed Plugins and press update now in the WP EasyCart row.
Update WP EasyCart before PRO and the extensions. PRO and the extensions run on top of it, and PRO switches its features off when the free plugin is older than it needs, with a notice that says Please update WP EasyCart first.
WordPress auto-updates work too. The row’s Enable auto-updates link turns them on.
💡 Note: Update the free WP EasyCart plugin first, then PRO, then the extensions.
Step 3. Update WP EasyCart PRO
Same screens, needs a current license
PRO’s updates come from WP EasyCart, not wordpress.org, but they show in the same places: Dashboard › Updates and the PRO row on Plugins. Its row also has a Check for updates link if you know a release is out and it has not appeared.
Updates need a current license. Without one, the PRO row explains instead:
Updates for WP EasyCart PRO need a Pro license, and none was found: register your key (see Registering Your License).
Updates for WP EasyCart PRO are paused because your Pro license expired: renew, and updates come back.
Updates for WP EasyCart PRO are paused because your Pro trial ended: upgrade the trial.
PRO keeps working with your current version while updates are paused.
Step 4. Update your extensions
EasyCart › Extensions, or Plugins
With WP EasyCart Premium installed (Premium licenses), open EasyCart › Extensions. The line under the header shows how many updates are available. Check for updates asks again, Update all updates every extension that has one. A card with a newer version shows it next to the installed version, and an Update to button once the download is ready.
The same updates also show on Dashboard › Updates and Plugins, and work with WordPress auto-updates.
Without WP EasyCart Premium, extensions update from the Plugins screen like any other plugin.
When an extension is too old for your WP EasyCart, every EasyCart screen shows a notice such as Update ShipStation: version … is out of date, … is ready with an Update button and Remind me in a week. The extension keeps running until you update, but update it soon: the notice says what the new version fixes.
💡 Note: Installing WP EasyCart Premium and the extensions is covered in Installing Extensions.
Step 5. Let the database update finish
Automatic, in the background, after each update
Many updates change the WP EasyCart tables. That runs on its own: the next pages anyone loads, in the admin or the store, carry it out in short batches until it is done. You do not press anything.
While it runs, EasyCart › Diagnostics says Database upgrade in progress with the step it is on, and the menu shows a 1 next to Diagnostics. A few new features also say they are waiting for the database update. On a large store, open a couple of admin pages and give it a minute.
When it is finished, the Database Status card reads Your database is currently correctly formatted and not missing any tables or columns.
If the database update gets stuck
Retry, run it by hand, or continue without one change
If a change cannot be made on your database, an error notice says The WP EasyCart database install or update could not complete and lists what failed. The usual cause is a database user without permission to create or alter tables.
Retry the database install now tries again. Do this first, especially after your host has fixed a permission.
If one step keeps failing, the notice shows the SQL statement in square brackets. Your host can run it in phpMyAdmin, then you retry.
Continue without this change finishes the rest of the update and stops the retries. Your store keeps working, but the change is still outstanding: Diagnostics lists it under database changes were skipped and may keep reporting it in the structure check. Once the cause is fixed, press Try them again there.
⚠️ Careful: Continue without this change only after Retry has failed. The skipped change stays outstanding until it is applied.
Afterwards
Check it worked
Diagnostics, the storefront and a test order.
Step 6. Check it worked
Diagnostics, the storefront and a test order
Open EasyCart › Diagnostics and look for no new problems. See EasyCart Diagnostics for reading the result.
Clear your page cache, if you use one, then look at your store, a product page and the cart while logged out.
If you keep customised template copies in wp-easycart-data, compare them with the new plugin’s versions. An old copy keeps the old layout and can miss new features. Some screens, such as the Elementor checkout widgets, tell you when they find an older copy.
Then place a test order.
Keep going
Related panels
Database Status and every other check.
WP EasyCart Premium and the extensions.
Renewing a license so PRO updates resume.
Your license and support end date.
Ready to run your store on WP EasyCart?
Everything in this guide works with the free plugin. PRO and Premium add subscriptions, memberships, wholesale pricing and more. Try every PRO feature free for 14 days.
