The release this week of multi-featured Thesis 1.7 has users justifiably excited, but has also provoked a little anxiety over the prospect of upgrading or installing. Folks are tripping up over a couple of points in official instructions – mostly, I think, because of language. I hope that this post will help to allay qualms and lay out clear strategies for proceeding. Note that I say strategies – plural – intentionally, because how you get to 1.7 depends on where you start.
First-time Thesis installation
This is the shortest section of this post. 
If you’re installing 1.7, and you’re installing Thesis for the first time, then stop reading this and instead click over to “Installing Thesis without confusion,” It was written for version 1.6, but is perfectly valid for 1.7, so go get it.
Upgrading from 1.6 to 1.7
You may have previously read or watched tutorials on upgrading to 1.7, and may yet be a bit confused on a couple of points. I’d like you to put whatever you’ve read or viewed aside for a moment, as I detail the steps that I took to upgrade Thesis 1.6 sites to 1.7.
- Repeating above information as a first and crucial step: Backup your site’s database and its web files, using whatever tools are provided by your web host, before the upgrade. It is not possible to just ‘click back’ to an earlier version of Thesis after the upgrade to 1.7 without the possibility of losing certain settings. This is why backups are vital. It’s your responsibility as a site owner to know how to create them, and how to restore them.
- Using your DIY Themes login info, access the Thesis Theme Download Area page. Click the link that says ‘Download Thesis 1.7 now.’
- The file
thesis_17.zipshould be on your local computer in the area where downloads normally go. Movethesis_17.zipto your desktop (unless it’s there already). - Unzip the
thesis_17.zipfile to produce a folder namedthesis_17. - Open the
thesis_17folder that is on your local computer’s desktop to find inside the folder namedcustom-sample. Now delete the folder namedcustom-sample. - Start your FTP client and access your web installation. Navigate through your web installation’s file structure until you can see the
thesis_16folder (which is located insidewp-content/themes). Open thethesis_16folder to find thecustomfolder inside. - Download that online
customfolder (from your 1.6 installation) to your local computer, and place it into thethesis_1.7folder (replacing thecustom-samplefolder that you deleted earlier).
- Use your FTP client to upload your
thesis_1.7folder intowp-content/themeson your server. (You will put the folder alongside your existingthesis_16folder, thedefaulttheme folder, and theclassictheme folder.) - Follow the by-now familiar steps of opening the
thesis_1.7folder and then thecustomfolder, setting permissions forlayout.css(to 666) and thecachefolder (to 775). Log into WordPress and go to Appearances > Themes, then activate Thesis 1.7. (If you click ‘Preview’ first, you may see a Thesis site with no content. This is normal for Thesis in preview mode; pay it no mind and proceed to activate.)
You see what we did there? We deleted immediately the custom-sample folder in the downloaded and unzipped thesis_1.7 folder, and we replaced it with a copy of our custom folder from our online Thesis 1.6 installation. This places all of our customizations into the 1.7 folder before we upload it, which is less confusing than doing so after the upload.
thesis_17). Some folks rename that folder to simply thesis; indeed, I used to do the same, but no more. I recommend instead that you keep the version number in the name of the Thesis folder (and without spaces; the folder should be named thesis_17, not thesis 17). This will help you keep things straight, and help prevent overwriting previous customizations.Upgrading from 1.5.x to 1.7
If you are still running Thesis 1.5.x on your site, it’s likely because 1) you felt that it was working well enough for you that an upgrade wasn’t crucial, or 2) you were nervous about any changes between 1.5.x and 1.6 and wanted to put off dealing with them for as long as possible. To the first group, I say ‘fair enough.’ To the second group, well, you’re just trying to delay the inevitable, which never works. 
Fortunately for such latecomers, there is no need to upgrade to 1.6 and then 1.7. If you’re ready to move from 1.5.x to 1.7, read on.
So far as upgrading is concerned, the difference between 1.5.x and later editions of Thesis is that the later editions have layout.css and the rotator folder inside the custom folder. That’s it.
What this means for the upgrade process detailed above is that in Step 6, when you place your 1.5.x custom folder into the thesis_17 folder on your local computer, you must make sure to put your layout.css and the rotator folder inside of that custom folder. Apart from that extra half-a-step (call it Step 6.5, if you like), the upgrade process for 1.5.x –> 1.7 is the same as for 1.6 –> 1.7.
page. After your upgrade from 1.5.x is complete, you’ll need to make a couple adjustments in your custom.css, especially if you have nav menu or background customizations. I highly recommend Greg Rickaby’s two posts on making the tweaks.
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Hey Philip, thanks for the walkthrough! … and for those crystal clear instructions on the 1.7 upgrade. Super smooth. Not a single issue.
Best, Art
Art, thank you! Very glad to hear it helped.
Excellent guide to getting it done. Damn I am slobbering over your left side bar…:D
Excuse me I can’t help myself.
Upgrade successful @ Pot Piss: http://www.potpiss.com
** I did not have to change my file permissions at BlueHost; I was able to get the theme to work properly with continued use of 775 and 664 respectfully.
Glad to hear it, Marcelino!
The fixed left header treatment was copied from Lee Hoover’s site (I credit him in the CSS), then tweaked a bit for my use.
Ahhh, you must have read my mind Philip. I’ve been putting off upgrading a site to v.1.6 and wondered if I’d have to do both 1.6 and then 1.7, but thanks to you I now have my answer! yay.
Yay, indeed. Let me know if you have any questions!
thanks for the clarification. I still have doubts about setting file permission to 666. Does one reset permission after one gets 1.7 activated?
Before activation, Bill. In fact, if you don’t set permissions for
layout.cssto 666 before activating, Thesis will give you a message in the options panels complaining about it.Setting
layout.cssto 666 is mandatory. Setting permissions for thecachefolder to 775 is optional, but needed in order for the auto-resizing of post images into thumbnails.Thanks, I sort of iuunderstand. I followed your directions above and clicked on activate 1.7 and admin panel came up OK, but when I looked at site my thumbnails were gone. Checking that now over at thesis forum.
Bill, did you set permissions for the
cachefolder to 775? As I said above, that’s necessary for thumbnail generation.Yes, the permissions were set correctly before I activated 1.7
I am using smooth slider and w3 total cache if that makes any difference.
Now in rushing back and forth I may have set wrong permissions for files I mistakenly edited. please advise if this is correct
cache folder 775
custom functions.php 644
custom.css 644
layout.css 666
Are these the correct settings for those files in the custom folder of 1.7
now my site is shit as I reactivated 1.6 and it has lost of the f#@king customization and when I reactivate 1.7 same snafu.
If there isn’t a way to go back to 1.6 and have it NOT be totally hosed so I can remove 1.7 and reload it, then I can’t see the popint
Hey Philip, I like the idea of putting the custom folder in before uploading it, seems much more simple.
I upgraded to 1.7 from 1.6 on 2 sites, one went perfectly, the other went totally to s**t, I rolled back to 1.6 and lost some of my customizations and reset them manually in the Thesis Design Options panel.
I did these two upgrades before I started backing up the main site for upgrade. I am still running 1.5.1 on the main site, I attempted to upgrade it to 1.6 a while back and had major problems, had to revert back and since then haven’t had the time or inclination to try the upgrade again. Might give it a go over this long weekend…
Somewhere I saw a checklist or something to help with saving all the design setting and options in 1.5.1 before upgrading, I’ll have to hunt that down.
Anyway, thanks for the simple instructions!
Thanks, Patty, and good luck with the upgrade! Good job on backing up, too.
Great instructions..I’ve done everything including the back up and the theme doesn’t show up in the theme directory. What’s up with that? I have not ever had a problem previously.
I don’t know, Mari-lyn. You certainly seem to have installed Thesis 1.7 in the proper location, and the stylesheets are all accounted for. You might try logging out of WP and back in again to see if anything changes. If not, try posting about this at the DIYthemes forums.
Hi Phillip,
The conversations all happened, except for one, however, I shut down my computer and everything worked. Just need to get one of my headers to show up..
Thanks for the help.
Liked the sequence of downloading the custom folder…seems to have been a no glitch upgrade to 1.7 from 1.6! Thanks!
You’re welcome, Thomas!
Thanks for the instructions, I love changing the custom files before uploading. Worked perfectly.
Glad it worked for you, Deb.
Hi there Phil. I upgraded to Thesis 1.6 a while back and had no problems. When I attempt (feeling the trepidation already) to upgrade to 1.7, providing I follow your well recommended instructions – will my css be affected? What I mean is, will my customizations be affected like they were when the nav menu code was changed?
I’m holding off on making any upgrades to my sites until someone I respect reassures me.
Somone, there’s no structural change in 1.7 that compares to the menu change in 1.6. Following my 1.6 –> 1.7 guidelines above should certainly leave your CSS and functions intact, because they are (by design) not overwritten. I’m going to harp just once on backing up (both database and web files).
(Of the problems I’ve heard regarding the upgrade, most of them seemed to stem from folks having written over their existing
customfolder files, or else attempting an ill-advised rollback to a previous edition of Thesis.)I’m glad to hear that. So, it is pretty standard other than that. Great to hear, I will upgrade one or more over the weekend using your wonderful instructions and give you feedback.
Cheers.
I had a flawless update Philip. Thank you for sharing it.
Chuck
Very glad to hear it, Chuck!
Thanks SO much for your helpful info…however, I’m still having troubles. I followed DIY’s video instructions and still can’t get it to work, as I keep getting stuck on the following: First off, I had no idea what an FTP client was…so had to figure it out and download filezilla. (to save the backup copy as instructed) Then, filezilla would not connect to server (i don’t really even know who my server is??? is it the people who are hosting my site, which would be bluehost? Does it need to be connected to server to follow instructions???) On top of that, thesis_16 will not come up as one of the files that I can click, in filezilla. Is that because filezilla did not exist on my computer when I downloaded thesis 1.6?
Aack. The woes of someone trying to design a wordpress blog and figure out css when I have absolutely no programming skills at all…
Inga, I apologize for the tardy reply. As I read your comment, it sounded to me at first as though you were perhaps installing Thesis for the first time. How did you manage to install version 1.6, if you were unfamiliar with FTP clients and connection details…and even who/what your server was?
A link to your present website might help clear some things up for me, so that I can better consult you.
Thank you so much, Philip, for this reassuringly clear primer on updating from Thesis 1.6 to 1.7. I’ve been quite spooked by the tales of woe being voiced on the Thesis forum and have held off on installing 1.7 because of them. Your detailed step-by-step instructions are a wonderful gift to us nervous types and very much appreciated.
Thanks Philip for the tips. I just upgraded mine without any problem. Now 20 more site to do the upgrading…LOL
I followed this crystal clear instructions to the letter, but after activating the theme, I get a message saying that my file is not writeable by the server, because I need to change the layout.css file permissions to 666. But – I have! I did it as per your instructions, and before activating the upgrade.
It also seems to think my custom folder is still called custom-sample. Again, it’s not – I changed that when I installed Thesis 1.6 …
Please help!
Nick, you have a lot going on with your Thesis install. From a look at the page source of your home page, you followed my installation guidelines to the letter – the site is running version 1.7, and the page source includes valid links to the 1.7
style.css,layout.css, andcustom.css.However, the page source also reveals that you had/have a faulty 1.6 installation, in that you have a
thesis_16folder installed inside of athesis_16folder – which should not be. In fact, you are still pulling images from your thesis_16>thesis_16` > custom > images folder, which indicates two problems (the Thesis folder-in-a-folder, and that you’re pulling images from the images folder in the previous version of the theme).Can’t tell for sure from outside, but I think your situation may clear up once you make sure you’ve moved all custom files (including images) to 1.7, and that your image links (and any other links to custom files) are calling to images and files in the 1.7 folder, and that you clear up the 1.6 folder situation. Right now, I think WP/Thesis is confused about which
layout.cssandcustom folderis being used.Phillip you are a star!I always assumed that was just how thesis installed itself.
I’ve followed your suggestions about getting rid of the extra folder. It look as though my site is working now, but everything is set to default.
I assume I need to set something up so something talks to custom 1.6 rather than 1.7, or something.
Thanks a lot for all your help. (And think of the karma!)
Hey Philip
Thanks for all your help. I was actually totally unable to sort it out, so I’m reverting to the back-up of my site that I created before trying to upgrade thesis. I’ll clean up the folder within a folder issues for thesis 1.6, and then download thesis 1.7 again.
Fingers crossed that will make everything shiny and good.
Cheers, Nick
Good luck, Nick! Be sure to hold onto a backup (1.6) copy of your
layout.css; as a record of previous settings, it can be consulted in case of trouble.Hey Philip!
Thank you sooooo much for the perfect instructions! I read so many post on the Thesis site that I was really spooked – found your instructions and they worked like a charm!
Thanks Again + Cheers!
Nancy
Phil,
Beautiful instructions. Finally a guy who speaks plain English instead of hidden technical, bureaucrat English.
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