Four Easy MethodsTo Find Your WordPress Version
Finding out the version of WordPress may seem a daunting task. What if we tell it’s not daunting as it may sound? As a matter of fact, there are four ways you can easily check the WordPress version you’re or anyone is using.
The easiest method of checking your WordPress version is accessing through your admin login or site files. Even if you don’t access it, there are other methods as well.
If you really want to know and think about what version of WordPress am I running currently to upgrade, fix bugs, or just out of curiosity, you can easily check it by following either of these four ways.
Why Should You Check WordPress Version In The First Place?
If you have WordPress, it’s crucial to know what version of WordPress you’re using for your business and make necessary updates. Why? Here are two of the most crucial reasons:
Easy To Hack And Penetrate
In 2019 alone, 49% of all hacked WordPress websites were using an outdated version of WordPress.
Cybercriminals penetrate outdated WordPress websites as they are not equipped with the much-needed security measures that the latest WordPress provides. So, if you want to keep hackers and cyber attacks at bay, you need your WordPress website up to date with the latest version.
Incompatibilities Issues
Incompatibility is another issue of not updating WordPress. This is because the outdated WordPress version will not work with the latest version of plugins and vice versa. With new updates, there are also changes in functionalities of WordPress, which plugins generally depend on.
So, whenever you install any plugin, ensure to verify the current version of your website to determine whether it’s compatible with the plugins or not.
When the plugins or WordPress version is not compatible, it may give rise to many errors, including the white screen of death. One of the ways to fix this issue is to find out the current version of the WordPress website you’re using. That’s why you need to find how to see what version of WordPress you have.
However, with WordPress’s latest auto-updates features, most of these issues have started to fix themselves.
Method#1: Login The Admin Area
Admin area is probably the fastest and easiest method of checking your WordPress version you’re currently using.
There are a lot of areas on the admin dashboard where you can see the version of your WordPress, whether it’s up to date or not.
Step 1. View the bottom Right Corner
When you’re logged into WordPress, you can easily view the version of WordPress in the bottom right corner.
Apart from the dashboard panel, there are other places you can see the version of WordPress you’re currently using.
Step 2. “At a Glance” Box
Viewing at “At a Glance” box is another method of how to determine WordPress version. All you need to do is simply log into WordPress to redirect to the dashboard homepage. In the “At a Glance” box where you can find information such as posts, pages, and comments, and you will see the version of WordPress right under these pieces of information.
Not only that but also you can view the WordPress version on the bottom right corner of the dashboard panel.
Step 3. On The “Updates” Screen
When you’re logged into the WordPress dashboard, click on Updates, and you will find the version of WordPress only if it’s the latest version. However, if you don’t have the latest WordPress version, it will not show the current version and prompt you to update it to the latest version.
Step 4. “About WordPress” Screen
Finally, you can get WordPress version on the “About WordPress” section. You can easily find it on the top-left corner of the screen right below the WordPress logo. The best part of finding the WordPress version on this About WordPress section is that it lets you know the version even if you are not updated to the latest version.
Well, these are all of the ways you can easily find the version of WordPress on the dashboard. However, you may get annoyed with the constant notification on the backend screen to update the latest version if you haven’t done it already.
If you’re worried about the drawbacks of not updating the latest version, you can simply go to Dashboard and click on updates to get the latest version.
Method#2: Through Your Website’s Frontend
If you are searching for“what version of WordPress am I using” without logging into the WordPress dashboard, then the best course of action is to view the website source code and find the version there.
One thing to keep in mind, that most web developers hide their information of the version on their source code by not leaving their settings as default. In that case, you might need to find another way to find the WordPress version.
Step 1. View Page Source
You can start off by going to any webpage where you want to find the version and just press Ctrl+U to view the page source. You can also right-click on the page and click on “View page source” in your web browser. It will automatically open a new tab containing the coding of HTML and CSS. To find the version, you need to press Ctrl+F to initiate the search feature.
On the page view source, you can search for the “generator” tag that will let you know about the version that is currently being used. However, the newer themes of WordPress have the option of hiding this information.
In that case, you should search for “?ver=” under “link rel=’stylesheet’”. The version of WordPress will be displayed right after “?ver=”
This may not be the ideal way to find the version, as the latest themes and plugins can sometimes be confusing. Therefore, it’s crucial to stay on the right path of the code.
Step 2. Website Readme
Here’s another way you can find the version; however, it only works on the outdated WordPress version. To find the version in this method, you just need to add “/readme.html” at the end of the web address.
Even if you add the said code at the end of the latest version of WordPress, it will only show the usual information without the mention of the WordPress version.
Step 3. RSS Feed
It’s a final and most probably the most viable way to find the version is accessing the RSS feed. All you need to do is add “/feed” at the end of the web address. When you’re directed to the RSS feed page, press Ctrl+F and type “generator,” and you will find the version of WordPress something like this.
“<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=X.X.X</generator>”. The X is the number of the WordPress version.
Method#3: Access TheVersion.php File
Accessing the version.php file may probably the most accurate way to how to tell what version of WordPress you’re using. For this method to work, your website must be live and running with a web hosting account to help get the FTP or Cpanel login credentials to access the internal files.
Step 1. Download AndInstall FTP Client FileZilla
For starters, download an FTP client. These programs allow you to retrieve and upload the files on your website. We highly recommend that you download FileZilla as it’s absolutely free and has a dynamic user interface. The program is readily available on all major platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Step 2. link to Your Website
Now connect the FTP client with your website. Once you have open FileZilla, you will be prompted to enter the host, username, password, and port.
You should find the Host box where you have to enter “sftp://” (they work just like http) and then your website URL. If it prompts with an error, opt for entering “ftps://” or you can just enter the website URL alone.
While the information of username, password, and port can be retrieved from your web host. Most of the time, you will find this information in their dashboard. You can opt for logging into the host’s website to send in a request to share their FTP credentials.
Once you have all the required information, enter them all and click Quickconnect. That will begin to show all the files and directories in the areas below.
Step 3. Find and check The Version.php File
Once you’re logged into the website, find and click on wp-includes folders to view the folders and files. You need to find the file called version.php. Open the file, ensure to not make any changes to it. You just need to find a line of code containing the variable $wp-version.
Press Ctrl+F and type “$wp-version = ‘x.x.x;”, where x is the number of WordPress version.
Once you have found what you were looking for, exit from FileZilla.
Alternate Method: Use CPanel’s File Manager
cPanel is another WordPress version checker and most commonly used file manager by web hosts to access your site, which is quite easy to use, especially as compared to FTP.
So, if you are still wondering, “Which version of WordPress do I have” then simply log in to your web hosting account. Each host of cPanel is different, which means you can get more instruction from their documentation. Moreover, you will also need to login to your host’s website in order to retrieve the login credentials of cPanel.
When you’re logged in cPanel, find File Manager. There will be a list of files and folders on your site. Find and open wp-includes/. In the version.php file, you will be able to find the $wp_version variable. There you will find the numbers right next to it; these numbers are the version of your WordPress.
Method#4: Leveraging WP-CLI
WP-CLI (Command-line Interface) is another reliable method of WordPress version to check and verify. It works like command prompt software on Windows, where you can execute commands from anywhere on your WordPress website. It’s easily accessible and can be used without the need for a web browser.
Suppose web hosts don’t include WP-CLI on their server by default. In that case, it could be challenging to install WP-CLI as it generally has limited support on Windows machines.
The very first thing you need to do is connect WP-CLI to your web host through Secure Shell. It’s a program that allows you to remotely execute commands on your website.
Once you’re in, type the “cd Html” command to take you to the proper directory. Then execute the command “wp core version”. The command line should display the WordPress version.
This method is quite complex; therefore, it should be followed only as a last resort when you’re unable to login to the admin panel, connect your website through the FTP client, or even view the frontend files of your site. Then it’s probably the best course of action of finding your WordPress version.
How To Conceal WordPress Version Info From Your Website
Here are all of the methods you need to know to check your WordPress version. However, it would be best if you don’t disclose your WordPress version mainly because of the risk of getting your website hacked by cybercriminals. These hackers mostly attack outdated versions of WordPress because they’re easy to hack.
Although you cannot completely hide your WordPress version information from hackers who are hell-bent on finding and hacking your website. Moreover, there are several downloadable tools on the internet that will help them in detecting WordPress. However, you can still conceal your WordPress version to avoid becoming easy prey for hackers.
One thing to keep in mind is that keeping your website up to date is not the most viable security measure. Still, it’s more crucial to conceal your information.
If you want to remove but don’t want to install a plugin to do so, you need to do a little bit of coding to your theme files. Click on Appearance and find Theme Editor and click on the functions.php file to make changes. You don’t have to use any FTP access.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to code to remove the tags, you can simply install Meta Generator and Version Info Remover plugin. When you code, you don’t need to install a plugin, and they also have their own advantages.
There are various WordPress themes that reveal the version of WordPress in page source. However, version info hiding plugins help your WordPress to conceal and secure.
Even though finding and penetrating the version of WordPress is not a big deal for cybercriminals. If you want your website to be secure, you need to work on several things, including finding a host with security measures.
Conclusion
Well, these are four ways to easily find the WordPress version regardless of why you would want to know it.
If you’re looking for the fastest and most reliable way to find the WordPress version, then just log into your admin and view the version of the WordPress dashboard.
While there are other methods to view the version, such as FTP access, RSS feed, viewing source code, or WP-CLI.
If you have WordPress, then we highly recommend you to work on its security measures to prevent it from any cyberattacks.