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New versions of PrestaShop come every few weeks. Some are major, most are minor, but they all bring a slew of innovations, improvements and bug-fixes. It is therefore highly advised to keep up with the latest version.
There are 5 steps to follow for a successful upgrade:
These five steps are necessary for a successful upgrade. Please pay close attention to any of them, and do not skip any steps.
Done well, the whole update process described within these pages should not take more than half an hour. Do not try to skip a step in order to be done with it faster, as all steps are crucial.
Rather than read the following page, you can follow the very same steps explained in a video: Update your store to PrestaShop v. 1.4. |
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Before you do anything to your current install of PrestaShop, check that your server configuration matches or exceeds the minimum requirements for the latest version of PrestaShop. For instance, make sure your web host provides you with the required versions of PHP and MySQL. If not, ask him to update the server. If you are unsure which PHP and MySQL versions you are using, ask your web host.
If you web host won't update your server configuration, then it is time for you to find a better host. Do NOT perform an upgrade unless your server at least meets the system requirements.
The minimum requirements for the latest version of PrestaShop are available on the official PrestaShop download page.
Older versions of PrestaShop might not make it as easy to upgrade to the latest version: the code base is quite different, many files have moved around, created or deleted, and the risk is high, when skipping from a very old version to the latest one, to see errors and mistakes aplenty.
You should therefore be even more careful; the older your version, the more you should pay attention to details: backups, custom files, edited theme, etc.
PrestaShop introduced automatic upgrade in version 1.4.4. It enables shop owners to backup and update their site in a few clicks and no technical knowledge. It is explained in full details in the User Guide's Tools chapter, in the "Upgrade" section.
No version of PrestaShop supported the automatic upgrade until v1.4.4. Therefore, automatic upgrade is not available to you unless you manually upgrade to at least v1.4.4.
Not backing up your store constitutes a very important risk if you encounter any difficulties with the upgrade. There is a risk of data loss. Do not ever skip this step. Do not proceed to step 2 unless you are absolutely certain that your backups are completed, successful, and fully functional. Do check several times. |
You must save all of the files related to your PrestaShop store.
There are two main ways of backing up your files:
...or...
Disabling your store is very important. |
Go to your store's back-office, click on the "Preference" tab, then select "No" for the "Enable Shop" option.
In the "Maintenance IP" field, located just below the "Enable Shop" one, enter your own IP address, so that you can keep on using your store during the update. This will allow you to test the store, while still making sure visitors cannot access the website.
In order to find out your IP address, visit this page: http://www.myip.dk/
You must absolutely back up the whole database for your PrestaShop store.
There are three different ways to back up your database:
...or...
...or...
If you did not edit the available translations or add new ones (either PrestaShop's or your modules'), please proceed to step 2.
Navigate to the "Tools" tab, then the "Translations" sub-tab of your back-office.
In the section "Export a Language" select the language to which you have made any modifications, then select your current theme, and click "Export".
Save the downloaded file into a backup folder of your choice, on your local computer…
Do this for all your custom languages, both those you created/added and those you modified/corrected.
Does it contain...
You have checked the entire backup folder, and made sure that they are all correct and that you would be able to return to your current version / restore all of your data. If you answered yes to all of the questions above, then proceed to Step 2. |
Visit http://www.prestashop.com and download the latest version of PrestaShop (click the "Download" button on the homepage).
You now should have a file: prestashop_1.x.x.zip (where "x" is a digit of the version number).
Unzip the file to your computer. If you do not yet have an unzipping tool, you can download a free one here: http://www.7-zip.org/.
Once unzipped, open the "/prestashop" folder that was inside the Zip archive.
In that "/prestashop" folder, select the "/admin" folder and rename it to something unique to you (for instance, "/admin436"). Your online store currently also has a unique "admin" folder, from its original installation; you can use that unique name if you wish. If you do not know the unique name of your online store's "/admin" folder, use whichever name you want.
Some of the folders that you have backed up will need to be copied to your "/prestashop" folder.
You will be copying files from your "Backup" directory to the " |
The following folders must be copied from your backup to the recently unzipped /prestashop folder:
/mails folder has all the mails that you have modified./img folder contains your logo and all the pictures of your store (categories, products…)/modules folder, only copy the modules that you have added./themes/yourtheme folder, only copy your current theme. If you use the default theme from PrestaShop, do not copy it, you must use the one from the new version./download and /upload folders, which contain all the downloadable products, the attached files and the customizable products. If you do no use any of these functionalities, do not copy these folders./classes folder: in case you have added customized classes to this folder, copy them to the new /classes folder.Core-suffixed. If you are upgrading from PrestaShop 1.4.x, you shouldn't have any (except for custom classes).MyClass" becomes "MyClassCore".class AttributeCore extends ObjectModel"), then you do not need to change anything./config folder, only copy the settings.inc.phpfile, then modify the following lines:PS_BASE_URI" must contain the name of the subfolder where you are going to do your update. For instance, "/prestashop/" instead of "/", or of the name of current folder for your current store.DB_NAME", "DB_USER" and "DB_PASSWD" too.The "prestashop" folder that you have unzipped, now contains all the modifications from your "Backup" folder (and therefore, from your current live store). This next step will have you upload that folder on your FTP server.
If the folder of your online store is already named "prestashop", rename the "prestashop" folder on your hard drive to something else before sending it onto your FTP server. |
If you renamed the "prestashop" folder, do not forget to update the config/settings.inc.php file accordingly, as explained in step 2-B.
Using your FTP client, upload the "prestashop" folder to your server.
Let's say your store is at the following URL: http://www.myprestashop.com.
You modified the file config/settings.inc.php on line "PS_BASE_URI" so that it has the name of the folder on your server (should be "prestashop").
For instance:
define('__PS_BASE_URI__', '/');
|
...was replaced by...
define('__PS_BASE_URI__', '/prestashop/');
|
If you answered yes to all the questions above, then proceed to step 3. |
Visit your shop's install script URL; for instance: http://www.myprestashop.com/prestashop/install (Replace "myprestashop.com" with the actual URL of your store, and "prestashop" with the name of the folder that you have just transferred to your FTP).
That URL should show:
If you did follow the first step of this guide concerning back-ups, you can click "I certify that I backed up my database and application files. I assume all responsibility for any data loss or damage related to this upgrade."
If you did not do the required back-ups or if you did not have a chance to verify the data's integrity and that these backups are functional and recent, please go back to step 1 of this guide.
When clicking the "I certify..." checkbox, the update displays more safety instructions that you should follow. Read them carefully and follow them before you click on the "Next" button.
The parameters of your hosting provider should show on the screen, as well as more details about the operation about to be launched.
max_execution_time shows the maximum time in seconds authorized by your hosting provider for the update to take place. If this number is smaller than the estimated time of installation, we recommend that you notify your hosting provider so that he can increase this limit.memory_limit is the maximum memory that you're hosting provider will set aside for you to complete the upgrade. If this value is smaller than "32M", you should contact your hosting company to request an increase of this value.If any of these two parameters does not meet the requirements, you are taking the risk of receiving an error message or a blank page after clicking the "Next".
Otherwise, click the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.
If sufficient rights are assigned to your files and folders, the following page will show:
If not, make sure that the folders' rights are properly configured: change the access rights of the folders marked in red in the install/update tool, directly on your FTP server (make a CHMOD 755 or 775, depending on your hosting provider) then click the "Check my settings again" button.
In order to perform a CHMOD, using your FTP client, find the folders that have the wrong permission settings, right-click on each of them in order to display their properties (or even better, their access rights), and tick the boxes that are not yet ticked, until a refresh of the "System and Permissions" page gives you only green folder.
If the configuration validator indicates that folder that do not exist do not have the correct permission (for instance, the Smarty /cache and /compile folders), simply create these folders using your FTP client.
Once you're done, click "Next" at the bottom of the page, the update will start and probably last a few minutes.
You can check if the update has started in the upper right part of the screen, thanks to the progress bar. Do not leave the page or close your browser; wait for the update to be completed. |
Once the update is finished, you should see the final screen, announcing that "Your update is completed!"
On your FTP server, inside the "prestashop" folder, you should delete:
/install folder (this subfolder contains the update tools).README files (contain information about the PrestaShop install).CHANGELOG file (contains information about the latest changes in PrestaShop).You can now access your store's front-office at http://www.myprestashop.com/prestashop (change the URL accordingly).
If you answered yes to all the questions above, then proceed to step 4. |
If you did export your custom translations during step 1 (Backups), import them back into your new store by going to the "Tools" tab, then the "Translations" sub-tab.
You should verify that the domain name assigned in the database is indeed the one that you are working with. To do so, visit the "Preferences" tab, then the "SEO & URLs" sub-tab.
You must check the following information:
/prestashop/In any case, do not forget to regenerate your |
You can verify your theme's compatibility with the updated PrestaShop version by visiting the theme validator developed by PrestaShop.
This tool is available at the following address: http://validator.prestashop.com/.
If you use an unmodified copy of the default theme of PrestaShop, this step is not necessary.
To make sure that everything is working properly on your updated store, you should perform a few tests.
Testing To-Do List (this is not a complete list, you should do as much testing as possible):
If every test is successful, congratulations! Proceed to step 5. |
Congratulations, you have achieved all the essential steps to update your store!
You now need to swap your updated store with your production store.
You have two options to do so:
...or...
At the end of the process, edit the file |
Visit the "Preference" tab in the back-office of your production (now up-to-date) store and click "Yes" for the option "Enable Shop".
In some rare cases, some modules are not compatible with new version of PrestaShop. You should contact the company / person that provided you with this module to request a few code changes to bring it up to date.
Only proceed to this step if you have no other way out |
If your update went bad and you do not see any other fix than to roll back to the previous version of your database, there are two mains way of doing so:
...or...
/admin/backups folder.
For any support request or help to setup your website, contact us and discover our yearly support offers.
Our support team is at your disposal for any technical detail pertaining to updating your shop to the latest PrestaShop version.