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Does uninstalling a Wordpress theme delete its database values?

I have a site that has lost some styling, and even after restoring a file backup (from 15/2/2016) and database backup from 19/2/2016, there are still some styling issues present.

I want to delete the theme and install a new copy of the theme downloaded from themeforest. If I do this, will we have to reconfigure the theme all over again?

Thanks.

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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It depends on the theme itself. A theme may store some data in the database.

For example, a theme may have an option called "Social Accounts" section in settings page and a field "Facebook Page URL" in it. If you fill the field and save settings, it will store this value to database.

But, as a common practice, these type of data should be removed when you uninstall/delete this theme (it depends on the author). If it does not remove that data and you re-install the theme, then the values will be used again.

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    Totally agree with you, but unfortunately themes and plugins usually don't remove their stuff when they are uninstalled; they should, at least, ask to the user what they want to do when uninstalling.
    – cybmeta
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 8:48
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The only way you're gonna know for sure, is if you look at the code for the theme. However you can avoid any of that code running by simply deleting the theme's directory, don't "uninstall" don't switch to another theme.. Just delete its files. Then switch to another theme, install your new theme, and switch back to it. Keep your fingers crossed that the dev doesn't have code that breaks if the database was already setup.

I can't imagine why a theme dev would decide to remove database values that they added. It would be a bunch of work, for no real reason other than to clean up your database for you.

You can find information about theme uninstall hooks though, and you can take a look around the author's code.

https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_uninstall_hook

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  • Maybe using "just delete its files" in this context will be better then the somewhat ambiguous "just delete it"
    – Mark Kaplun
    Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 21:11
  • @MarkKaplun fair enough, I thought of that and had edited the preceding statements. I just couldn't think of a concise way to rephrase the bold portion.
    – Josh C
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 16:07
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I know this is probably going to get downvoted, but it's such a simple thing to ask.

Have you tried clearing your cache and refreshing? That might clear up the styling issues, if you don't know where they were in the stylesheet themselves.

I've had a similar issue to you before, although I didn't need to restore the database, and all it took was a hard refresh to see all the styling changes that should have been in the restore.

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  • Tried that. No change unfortunately.
    – Steve
    Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 13:19
  • Are the styling issues that are missing from the original theme, or are they modifications you added in?
    – TPD
    Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 13:54

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