How to Install a Divi Child Theme
1. Installing your theme files
Download the theme zip file. Unzip this file, and you should find a few types of files within that folder – a zip file, several .json files, and .txt or .pdf documentation. In your WordPress dashboard, hover over Appearance in the sidebar and choose “Themes”. Click the “add new” button at the top, then the “Upload Theme” button. This will open an area where you can drag the theme zip file (the one contained in the zip file you downloaded) or click “Choose File” and you can pick your zip file.
Once you’ve chosen your zip file, click “Install Theme” and wait for it to upload. Based on the size of the file and your internet speed, this might take a minute or two. Once it has uploaded you will be brought to a page telling you your upload was successful. Click the “Activate Theme” link below that message.
3. Install required or recommended plugins
Most of our themes require additional plugins in order to display properly. We’ve added an easy installer so you can do this with the click of a button. Once you activate the theme, you may see a message like this at the top of the page:
Click “Begin installing plugins”, then click the checkbox to choose all the plugins you’d like to install. Once you’ve selected them all, then from the “Bulk Actions” dropdown, choose “Install” and click the “Apply” button. This will bring you to a new page showing you that all the plugins have been installed. Click the link under that to go back to the Required Plugins page. You’ll then want to check all the plugins again, then from the dropdown choose “Activate” and hit the “Apply” button. Now all your plugins will be installed and ready to go.
If you’re using a theme that uses Bloom, that will not be included in the installer as it’s a paid plugin so it can’t be included. You will need to go to elegantthemes.com, log in and download it. It’s included as part of your Elegant Themes subscription.
Links to working with all of your newly installed plugins will be found in the README.txt file included with your theme.
3. Install the JSON files.
Hover over the “Divi” link at the bottom of the dashboard sidebar and choose “theme options.” Locate the button on this page that looks like two arrows, one pointing down and one pointing up. You can see it circled below.
Click that button to bring up a popup. Click the “Import” tab at the top. Then click “Choose file” and from your theme folder, choose “[Theme Name] Theme Options” and upload that. Then click “Import theme options” at the bottom of the popup. This can take a minute or so to complete. Once it has the page will refresh.
Next you’ll want to hover over “Divi” again in the sidebar and this time choose “Divi Library”. From here click the “Import and Export” button at the top of the page, and then click “Import” in the popup that displays. Similarly to the last step, you’ll choose the .json file called “[Theme Name] Divi Builder Layouts” and click the “Import Divi Builder Layouts” button. Once this finishes uploading and the page refreshes, you’ll see a list of Divi layouts appear.
Finally, you’ll want to hover over “Divi” in the sidebar once again and click “Theme Customizer”. This will bring you to the Divi customizer, which you’re likely very familiar with if you’ve used Divi before. Click the same up and down arrow button you saw in the first part of this section. Click “Import”, then choose the “[Theme Name] Customizer Settings” .json file. Click “Import Theme Customizer Settings” and wait for the import to complete.
Congratulations! You’ve installed your new theme!
4. Using the theme.
Now that you’ve got all the parts installed, you can use this theme and set up your site. You’ll notice that the site likely doesn’t look much like the theme demo, other than maybe the colors and fonts. That’s beacuse you need to use the included layouts to set up the page.
When you add a new page, make sure the Divi builder has been activated by clicking the “Use the Divi Builder” button and then click “Choose a Premade Layout”. From there, click the “Your Saved Layouts” tab. This should have all the pages you need to replicate the layout of the demo. Just click the layout you want to use and it will show up in the builder. You can edit the modules, add and remove things and modify the theme to your heart’s content.