Recovering old themes
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Hello. I want to get back to the theme I have been recently using. I accidentally switched it to another and the old one (Penscratch) is no longer available in the Themes Menu. How do I get it back?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I locate an updated version of the theme at
https://wordpress.com/themes/penscratch-2/re: switching themes
Note that switching themes https://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/#switch-themes can be easily done, provided you are logged in as Admin under the same username account that registered the site. Themes are just “skins” on WordPress.COM hosted blogs.
If you are not logged in under the correct username account then clear your browser cache https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-your-browser-cache and cookies https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-wordpress-com-cookies prior to logging into another account
If you do not have the required access and someone else registered the site you need to contact the person who registered the account and site under it and have them act.
The theme customizer https://en.support.wordpress.com/customizer/ provides a preview function for exactly that purpose ie. so you can view what a theme will appear like prior to changing one.
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P.S. I do not believe we can revert to old versions of themes that have been updated to new versions to include all wordpress.COM features. However, I will type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for a Staff follow-up. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Also subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
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I’d suggest you switch to Penscratch 2, as timethief suggested and as I see you’ve already done. It’s an improved version of Penscratch (which was retired) and has many benefits!
Just let us know if you need any help getting anything back to the way it was before.
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Thank you for you replies. I made the switch to the new version as I had no other option, since the old one could not be found. Unfortunately the new “skin”, as you call it , is completely different from the old one and totally common, which was not the case with the old version of Penscratch. Please let me know if there are any ways to recover it.
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@artificiiblog If you really still wanted the original theme it might be worth checking if it’s still available to you via the wp-admin dashboard.
https://artificiiblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin@everyone At “Appearance” “Themes” I see that I can still activate the original version of Penscratch even though I’ve never ever used it before. I believe this is an unfixed “bug” that if your site was created before themes were retired you can still use those older themes if you really wanted to?!?.
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What do you mean by “totally common”?
Here’s the Penscratch demo: https://penscratchdemo.wordpress.com/
Here’s Penscratch 2: https://penscratch2demo.wordpress.com/
Visually, they’re almost identical, except that in the Penscratch 2 demo we’ve displayed the optional logo and optional sidebar.
Can you explain what is different on your site so I can help you?
themagicrobot – yep, that’s right. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. ;) But I’d really like to understand what Artificii is referring to before we go that far, as the themes are almost the same, with a few nice enhancements in the newer version.
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I’ll explain. As I tried different themes, sometimes I accidentally activated them instead of just doing a preview. Which is why I lost my favourite one. Anyway, what the two themes have different is the display: the old one had colors on the sides (as if you put the text from a white page on a colored page), while the new one has the unique possibility (and similar to many other sites, or themes, that’s wht I called it common) with a single (header) image on the top of the page. The original version was unique especially by that feature, that it was not like any other type of sites, or blogs, which all have an image up and below the text.
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I think it’s called the background :)) Sorry, English is not my native language. So, what is different is that I cannot use a colored bck. Thank you for your replies.
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Ah, I see! Thank you for the clarifications. I looked up your site in Google’s cache and see that you used to have a colourful background image.
I put that image in your Media Library.
You can now go into your Customizer, open the Colors & Backgrounds panel.
Click the grey rectangle that says Background.
Click “Select Image.”
Click the Media Library tab if it’s not already active and click the colourful tile.
Click “Select” at the bottom right to return to the Customizer.
Click “Save & Publish” at the top right of the Customizer.
Let me know how it goes!
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I’ve been there, done that…earlier. I’ve changed the bckg though. In the initial theme, the background was different as it was not a single color, it was more like a painting, more colorful and cheerful. I guess I’ll just have to get used to it :))
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and then again…it worked! I missed a line in the explanations! :))
Thanks a lot and I hope I won’t bother you soon! :) -
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Sure! Feel free to start a new thread if you need help with anything else, we’re always happy to help.
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