This article will show you how to properly update your bundled WPBakery Page Builder (formerly known as Visual Composer) plugin on your site using the Total theme.
Step 1: Update Your Theme
Because of how licensing works with bundled plugins as explained in the docs here the WPBakery page builder updates are provided when you update your theme. So the first step before updating your plugin is of course to make sure your theme is updated. View the theme changelog here. If you want to have automatic update notifications for the WPBakery plugin (outside the scope of theme updates) you will have to purchase the plugin and then follow these steps.
Step 2: Update The Plugin
Updating the plugin is very easy, simply go to Themes > Install plugins and check the items to update. Please see the video guide below for a visual demonstration:
Updating Via This Method Won’t Work (update package not unavailable)!
First try going to Appearance > Install Plugins, refreshing the page and trying again.
If that doesn’t work try disabling (or deleting) the plugin so it’s not active. This will ensure there aren’t any issues with the plugin’s auto update functions (shouldn’t be the case, but if you are having errors it’s worth testing). Once disabled try and re-run the auto update in the dashboard.
If you still getting an error message that the update package is not available, it’s probably just because your server permissions are set to strictly and you’ll need to alter your server settings or update the plugins via FTP. You can ALWAYS find the latest version of the plugin inside a plugins folder when downloading the full product zip file from ThemeForest and it’s called js_composer.zip
What About “Automatic” Updates?
If you don’t understand why automatic updates aren’t included please read the licensing section on this documentation page.
To enable auto updates in the WPBakery plugin you will have to purchase the plugin then disabled the theme option as mentioned on this guide.