Full Reset of the Astra Theme: Your Key to a Fresh Start

In the realm of website management, knowing how to perform a full reset of the Astra WordPress theme can be incredibly beneficial. As a popular choice among WordPress themes, the Astra theme is renowned for its versatility and user-friendliness. However, there can be instances where resetting may be required.

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Contents

1 Why a Full Reset of the Astra Theme is Beneficial ∞
2 Personal Experience ∞
3 How to Perform a Full Reset of the Astra WordPress Theme ∞
4 Conclusion ∞

Why a Full Reset of the Astra Theme is Beneficial ∞

Back to Basics

You might have spent countless hours modifying your website to your liking. However, occasionally, the result may not be as anticipated. Issues with design or performance could crop up, prompting the need to fully reset the Astra theme. This action effectively returns the settings to their default state, allowing you to start from scratch with a clean slate.

Troubleshooting Problems

A slow-running site or other unexpected glitches can be a pain. When these issues are linked to theme settings, a full reset to the Astra WordPress theme can rectify these problems. Conflicting settings or corrupted files are often the culprits, and a reset can help to eradicate such issues.

Adapting to Theme Updates

WordPress consistently updates its themes and plugins to bolster features, performance, and security. Occasionally, these updates might clash with prior customizations. You can transition seamlessly to these updated versions by fully resetting the Astra theme.

Redesigning with Ease

Suppose your website rebuilding is on the cards. In that case, initiating changes from ground zero might be simpler than modifying existing settings. A full reset of the Astra theme provides the perfect blank canvas, facilitating an easier transition to a new design.

Performance Enhancement

Over-customization can clutter your website and impact its performance adversely. This sluggish performance can negatively affect user experience and your site’s SEO ranking. A full reset of the Astra theme can declutter your site, improving its speed and responsiveness.

Resolving Plugin Conflicts

If your website hosts numerous plugins, there could be potential conflicts. These conflicts can affect your website’s functionality and performance adversely. A full reset of the Astra theme can assist in identifying and resolving these conflicts.

Organizing Better

Over time, and with numerous changes, your theme settings could become chaotic. This lack of organization can make effective site management challenging. Performing a full reset of the Astra theme can help streamline your settings, improving site management efficiency.

Personal Experience ∞

We have used the Astra WordPress theme since version “2.x.x”. Now it is “4.4.x”, several years of development and updates. The older version used the “astra.woff” file for icons. Full file path:

/wp-content/themes/astra/assets/fonts/astra.woff

If you didn’t use any of the icons, it didn’t matter, and the file was still loaded, which added 1 more HTTP request for the site loading. To remove this file from loading, you needed to add a filter to the functions.php file of the child theme:

add_filter( 'astra_enable_default_fonts', '__return_false' );

You can read about this in Turn Off Default Fonts help article in Astra Docs.
In the Astra WordPress theme version 3.3, they updated the “astra.woff” file to SVG type.
Which is great: faster loading times and fewer HTTP requests. If you installed the 3.3 version from scratch, you would get an SVG file out of the box. If you upgraded, you needed to enable the SVG feature manually from the functions.php file of your child theme:

add_filter( 'astra_is_svg_icons', '__return_true' );

Which is not convenient. Another problem is that there are still parts of the older version in your site code base, which isn’t optimal and can lead to incompatibility and errors.

Another issue was speed. We got twice the speed after new optimizations in the latest version after a fresh install of the Astra theme versus upgrading from the “2.x.x” version over time. It looks like there are many parts of the older versions that are dragged over to increase compatibility for your custom settings.

We suggest you reset Astra WordPress theme settings once in a few years. Three years should be enough.

How to Perform a Full Reset of the Astra WordPress Theme ∞

Login to the WordPress Dashboard.
The most important thing you must do is a complete backup with the UpdraftPlus Backup plugin.
Install and activate the WordPress plugin from the same developer as the Astra theme: Astra Customizer Reset By Brainstorm Force. This will add a new feature to the Customizer.

On the left side menu bar, hover on [Appearance], then click [Customize]. It will open the Customizer.
On top of the Customizer, near the “Publish” button, you will see a new button that the “Astra Customizer Reset” plugin added. Click the [Reset] button and confirm.
All the settings will reset from the WordPress database.

Find the “Astra Customizer Reset” on the Plugins page and Remove the plugin from your WordPress installation.
Now remove the Astra WordPress theme.

Using WP File Manager, navigate to:

/public_html/wp-content/themes

Right-click the “astra” folder, then click [Delete] from the drop-down menu.
If the folder is non-existent, no leftovers are present after Theme removal.
If you had an “astra-child” theme, it would be left intact and will operate once again after you reinstall the Astra theme.

Install the Astra WordPress Theme once more and activate the Astra Child theme if it is not activated.

Conclusion ∞

Undertaking a full reset of the Astra theme on WordPress can seem intimidating, particularly after spending considerable time and effort on customizations. Nonetheless, there are several scenarios when such an action can prove highly beneficial. Whether for troubleshooting, redesigning, updating, improving performance, resolving plugin conflicts, or enhancing organization, a full reset Astra theme could be the answer.

Don’t forget, always backup your current settings and data before initiating a reset to prevent any irreversible loss. With careful planning and proper precautions, a reset can breathe new life into your website, priming it for your next big project.