Auto-Upgrade 1000s of Plugins & Extensions

We’ve already written about automatic updates for Joomla extensions, the step-by-step how-to for enabling extension auto-updates safely, removing fluff files after updates, managing extensions and plugins, and mass upgrading from one dashboard. Here’s how all of that fits together in practice - and why updates are one of the most-used features in the dashboard.

How do you mass upgrade Joomla and WordPress from one dashboard?

Select all your out-of-date Joomla or WordPress sites, click “Start Upgrades For Selected Sites,” and go make a coffee.

mySites.guru queues each site, downloads the right update package, extracts files on your server, and runs post-install tasks. If you’ve turned on fluff file removal for Joomla, that happens automatically too.

Doesn’t matter if it’s one site or a hundred. The bulk update Joomla page has the overview.

How do you enable auto-updates for any Joomla extension?

Any update stream in mySites.guru can be flagged for automatic updates. Say you have Akeeba Backup installed - when a new version comes out, mySites.guru queues the update without you lifting a finger.

You can enable this per site, or flip it on across every site that has a given extension. Works with any Joomla extension, not just Akeeba.

Viewing and Applying WordPress Plugin Updates

On the Manage Site page, you’ll see all available plugin updates for WordPress (and Joomla). Release notes from the developer are right there, and you can apply the update with one click.

Current versions show in red, available versions in green. You can see the exact upgrade path before you commit to anything.

Pending updates in the sidebar

The left menu keeps a running count of extension updates, plugin updates, and core upgrades across all your sites. Quick way to see how much maintenance you’ve got piling up.

Keeping sites current

Between mass upgrades, per-extension auto-updates, and the per-site plugin view, there’s no reason for your sites to fall behind. Keeping everything current also reduces your exposure to known plugin vulnerabilities. You can review the version upgrade path before committing and run post-upgrade cleanup like fluff file removal. For a full walkthrough focused on WordPress, see the guide to bulk updating WordPress sites.

Back up before any upgrade

mySites.guru has built-in support for Akeeba Backup and the All-In-One Migration Plugin (WordPress), so you can take a backup before applying updates - one site or all of them at once.

This is part of our guide to managing CMS updates at scale.