OpenCart Product Data Entry

The Simplest Way to Install an OpenCart Prebuilt Theme

Many store owners don’t want to go with the default OpenCart theme for long and decide to try a new theme for their e-commerce store. Changing theme can provide your OpenCart store with a new look and feel that renders your store’s appearance more relevant to the industry and offers a distinguished look. Whether you want to buy a prebuilt theme or get a bespoke one created as per your requirements, that’s absolutely your call. However, in case you want it to be done very quickly, purchasing a prebuilt theme is a better option. You can have such a theme at as low as $30. These themes can be installed very quickly.

In this post, we will discuss the way to install prebuilt themes to OpenCart stores. The step-by-step account of the process will enable you to install a theme on your own without requiring any external assistance. And in case you want any assistance, there are a number of forums and communities to help you out. Besides, you can ask your OpenCart product data entry service provider to help you in the installation. However, it’s suggested that you go through the instructions provided by the theme developer before starting the installation process.

The Process of Installing An OpenCart Theme

Step #1: Select & Purchase a Theme

There are innumerable OpenCart themes available for sale and many more new ones are updated on a daily basis. That means the ocean of themes is expanding day by day. You can select a theme either from the OpenCart Extension Store or from other websites selling such prebuilt themes. You need to make this selection very carefully as the abundance of themes can perplex you. Keep the nature of your business in mind and pick a theme that suits it best. Once you’ve selected a theme, pay for it and download it. You’ll get it in a zipped folder from which you need to extract the theme.

Step #2: Upload the Theme to the Website

Here, you are required to use an FTP to upload the theme to your e-store. FTP is the abbreviation of File Transfer Protocol which is a tool used to transfer files to and from a server. There are many such applications that can be used to upload themes to servers. One of such tools is FileZilla which is the most popular one among them all. While using an FTP, you need to make certain that the FTP login details you input are absolutely correct.

Step #3: Reach the Settings of Your Store’s Admin

After uploading the theme to your online store, you need to make a few changes to settings in the admin area of your store. Just log in to the admin area and go to Settings in the System and select Edit. In case your store is new, you can access your admin area through www.abc.com/admin where abc.com is your store’s URL.

Step #4: Select the New Theme

Once you’ve reached the admin area, click the ‘Store’ tab and then click the drop-down menu before the ‘Template’ setting. From here, you can select the newly uploaded theme. After selecting the theme, save the settings. Now, you can check your e-store to confirm that the store-front is featuring the new theme.

Things to Remember

  • When picking a theme for your OpenCart store, confirm that it’s compatible with the OpenCart version you are using. If no information in this regard is available, contact the theme developer for the same.

  • If the new theme is not showing on your store-front, clear your cookies and cache and refresh the web page.

  • Such themes are developed for the features that are available in the default theme only. So, if your custom modules or features don’t work with the new theme, don’t panic. Just contact the developer of your modules and ask to make the required changes.