Website owners and designers often need to customize their Joomla templates to match their unique branding or to differentiate from the original version. However, renaming your website template might seem a difficult task but this friendly guide will help you throughout the process of renaming your Joomla template without the need of reinstalling it again from your Joomla Backend. Please read the below instructions carefully to create a customized template that better suits your website's design and functionality in no time.
1. Backup your Website:
Before making any changes to your website, please make sure to create a full backup of your Joomla files and database. You can use a backup extension like Akeeba Backup or manually download your files and export your database using a database management tool like phpMyAdmin.
2. Set your Website Offline:
It is recommended to set your Joomla website offline before making any changes. Please login to your Joomla website administrator backend then navigate to System > Global Configuration. Access the Site tab then change the Site Offline option to Yes. This will make your website temporarily offline and allows you to make any updates to your website without affecting the user experience.
3. Locate and Rename your Template Folder:
Access your Joomla installation directory using an FTP client or using your hosting control panel's file manager. The template folder is typically located under /path_to_your/templates/. Now rename your template folder by the new name that meets your website name and design. An example of how to rename your template folder name: /path_to_your/templates/old_template_name change it to /path_to_your/templates/new_template_name.
4. Update the templateDetails.xml file:
Inside the renamed template folder, find and open the templateDetails.xml file. Update the following with your new template name. An example in how to rename your old template name and other information:
<name>old-template</name> change it to <name>new-template</name>
<description>Old Template Title</description> change it to <description>New Template Title</description>
<language tag="en-GB">en-GB.tpl_old_template_name.ini</language> change it to <language tag="en-GB">en-GB.tpl_new_template_name.ini</language>
Change other values if other languages are available.
5. Update the Language Files:
Rename the language files to match the new template name. These language files are found under the languages folder /path_to_your/languages/. Search for the following files then change en-GB.tpl_old_template_name.ini and en-GB.tpl_old_template_name.sys.ini to en-GB.tpl_new_template_name.ini and en-GB.tpl_new_template_name.sys.ini. Also make sure to rename other languages files if they exist.
6. Update other Old Template Name Files:
Search in your website directory for any other files that contain the old template name and try to rename them.
7. Update Template Name within the Database:
Export your Joomla database as an SQL file using a tool like phpMyAdmin or using your hosting control panel's database management tool. Open the exported SQL file in a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++ then search and replace all strings having your old template name with the new template name, being careful not to replace any unrelated strings. Save the modified SQL file once you have made the necessary changes. Now access your database management tool like phpMyAdmin then select your Joomla database, check all tables, and then choose the Drop option to delete all your database tables. Now you can import your modified SQL file into your Joomla database.
8. Clear the Joomla Cache:
It is recommended to clear your Joomla cache after making all changes. To do this, please go to System then click on Clear Cache to clear any cached files related to the template.
9. Update Template Overrides (If Any):
If your template has overrides in the /path_to_your/templates/html/ folder, update any references to the old template name with the new template name in the affected files.
10. Update the Template's Thumbnail (Optional):
You may want to change your updated template thumbnail which is displayed in the Joomla administrator panel. Simply replace the template_thumbnail.png or template_preview.png images located under /path_to_your/templates/ folder with new images designed by you.
Note: Joomla templates are distributed under open source licenses like GPL or LGPL, allowing users to modify and distribute them. You can usually rename a Joomla template as long as you comply with the license terms. Review the specific license terms, as some may require distributing the modified template under the same license. Seek guidance from legal professionals or the Joomla community for clarity on license compliance.
Finally, I hope you find this article practical for customizing your template to better suit your needs without the need to reinstall it again. Please take into consideration that if you want to install a newer version of your template then make sure to make any necessary changes to the template files before installing it on your Joomla backend. Please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance.
