Upgrading LearnDash Dashboard

This page explains how to upgrade the plugin safely, what to do if something goes wrong, and what changed in major releases.

Before You Upgrade

Take these steps before applying any update. They take a few minutes and can save hours of recovery time.

Back up your database. Use your host’s backup tool or a plugin like UpdraftPlus to create a full database backup. The dashboard stores important data — commission records, email logs, enrollment codes, time tracking, and student statistics — that you want to be able to restore if something goes wrong.
Back up the plugin folder. Copy the ld-dashboard folder from your plugins directory to a safe location. This lets you restore the exact previous version quickly.
Read the release notes. Check the changelog before upgrading. Look for any notes about breaking changes or settings that need to be reconfigured after the update.
Test on a staging site first. If your host provides a staging environment, apply the update there and verify everything works before touching your live site.
Clear your caches before and after. Disable any full-page caching plugin before upgrading and clear all caches immediately after. Stale cached pages can make the site look broken even when it is working correctly.

How to Upgrade

Through the WordPress Admin (Recommended)

Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
If an update is available, you will see an Update Now link below the plugin name.
Click Update Now.
WordPress downloads and installs the new version automatically. Any necessary data updates run in the background on the next page load.

Manually via FTP

If automatic updates are not available:

Download the latest version from your Wbcom Designs account.
Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and deactivate LearnDash Dashboard.
Connect to your server via FTP and delete the existing ld-dashboard folder from wp-content/plugins/.
Upload the new ld-dashboard folder to the same location.
Go back to Plugins > Installed Plugins and activate the plugin.

Data updates run automatically when the plugin activates.

Your Data Is Safe

Upgrades do not delete your existing data. All student records, commission logs, email history, enrollment codes, time tracking data, and plugin settings are preserved when you upgrade.

The data tables the dashboard uses are:

What It Stores	Table Name
Outgoing email queue	Email Queue
Sent email history	Email Logs
Enrollment codes	Enrollment Codes
Code redemption history	Code Redemptions
Instructor commissions	Commission Records
Payout requests	Withdrawals
Dashboard statistics cache	Statistics
Student learning time	Time Tracking
Group seat allocations	Group Seats

If a data update does not complete (for example, because of a server error), simply deactivate and reactivate the plugin to retry it.

Your Settings Are Safe

All your plugin settings are preserved across upgrades, including:

General settings
Design and color settings
Menu visibility settings per role
Activity feed settings
Monetization and commission settings
Instructor settings
Module settings (Zoom, BuddyPress, To-Do)

If you have customised the email templates by placing copies in your theme folder, those customisations are not affected by plugin updates.

Upgrading from Version 7.0 to 7.5.0

Version 7.5.0 was a significant update that improved performance and reliability across the board. All your existing data and settings work without any changes on your part.

What improved for site owners:

The course, lesson, topic, quiz, and certificate edit forms are faster and more reliable.
Reports (quiz results, assignments, essays, course progress) now load one page at a time and handle large student counts without timeouts.
Emails are now queued and retried automatically — if delivery fails once, the system tries again rather than dropping the message.
The dashboard CSS and JavaScript now loads only the files needed for each section, making pages faster for students and instructors.
Email templates can be customised by copying them to your theme folder — updates no longer overwrite your customisations.

What you need to do:

For most site owners, nothing. Just update and verify the dashboard works correctly.

If you have a developer who added custom code to the plugin:

Version 7.5.0 replaced four older report-generating classes with a new unified system. If your developer wrote code that referenced those old report classes, that code will need to be updated. Ask your developer to review the upgrade notes or contact Wbcom Designs support for guidance.

After Upgrading

Run through this checklist after every major upgrade:

Visit the dashboard as an administrator and confirm tabs load
Log in as an instructor and confirm courses, reports, and messaging work
Log in as a student and confirm enrolled courses and quiz history are visible
Submit a test assignment as a student and approve it as an instructor
Open the Insights tab and verify charts display correctly
Check Admin > Email Logs and confirm emails are being sent
Clear all caching plugin caches

If the Upgrade Causes a Problem

Restore from Your Backup

Use your host’s restore tool or a backup plugin to restore your database from before the upgrade.
Delete the current ld-dashboard folder via FTP.
Upload your backed-up plugin folder.
Confirm the plugin is active and the site is working.

Revert the Plugin Files Only

If the data looks fine but the plugin itself is causing errors:

Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and deactivate LearnDash Dashboard.
Delete the current ld-dashboard folder via FTP.
Upload the backed-up older version.
Activate the plugin.

Use WP Rollback

Install the free WP Rollback plugin, then go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find LearnDash Dashboard, and click Rollback to select and install a previous version.

Upgrading on WordPress Multisite

If your site is a WordPress Multisite network, upgrade LearnDash Dashboard on each site individually rather than network-activating it. The plugin creates database tables separately for each site, so each site needs to run its own activation process.

After uploading the new plugin files, visit each site’s Plugins page and activate or update the plugin there.