Title: header.php not updating
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# header.php not updating

 *  [nogginj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nogginj/)
 * (@nogginj)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/)
 * howdy
    i am editing themes using the editor and also by modifying files and uploading
   them to ftp.
 * header.php will NOT update when it renders…i have the file from the theme, it
   is different on my machine and i have uploaded via ftp and tried the editor, 
   however it will not reflect any changes when rendered. even the html code shows
   the default header.php.
 * i was running a plugin and tried editing with the plugin disable…no luck.
    it
   seems things like index.php also wont update…i can only seem to update the stylesheet.
 * what am i missing?
 * -j

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  Thread Starter [nogginj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nogginj/)
 * (@nogginj)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950713)
 * do i have to rebuild the site like in movabletype?
 * my pages will not update…only the stylesheet.
 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-473288)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950750)
 * `do i have to rebuild the site like in movabletype?`
 * No.
 * Off the top of my head do you have an cache on?
 * Also some themes load header.php from a subdirectory. The theme was working on
   your machine?
 * Which editor? Do you mean the one in the admin backend? You need to set the proper
   write permissions to use that. You can use your ftp program to do that for example
   should you wish do to do so.
 *  Thread Starter [nogginj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nogginj/)
 * (@nogginj)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950764)
 * “Off the top of my head do you have an cache on?”
 * I’m not sure…are you talking about in wordpress? i dont know how to check that.
 * “Also some themes load header.php from a subdirectory. The theme was working 
   on your machine? “
 * The wordpress i see online is NOT loading the header.php that I have in my themes
   folder.
 * “Which editor? Do you mean the one in the admin backend? You need to set the 
   proper write permissions to use that. You can use your ftp program to do that
   for example should you wish do to do so. “
 * I was using the wordpress editor, which does change the actual files. Also, if
   i edit them on my pc and then upload them, they seem fine…but wordpress will 
   not pull them to render them.
 * I have tried on a different computer and it is definitely on the server. wordpress
   is NOT reading my header.php in themes/default
 * so what is this about cache?
    -j
 *  Thread Starter [nogginj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nogginj/)
 * (@nogginj)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950769)
 * wordpress will not read any template files i have edited…it always displays teh
   default…
 * only the stylesheets are updated on the web when i change them
 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-473288)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950772)
 * Cache:
 * If you installed WordPress yourself and you did not install a cache plugin then
   WordPress itself is not caching. If you are you using a preinstall then check
   the plugins to look for anything that could resemble a caching plugin. One of
   the better known one’s is WP Super Cache for example.
 * Are you using Internet Explorer? IE can be a bit stubborn with renewing. Hit 
   F5 to renew the page, see if that changes things.
 * If that doesn’t work you could try a different theme and see if you can change
   the header of that file, and if those changes show up. It could possibly give
   some clue as to whether it is theme related.
 * Also I don’t know if your webhost has caching on. Did you add or could anyone
   else have added anything for you in your that could be caching that you know 
   off?
 *  Thread Starter [nogginj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/nogginj/)
 * (@nogginj)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950774)
 * i will look around in the server for some option…i have never seen this before
   though and why would it still update the stylesheet…or the whole files whenever
   i change themes (that does work)?
 * i tried copying the default theme to make my own, but then when i upload this
   copied version (without changing anything)…it fails. all i get is a whitescreen(
   hooray php).
 * very confused.
 * -j
 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-473288)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950975)
 * Maybe you could do this:
 * In the header.php underneath your body tag put:
 *     ```
       <div class="test">
       <H1>TEST</H1>
       </div>
       ```
   
 * And in your last external CSS stylesheet at the bottom put:
 *     ```
       *{ display: visible;
           z-index: 0;
           margin: 0;
           padding: 0;
           color: #000;
           background: none} 
   
       h1 { position: fixed;
       top: 20px;
       left: 200px;
       background: #fff;
       color: #210FE9;
       font-size: 24pt;
       z-index: 100 }
       ```
   
 * Making sure there are no other css attributes defined with styling in the theme
   itself and java/javascript is turned of in your browser.
    I am not sure if that
   would give the wanted result, or if more css/ tweaks are needed in order to make
   the test work under all circumstances.
 * If everything works correctly and no other styling is getting in the way you 
   should see a blue “test” text at the top left of your screen.
 * Edit:
 * update to post: added css background property to test div and explained result
   of test.
 *  Anonymous User
 * (@anonymized-473288)
 * [17 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-950976)
 * Almost forgot:
 * It could be a number of things that is causing the problem.
 * You are sure you are uploading from the correct folder to the correct folder?
   
   Is your ftp program giving any errors when you try to upload the header.php? 
   What are you using to get the header.php in your template file?
 * I didn’t quite understand your answer about the default theme:
 * Is the default theme that came with WordPress without any changes to the theme
   whatsoever working? Or are you having problems then too?
 *  [Jeffrey Cannon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jacannon2/)
 * (@jacannon2)
 * [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-951148)
 * I was having the same problem and with mine I figured out that it was reading
   the theme files from my test directory that I had previously been using before
   I moved the WordPress install to my root directory.
 * Something to look in to.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘header.php not updating’ is closed to new replies.

 * 9 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Jeffrey Cannon](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jacannon2/)
 * Last activity: [17 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/headerphp-not-updating/#post-951148)
 * Status: not resolved

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