Title: Theme Editor
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Theme Editor

 *  [Tatsu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tatsu/)
 * (@tatsu)
 * [20 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/)
 * Hello, I see that there is a “Theme Editor” in the “Presentation” section of 
   the WordPress control panel. I’m currently using the defualt theme. I was wondering
   if there was a way to actually edit the default theme in the theme editor becuase
   at the moment I can’t edit them.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

 *  [tomhanna](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tomhanna/)
 * (@tomhanna)
 * [20 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236105)
 * You have to set the file permissions to allow the files to be writeable first.
   You can either do this with an FTP program or with some hosts you can do it through
   a web based file manager or control panel.
 * For an FTP program, I’d suggest trying Filezilla.
 * [http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/&e=9797](http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/&e=9797)
 *  [Lorelle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lorelle/)
 * (@lorelle)
 * [20 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236106)
 * You have to make them “writable” or your folder “writable” in order to edit them
   online via the Theme Editor. See [http://codex.wordpress.org/changing_file_permissions](http://codex.wordpress.org/changing_file_permissions)
 * OR you can edit them on your computer and then upload them, and not worry about
   using the Theme Editor or changing file permissions.
 * Or, you can use [http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_FileZilla](http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_FileZilla)
 *  Thread Starter [Tatsu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tatsu/)
 * (@tatsu)
 * [20 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236109)
 * Oh wow thank you its been buggin me for a while! The idea of having control over
   the theme in the wordpress control panel appeals to me so, thank you!
 *  [Lorelle](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lorelle/)
 * (@lorelle)
 * [20 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236529)
 * Glad to help.
 *  [dminky](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dminky/)
 * (@dminky)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236697)
 * Hi,
 * I’ve been really wanting to use the built-in theme editor as well, but I’m somewhat
   confused as what to do. I’ve read all the documentation on this, but something
   isn’t working right.
 * I’ve set my wp-themes folder to 775, along with all its subfolders and files.
   I’ve also set .htaccess to 666. But even following all the directions, I still
   get the message “If this file were writable you could edit it” when I try to 
   use the built-in editor. What am I doing wrong?
 * I’m also a bit unclear as to the security issue this poses. In another post [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/50863?replies=1](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/50863?replies=1)
   we’re recommended not to set permissions as high as the theme editor asks us 
   to. So does this make the theme editor a major security risk, or am I missing
   something here?
 * If someone can answer these 2 questions I’d be very grateful. Thanks.
 *  [moshu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/moshu/)
 * (@moshu)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236698)
 * 1. I never do serious editing in the Theme Editor. It’s good to correct a typo
   or some small thing, but I strongly recommend editing/re-designing themes on 
   your computer and uploading the files.
 * 2. The file that you want to edit has to be chmod 666 – not the folders.
 * 3. .htaccees has nothing to do with Theme Editor.
 * 4. Yes, it is risky to have those files all the time writable.
 *  [fatfire](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fatfire/)
 * (@fatfire)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236699)
 * I would advise anyone not familiar with page editing on your local computer and
   uploading changes to make sure you do not overwrite the old file until it has
   been renamed. Here’s how I do it:
    1) when I download a file to be edited (say
   myfile.php), I make a copy of it and save in the same folder as myfile-orig-date.
   php. 2) make edits to myfile.php 3) just before uploading the modified file, 
   use your FTP program to rename the old file on the server to myfile-old-date.
   php 4) upload the modified file myfile.php Now if the new file is totally fubared,
   you can delete it and remname the “old” file in order to restore things quickly.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The topic ‘Theme Editor’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [File Permissions](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/file-permissions/)

 * 7 replies
 * 6 participants
 * Last reply from: [fatfire](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fatfire/)
 * Last activity: [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-2/#post-236699)
 * Status: not resolved

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