Title: theme editor
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# theme editor

 *  [blogreneem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/blogreneem/)
 * (@blogreneem)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/)
 * hello, (again)
 * i would liek to cistomize my theme using the theme editor but it has this at 
   the bottom:
 * If this file were writable you could edit it.
 * How do I make it writable?
 * Thanks,

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [warhonowicz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/warhonowicz/)
 * (@warhonowicz)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/#post-363411)
 * You don’t on the net. Find the file on your local drive and edit it with Notepad
   or something similar.
 *  Thread Starter [blogreneem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/blogreneem/)
 * (@blogreneem)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/#post-363412)
 * i tried that, and nothing worked. but thanks 😀
 *  [Chris_K](https://wordpress.org/support/users/handysolo/)
 * (@handysolo)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/#post-363414)
 * The previous poster was suggesting that you use your ftp client and copy the 
   file you wish to change to your machine. Make changes to it and then ftp it back
   to your server.
 * Other option is to change the permissions of the files in your theme directory
   so that they are writable (chmod) by whatever process your web server runs as.
   Then you can use the built in Theme editor.
 * [Disclaimer — what follows is not gospel, just an attempt to simplify some security
   concerns. I’m speculating without any knowledge about how your server is setup…]
 * However, this tends to be a security issue as it may open things up so that any
   miscreant can edit them as well… It all depends on the permissions and ownership
   of the files though.
 * For instance, if the file owner of the theme files is you, and the web server
   doesn’t run as “you”, then you have to make the files writable to the world. 
   Trouble looms… you’d want to change the permissions, do your changes and then
   change them back.
 * If the theme files are owned by the same process that your web server runs as,
   however, then you can just change ’em to 644 and be a bit more casual.
 *  Thread Starter [blogreneem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/blogreneem/)
 * (@blogreneem)
 * [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/#post-363424)
 * OH! I understand. OK i wont change the permissions i’ll go into my files and 
   stuff to do it, thank you

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘theme editor’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [blogreneem](https://wordpress.org/support/users/blogreneem/)
 * Last activity: [20 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/theme-editor-3/#post-363424)
 * Status: not resolved

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