Title: WordPress theme offline
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# WordPress theme offline

 *  [alexjwinger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexjwinger/)
 * (@alexjwinger)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-theme-offline/)
 * Hi All,
 * I currently have a wordpress site (woocommerce), that is currently my online 
   shop. I have a lot of customers and customer details within my current site. 
   I want to do a redesign of my current site (utilising my existing product range),
   but I want to keep my current site running as it takes orders every day.
 * I want to be able to work on the new design (theme) whilst my other site stays
   live. I dont want to affect any of the existing databases with my product lines
   and customer details on it.
 * I dont have access to a windows PC.
 * Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 * Thank you.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [reportica](https://wordpress.org/support/users/reportica/)
 * (@reportica)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-theme-offline/#post-5322575)
 * Hi alexjwinger,
 * It’s great that you have a site with orders every day! So this is a good kind
   of problem to have.
 * Yes, you are right, you don’t want to develop on your live site. And you are 
   right that running a local copy of WordPress is the best way to develop, but 
   let’s look at some second-best options.
 * Doing a redesign usually requires much more than changing the theme, as I am 
   sure you know, but you can start there on your current site by using a theme 
   switcher plugin. This one defaults to allowing only the admins to switch themes.
   I haven’t tested this recently, but this is the type of plugin you are looking
   for.
    [https://wordpress.org/plugins/toolbar-theme-switcher/faq/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/toolbar-theme-switcher/faq/)
 * Can you copy your site and run it in a htpassword-protected subdirectory? Most
   good backup programs allow you to restore to a different directory. What kind
   of hosting do you have?
 * Please post more about what kind of hosting and computer you have access to.
 * — Sheryl
 *  Thread Starter [alexjwinger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexjwinger/)
 * (@alexjwinger)
 * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-theme-offline/#post-5322629)
 * Hi Sheryl,
 * Many thanks for your comprehensive reply 🙂
 * What I have managed to figure between me and my hosting company is that I am 
   going to set up a subdomain and copy all my existing files accross. It will allow
   me to upload my new theme and develop away and then when its finished transfer
   the new files accross and remove the subdomain. So I hope this works.
 * Thanks for taking the to reply.
 * Alex

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘WordPress theme offline’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [database](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/database/)
 * [Offline](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/offline/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [alexjwinger](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexjwinger/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-theme-offline/#post-5322629)
 * Status: not resolved

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