ThemeForest, which is part of Envato Market, is the biggest marketplace for premium WordPress themes.

At the time I’m writing this post, it contains 11,557 themes.

For many, ThemeForest is the go-to place when wanting to buy a WordPress theme. It has a lot of good ones, some of them being among the top-selling themes of all times.

The prices are quite low as well, some starting at 29$, and you only have to pay once. The only thing you have to pay for every 6 months or once a year is the support, if you need it.

But not everything is peachy. There are also a lot of poorly developed, maintained, and supported themes there, so it’s up to you to make sure that you’re not choosing a bad WordPress theme.

That being said, let’s get to our main topic that I’ll cover in this post, which is how to download, install, and register a WordPress theme from ThemeForest.

While it might sound like it’s going to be a standard download and upload theme tutorial, it’s not. ThemeForest has its particularities, which I’ll cover below.

How to download a WordPress theme from ThemeForest

First of all, I don’t recommend buying a theme using the guest checkout. I advise you to create an account, where you can always find your theme(s), files, and everything you might need in the future.

Also, in most cases, an Envato account is a must in order to have access to auto-updates, demo data, support, and so on.

So, after you’ve purchased your theme, you’ll have to download it. To do this, you have to:

1. Hover your mouse over your ThemeForest username, found at the top-right.

2. Click Downloads from the drop-down menu.

3. After that, click the Download button next to your theme to display your options.

4. Now, you have two download options:

1. All Files & documentation – contains the full package: your theme, its guide, child theme, extensions, languages, and so on, depending on what the theme offers;
2. Installable WordPress file only – it only contains the .zip file with the theme that you need to upload, nothing more.

You should definitely choose to download all the files and documentation, because you’ll need more than just the installable file, especially when it comes to the child theme, which is very important.

How to install a WordPress theme from ThemeForest

The uploading and installation parts are the same as with any other theme.

First, you’ll have to install your parent theme.

1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard.

2. Go to Appearance -> Themes, in the left side of your Dashboard.

3. Click the Add New button, found at the top-left.

4. Press the Upload Theme button at the top-left, which will display the upload form.

5. Click the Browse button, search for your parent theme’s .zip file, and select it.

6. Now press the Install Now button.

Don’t activate it! You’ll activate the child theme.

I’ll use a default WordPress theme, Twenty Sixteen, for the sake of the example.

Now, repeat the same steps in order to install your child theme.

Nowadays, most premium WordPress themes come with a child theme in their packages, so search for a .zip file which has your theme name and “-child” next to it (e.g. Your-Theme-Name-Child.zip).

Most of the times, you’ll find the child theme in the same folder as the parent theme, but it can differ from theme to theme.

After you have successfully installed the child theme too, activate it.

You can do that by pressing the Activate link, which will appear after you’ve pressed the Install Now button (see above), and the theme has been successfully installed.

Your WordPress theme is now properly installed!

Now let’s get to those particularities that I mentioned above.

How to register a WordPress theme from ThemeForest

Most ThemeForest themes will require an Envato Token in order for you to register your purchase, and have access to automatic updates, demo data, premium plugins, or even to activate the whole theme, in some cases.

Adding an Envato Token

I won’t start with how to create an Envato Token first, because you’d normally want to make sure that you have the things that I’m about to mention in place, before moving on to creating a token. It will be a bit easier for you as well.

There are a couple of ways to add an Envato Token.

1. Add Envato Token via theme options

Some ThemeForest themes have a dedicated section where you can add your token, so you don’t need 3rd party tools.

If your theme has something like this, definitely use that.

2. Add Envato Token via plugin

Some ThemeForest themes will require the use of a plugin in order to register your purchase, and have access to auto updates and whatever else they provide.

That plugin is called Envato Market WordPress Plugin.

Some theme documentations might be outdated, and suggest the Envato WordPress ToolKit plugin, but that’s deprecated, don’t use it.

You can upload and install the plugin just like you did with the theme, like you saw above, except that you have to go to Plugins -> Add New, instead of Appearance -> Themes -> Add New.

After installing and activating the plugin, you can access its settings by going to Envato Market, in the bottom-left side of your Dashboard.

As you can see, you have two options:

1. Activate Envato API Connection – you should use this if the items from ThemeForest or CodeCanyon are for your own personal use. Once you add the Token here, every item that you purchased from ThemeForest or CodeCanyon will appear there;
2. Single Item Tokens (Advanced) – you should use this if a theme that you bought is for a client, for example. So, only that particular theme will appear there, not every item you bought from ThemeForest or CodeCanyon. Therefore, the client can’t see the rest of the items that you purchased.

When using Single Item Tokens (Advanced), you need to add the token that you’ll create, plus the item’s ID, which you can find in your license & purchase code files that I’m going to talk about below.

Creating an Envato token

Another reason why I started with how to add an Envato Token is that, as you can see from the above examples, the theme (at least most of them) and the plugin provide a small guide and direct links for you in order to create a token, therefore making the process easier.

So, it’s best to check your theme first, to see if they provide a registration section and a link to create an Envato token. If not, install the Envato Market plugin and use the links there.

Nevertheless, here’s the link for creating a token – https://build.envato.com/create-token/.

Now, no matter what links you click, either the one provided by your theme, or by the plugin, or the one I provided above, you should end up here:

Add a name for your token, and make sure the following permissions are checked:

• View and search Envato sites;
• View your Envato Account username;
• Download your purchased items;
• List purchases you’ve made;
• Verify purchases you’ve made.

They should be checked by default, but review them to make sure.

Agree to the Term and conditions, then press the Create Token button.

Copy the token and add it in the registration field of your theme or Envato Market plugin, like you saw above.

Now, your theme will be registered, and you can have access to all the goodies.

Getting the license & purchase code from ThemeForest

Some WordPress themes from ThemeForest require the purchase code in order to validate your purchase, or to have access to support.

These are found in your ThemeForest downloads section as well, under the theme files.

The purchase code is in this format (it’s just an example): xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Add it in your theme’s options to register it, or on the developers’ website, if asked, in order to get access to their ticketing system or forum, or whatever they might have in place.

That’s a wrap

That was the tutorial on how to download, install, and register a WordPress theme from ThemeForest! Hope you found it useful and comprehensive!

Don’t forget to share it to help out others!

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If you need help customizing your WordPress theme from ThemeForest, then ThemeSkills’ WordPress installation service is at your disposal! On-going WordPress support and maintenance is on the menu as well!

You can also purchase a ready-made WordPress website with hosting and support included!