Uploaded theme does not appear in the dashboard or triggers a broken theme notice.
Theme Missing After Upload
Key Points: You upload a theme, but it doesn’t show up or appears as “broken” in the dashboard.
You click “Add New Theme,” upload the ZIP, and — nothing. Or maybe you see “The following themes are installed but incomplete.” This is usually a folder structure issue.
🔧 Causes
- The ZIP contains another folder inside (e.g.,
theme/theme-files) - Missing essential files:
style.cssandindex.php - Corrupted or partial upload via FTP
🛠️ What To Do
- Unzip the theme locally and check folder structure
- Ensure
style.cssis in the top-level directory - Upload the correct inner folder via FTP to
/wp-content/themes/
🧠 Tip
Always upload the actual theme folder — not a wrapper with extra licensing files or docs inside.