Is my Expression Engine CMS up to date?

The web is a constantly changing ecosystem where there's one thing for sure; nothing stands still for very long. This means that your shiny new Expression Engine website could soon be left behind if its not kept up to date on a regular basis.

As a website owner, being up to date should mean peace of mind; that any bugs have been fixed, vulnerabilities patched and your data will be secure. However, while you're the person who adds content to your website, you're probably not the one who is responsible for keeping the site current in terms of the software updates available from Expression Engine. So how do you know if your site is up to date?

Checking your current version of Expression Engine

This is really easy to do, and can be done from every page within the control panel. Towards the bottom of the screen, you'll see the current version number and a build date.

The build date, not suprisingly is in a US date format, so in the example above, the build date 20120911 is 9th September 2012.

Check for a new version

Checking to see whether a new version of Expression Engine is available is thankfully just as easy. Looking down towards the bottom of the control panel screen, you'll see a tab labelled ExpressionEngine Info.

Clicking on the tab will expand it show whether there is a new version available to download. Alternatively, you can always check out the Expression Engine Change Log which has a full version history, with the most current version at the top of the page.

Updating your site

If you're working with an Expression Engine developer, then we'd strongly recommend you ask them to update your site. Running the pre- and post-upgrade checks, ensuring your data is suitably backed up, and any add-ons are updated is best left to someone who is experienced with the Expression Engine system.

If you need help to update your Expression Engine site, or want to ask a specific question about your current Expression Engine site, then please contact us; we'd be happy to help.

Next week, we'll ask the question whether you should be using the most recent Expression Engine release.