Installing Salient

After you’ve downloaded the main theme archive from ThemeForest you’ll see the following items inside:

  • salient.zip The actual files that you will need to upload into your WordPress setup
  • salient-user-guide.pdf Documentation files
  • salient-child-theme.zip An installable child theme. Learn more about this here
  • Licensing (folder) Contains the general item license.

There are two main ways in which you can install Salient into your WordPress setup.

  • 1. Through the WordPress admin dashboard
  • 2. Uploading through FTP (file transfer protocol)

Method #1

Using The WordPress Dashboard

  • Step 1. Head over to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard
  • Step 2. Click Install Themes followed by the Upload button
  • Step 3. Locate the salient.zip file you extracted from the ThemeForest download archive and click the Install Now button
  • Step 4. Once you’ve installed the theme you will be greeted with a welcome page, as shown on the right. It will list all the available Salient plugins you can install, only two of which are required. The required plugins are the Salient WPBakery Page Builder and the Salient Core. If you already have another version of the WPBakery page builder active, deactivate it first. The other plugins Salient offers in the install plugins section are optional. You can read more about each one in the plugin installation section of the documentation.
  • Step 5. You’re now ready to use Salient, begin importing demos if you wish or you start configuring the theme options and creating content!

Troubleshooting Possible Errors

PHP Errors After Installing

Ensure that your server meets the minimum requirements for Salient before installing. If you’re running a legacy version of PHP and install the theme, you may encounter compatibility issues or fatal errors. Keeping your PHP version within the supported range—preferably using a currently maintained release—helps ensure stable performance, proper functionality, and full compatibility with Salient.

WordPress Error Messages

If you see the message “Are you sure you want to do this? Please try again.” or “The link you followed has expired” while attempting to update, it usually means your server’s PHP configuration has a low maximum upload size or a low maximum execution time. To fix this, increase the following PHP settings to values higher than 35M. Any reputable hosting provider can update these for you quickly and without hassle.

  • upload_max_filesize – 36M or greater
  • post_max_size – 36M or greater
  • max_execution_time – 150 or greater
  • memory_limit 256M or greater

or you can upload the theme through FTP instead to bypass this all together.

Method #2

Uploading through FTP

  • Step 1. Uncompress the salient.zip file from your ThemeForest download onto your computer
  • Step 2. upload the extracted salient folder to /wp-content/themes/ on your server
  • Follow steps 4 and 5 from the Using The WordPress Admin Dashboard from above