Help to Update Joomla 3.1 Site

[AndrewRodgers]

I have had this project dropped in my lap.

We are using very old PHP (7.3.3) and JOomla 3.1, I need to update our website to the newest available for both of them, but I have never backed upe PHP or had any experience with Joomla.

[gsmela]

1. You might start by reading through this guide: https://docs.joomla.org/Portal:Beginners

2. Turn off your caps lock key, please.

[AMurray]

The very latest Joomla is version 5. You need to make sure your hosting matches the system requirements: https://manual.joomla.org/docs/next/get ... uirements/.

Obtaining the required hosting is not something we can assist with, you need to speak to your IT people or your web host (or find a new web host capable of hosting Joomla 5).

The first step will be to migrate to Joomla 4 which it seems possible. Joomla 4's minimum PHP is 7.2.5. First you need to update v3.1 to 3.10.x. Refer to https://docs.joomla.org/J3.x:Updating_f ... g_version/. Doing this in smaller steps, you will need to update Joomla 3.1 to 3.5, then 3.5 onwards to 3.10.x. (3.10 is the only version that will update to 4.x).

There will likely be much preparation involved in your situation; for Joomla 4 migration from 3.10 to 4, see:
https://docs.joomla.org/Planning_for_Mi ... 0.x_to_4.x and https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_3.x_to_4 ... _Migration.

When you have a successful running Joomla 4 site, you can update to Joomla 5
https://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_4.4.x_to ... ep_by_Step