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How to Fix: “Broken theme and/or stylesheets missing” when uploading theme file

If WordPress refuses the theme with “the theme is missing the style.css stylesheet”, you almost certainly uploaded the wrong download. Here is how to tell the two ThemeForest packages apart and which one to upload.

1 minute read

A common issue that can occur when installing WordPress themes is the message “The package could not be installed. The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet.” being displayed when uploading or activating the theme.

The green Download menu on ThemeForest, open on the three choices: All files & documentation, Installable WordPress file only, and License certificate & purchase code.

Which file to upload

One of the reasons you may receive this error is that you uploaded the incorrect file. You have two options for downloading your theme.

  1. 1 Installable WordPress file only

    The theme on its own. This is the file WordPress expects, so you can upload it as it is.

    A single downloaded archive named themeforest-ZOsJXkgM-vehica-automotive-wordpress-theme, shown with a compressed-folder icon.
  2. 2 All files and documentation

    The full zip folder. You will need to extract it and locate the installable WordPress file inside before you upload anything.

    The extracted vehica_package folder holding a licensing folder next to the vehica and vehica-child theme archives.
Upload only vehica.zip
If you downloaded “All files & documentation”, make sure you are uploading only the installable theme, which is called vehica.zip. If you upload all of those files, you will receive the error above.

Ask the people who build Vehica

We answer by email from support@tangiblewp.com. With Premium Support, we also fix your site when something breaks.

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