Tutorial - How to remove RapidWeaver's Default Themes

Hello Weavers

I’ve seen this in the forums several times as well. The TRUE answer is YOU CAN’T uninstall built in themes (By right clicking a Realmac Software Theme in Addons Manager) . But, the Good News is, you can HIDE them. If you REALLY want to delete some of the built-in Realmac Software Themes, please see @Oscar’s post below. Just be aware that this is slightly technical in nature and may cause update errors. Thank you @Oscar for the technical side of removing a built-in Theme!

Assumes usage of RW6.x as I do not have RW5.

  1. Open Manage Addons (RapidWeaver - > Manage Addons…)

  2. Create a new Collection - Click the ‘+’ button the lower left

  3. Name it what you want, I chose ‘Responsive Themes’ (I chose this because I don’t want to see the built-in static Themes)

NOTE You may want to go through each theme on a new project to see if it is responsive or not (applies mostly to RapidWeaver built in Themes but does apply to some Third Party Dev Themes as well that are currently still being sold)

  1. Select Addons (Top Left menu item in Addons Manager)

  2. Select Themes (Top 3rd from the left)

  3. Drag each Desired Responsive Theme to the new Collections Folder you created in step 3 (I put ALL responsive themes in my collection, you may just choose to add the Themes you like that are responsive)

  4. Close Manage Addons

So, you have created your list of Responsive Themes, how do you use that new list?

  1. Create a new Project file (or existing)

  2. Select Themes (Top Centre of RW main window)

  3. The Theme Manager will open below your page

  4. Select the Theme list drop-down (default selection here is All Themes)

  5. Select your new collection (in this case Responsive Themes) and all you will see in the theme window is those themes you have added to that collection. (In my case, the selection stays active until changed regardless of creating a new project or restarting RapidWeaver), just remember it’s there if you have to change it.

Done, now you have a collection of Third Party and Realmac Themes that are responsive by design that you can quickly choose from without having to worry about the static Themes.

NOTE You DO NOT have to create a Collection for each developer as RapidWeaver handles that by itself (scroll down farther at step 4 to select a Specific Developer to see their installed Themes)

I have no idea where this is stored in the file system of RapidWeaver, but if you find it please update this tutorial so that it is helpful to others for backup purposes. This backup can be ‘Possibly’ inserted into different computers if you collaborate on sites or have multiple computers you work on. However, if this file does not exist then you will have to create this list manually on each computer.

Hope this helps the community…
Brad

Sure, you can delete original RapidWeaver Themes.
That’s easy, but you must note some points.

Don’t use a classic theme as default.
Use another theme (example HV Stripped)
Shut down RapidWeaver.

Then you go to RapidWeaver.app show Package Contents
Go to Resources > Themes
There you delete the folder Classic Themes.
When you restart RapidWeaver, the Classic Themes are not availabel.

But you have to do this with every Update of RapidWeaver !!

@Oscar

Agreed, you can do that!

But for the following reasons I said ‘You Can’t’:

  1. I was trying to leave it at the more beginner style of user.

  2. It is somewhat technical for some users. The more savvy users will know how to do this and why.

  3. Realmac Software recommends you leave them for dealing with a possible site that you may take over for an update instead of starting from scratch. Which is the whole reason they left them there in the first place.

Thank you for your addition to the tutorial, a pleasure having some feedback and input . I have modified my tutorial for a little more clarity and some spelling errors (Darned auto correct!) and to reference your feedback, credit where credit is due after all :smile:

Brad
:+1:

Thank you Oscar for providing the tutorial on how to ditch the classic themes. I have a question.

Where is the “Rapidweaver.app” that you mention in the second part of your tutorial? Can you provide a little more detail in that portion please?

I would like to make note of it since I’ll have to do it each time RW updates.

Thanks again,
Devin

Hi folks: we’d suggest that you do not modify or remove themes from the app bundle. We’re providing a means to hide these themes in RW7, and you’ll encounter software update quirks in RW6 onwards by modifying the app contents.

When checking for updates, RapidWeaver will download a binary “delta” - this is patch that is applied to RapidWeaver by zipping up the current contents of the app, making sure it matches what’s expected, and then applying the patch.

If the patch (normally < 5MB, because it’s just a representation of the changes to the app) cannot be applied, the full app will need to be redownloaded to ensure the update is applied (roughly 165MB).

Thanks!

—Nik

1 Like

@DMillington

RW is not far away.
In the programs you can find RW.
Show package, with right click.
There you will find the content of RapidWeaver, and the folder Themes and in there the folder Classic Themes.
You can do it, but it is not recommended.
I’ve always, for 10 years, all themes here.

Thank you so much. Mission Accomplished. I’ve been wanting to do this for years! :slight_smile: Have a great weekend.