Every Elementor Template Kit you download from XYZ Theme is a single ZIP of ready-made pages, headers, footers and styles. Pick the route that fits your server below, follow the steps, and your new site is on screen in about 10 minutes.
- ⏱ 10–15 minutes
- 🧩 Elementor (free) required
- ⭐ Elementor Pro for “Pro” kits
- 🐘 PHP 8.3 for the newest importer
Seeing “This plugin does not work with your version of PHP” when you install Template Kit – Import? You haven’t done anything wrong. The plugin’s newest version (1.0.17, September 2026) needs PHP 8.3, so WordPress blocks it on PHP 8.2 or older, even when WordPress itself is fully up to date. Choose your PHP version below and we’ll show you the way round it.
Step 0: Find your route
First, check your PHP version. In WordPress go to Tools › Site Health › Info › Server and look for PHP version. Elementor users can also see it under Elementor › System Info. Then pick the option that matches:
My site runs…
Use the latest Template Kit – Import
Go to Plugins › Add New, search for Template Kit – Import (by Envato), click Install and Activate. Then follow the six import steps below.
Two ways round the PHP error
- Best: switch the site to PHP 8.3. In your hosting panel look for “Select PHP Version”, “MultiPHP Manager” (cPanel) or “PHP Configuration” (hPanel, Plesk, Cloudways, RunCloud). Take a backup first. If you aren’t sure, ask your host — they can do it in a couple of minutes. Then use Route A.
- Quick: use Template Kit – Import 1.0.16. This earlier release works on PHP 5.6 and newer. Download the official 1.0.16 ZIP from WordPress.org, go to Plugins › Add New › Upload Plugin, choose that file, then Install Now and Activate. Then follow the import steps.
Version 1.0.17 also brought security fixes. Use 1.0.16 only while you import, then deactivate and delete it. Your imported templates stay in Elementor.
Import the templates manually with Elementor
This works with every kit, on any PHP version, with no extra plugin. It is also the way to install older kits that were made for the retired Envato Elements plugin. Jump to the manual import steps.
Before you start: a 2-minute checklist
Most failed imports come down to one of these. Tick them off as you go (we’ll remember your ticks on this device):
Route A: import with Template Kit – Import
- Install the importer
Plugins › Add New › search Template Kit – Import › Install Now › Activate. On PHP 8.2 or older, upload version 1.0.16 instead (see Route B).
- Upload your kit
Go to Tools › Template Kit and upload the kit ZIP exactly as you downloaded it from My Account › Downloads. After a few seconds you’ll see the kit’s templates as thumbnails.
- Install the required plugins
An orange bar lists the plugins the kit was built with. Click Install Requirements and wait for every tick. Free plugins install automatically. Premium ones such as Elementor Pro have to be installed by you first.
If an “Unexpected error” appears while plugins install (often a plugin opening its welcome page), close it, refresh, and click Install Requirements again. Plugins that already installed are skipped. - Import “Global Kit Styles” first
This card holds the kit’s colour palette and typography. Importing it applies them to Elementor › Site Settings, so every page matches the demo. Skip it only if you want to keep your current site colours.
- Import the templates you need
Click Import Template on each page you want: home, about, contact and so on. Import each one once and keep the tab open until the green tick shows. Big pages download their demo images, which can take a minute.
- Put the templates on your pages
Create a page under Pages › Add New and click Edit with Elementor. Click the folder icon, open My Templates and click Insert on the template. In page settings, set Page Layout to Elementor Full Width (keeps your theme’s header and footer) or Elementor Canvas (a blank canvas). Publish, then set it as your homepage under Settings › Reading if you like.
Headers, footers, blog and shop templates go under Templates › Theme Builder (Elementor Pro). Open each one, click Publish and choose a display condition such as Entire Site.
Route C: manual import (old kits or any PHP)
Every kit ZIP is just a folder of standard Elementor templates. Elementor can import them itself, with no Template Kit plugin and no PHP 8.3 needed. This is also how you install older kits: the Envato Elements plugin that older kit instructions mention was removed from WordPress.org in December 2023 and shut down completely in August 2025. The kits themselves still work, through Route A or this route.
- Unzip the kit on your computer
Open the
templatesfolder. Each.jsonfile is one template. - Install the plugins the kit needs
Open
manifest.jsonin any text editor and look under"required_plugins". Install and activate each plugin listed there, such as Elementor Pro, ElementsKit Lite or Contact Form 7. Skipping one leaves empty gaps where its widgets should be. - Import the template files
In WordPress go to Templates › Saved Templates (older Elementor: Elementor › My Templates). Click Import Templates, choose a
Faster: select all the .json files, compress them into one ZIP and import that ZIP once. Elementor imports every template inside it..jsonfile and click Import Now. Repeat for each page you want. - Recreate the global styles
The manual route can’t apply
global.jsonautomatically. Insert the imported “Global Kit Styles” template on a draft page to see the kit’s colours and fonts. Then copy them into Elementor › Site Settings › Global Colors / Global Fonts. - Build your pages and set up the Theme Builder
Exactly as in step 6 of Route A: insert page templates from My Templates. Then publish header, footer and archive templates under Templates › Theme Builder with a display condition.
Don’t use Elementor › Tools › Import / Export › Import Kit for these kits. That tool only reads Elementor’s own kit format and will say the file is invalid.
Something went wrong? Quick fixes
“This plugin does not work with your version of PHP”
Template Kit – Import 1.0.17 needs PHP 8.3. Your WordPress version doesn’t matter here; your server’s PHP version does. Either switch to PHP 8.3 in your hosting panel, or upload version 1.0.16 (PHP 5.6+). You can also skip the plugin and use Route C.
“Template Kit Import plugin requires PHP version … plugin is currently NOT ACTIVE”
Same cause, shown after activation: the plugin switched itself off because PHP is too old. The fix is the same as above.
“Invalid file” or “not a valid kit” when uploading
- You uploaded an unzipped folder or a re-zipped folder.
manifest.jsonmust sit at the top level of the ZIP. Download the original ZIP again. - You used Elementor’s Import / Export › Import Kit tool, which doesn’t read these kits. Use Tools › Template Kit, or Route C.
Upload fails: “exceeds the maximum upload size” or the page just reloads
Raise upload_max_filesize and post_max_size to 64M in your hosting panel (or ask your host). Route C avoids it completely, because each .json file is tiny.
“ZipArchive not found” or “PHP zip extension not loaded”
Your server can’t unzip files. Ask your host to enable the PHP zip extension, then check that Elementor › System Info shows ZIP Installed: Yes. Or unzip on your computer and use Route C.
“Sorry, there was an unexpected error from API call”, 403 or 404 errors
- Go to Settings › Permalinks and click Save without changing anything. This refreshes WordPress’s REST API routes.
- Pause security or firewall plugins (Wordfence, iThemes, Sucuri) and any Cloudflare WAF rule while you import.
- A 403 during import is often ModSecurity on the server. Ask your host to whitelist the request or pause it for 10 minutes.
The import hangs, times out or shows a 500 error
Big pages pull a lot of images. Raise the WordPress memory limit to 256M (define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' ); in wp-config.php) and max_execution_time to 300. Then import one template at a time. A template may already be in Saved Templates even after an error, so check before you retry.
Some images are missing or show as grey boxes
During the import, images are downloaded from the kit author’s demo website. If that site is offline or slow, those images can’t be fetched. The layout still works: click the empty image widget and pick your own picture. You’d usually swap demo photos for your own anyway.
“Elementor Pro is required” or empty header and footer
Headers, footers, single post, archive, 404 and WooCommerce templates are Theme Builder parts that need Elementor Pro. Install Elementor Pro from your XYZ Theme account, re-import those templates, then publish each one with a display condition. Without Pro, import the page templates only and keep your theme’s header and footer.
My page doesn’t look like the demo
- Import Global Kit Styles, or copy its colours and fonts manually (Route C, step 4).
- Make sure every plugin in the kit’s requirements is active.
- Set the page layout to Elementor Full Width or Canvas.
- For the closest match, use the free Hello Elementor theme. Other themes add their own spacing and fonts.
Templates imported twice
Go to Templates › Saved Templates, select the extra copies, and Move to Trash. Next time, import each template once and wait for the tick.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to keep Template Kit – Import installed?
No. Once your templates are imported they live in Elementor. You can deactivate and delete the importer; your pages keep working.
Will importing a kit change my existing pages?
Importing pages never touches your existing content. Only Global Kit Styles changes site-wide colours and fonts, and you can edit those in Site Settings at any time.
Can I use one kit on several websites?
Yes. Download the ZIP from your XYZ Theme account and import it on each site where you need it.
The kit was released years ago. Will it still work?
Yes. Kits from 2020 onwards use the same package format, and Elementor still reads their templates. If anything looks off after the import, update Elementor and the kit’s required plugins to their latest versions.
Open a ticket with the kit name, your PHP version and a screenshot of the error. We reply within 24 hours, Monday to Saturday.