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HOW TO: Identify Joomla Version

Last modified: October 1, 2022
Estimated reading time: 1 min

HOW TO: Identify Joomla! Version

Access to Joomla! Back-end

For Joomla 1.5, you can simply login to the admin panel and see the version on the top right of the admin panel to check the version. For Joomla 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5, the version is listed at the bottom of the pages or you can choose from menu Site -> System Information.

Check by css (or .ini) Files

If you do not have access to Joomla Back-End, there are several ways you can identify your Joomla version. First, you can check the version by browsing through the css (or .ini) files to this file location:

/templates/system/css/system.css

Find and open the file in your browser then check for this:
Version of JoomlaSource Code
Joomla 1.0.xThe easiest way to determine if a site is using Joomla! or not is to view the source code of the page. Joomla! 1.0.x sites will have the following:

<meta name="Generator" content="Joomla! - Copyright (C) 2005 - 2007 Open Source Matters."/>
Joomla 1.5/* OpenID icon style */

and in templates\system\css\template.css file you should find this:

* @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 – 2010 Open Source Matters.
By default, all Joomla! 1.5.x sites will have the following in the head of their site:

<meta name="generator" content="Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management"/>
Joomla 1.6* @version $Id: system.css 20196 2011-01-09 02:40:25Z ian $
Joomla 1.7* @version $Id: system.css 21322 2011-05-11 01:10:29Z dextercowley $
Joomla 2.5* @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 – 2012 Open Source Matters

Check by MooTools

Another way it’s to compare MooTools (JavaScript Framework) versions using a media/system/js/mootools-more.js file:
Joomla 1.5MooTools={version:’1.12′} media\system\js\mootools.js
Joomla 1.6MooTools.More={version:”1.3.0.1″
Joomla 1.7MooTools.More={version:”1.3.2.1″
Joomla 2.5.6MooTools.More={version:”1.4.0.1″
Joomla 3.0 alpha 2MooTools.More={version:”1.4.0.1″

Check by Language file

You can also identify your Joomla version (Joomla 1.6 / Joomla 1.7.x) by comparing the date in language file: language/en-GB/en-GB.ini
Joomla 1.5.25# $Id: en-GB.ini 11391 2009-01-04 13:35:50Z ian $
Joomla 1.6.0; $Id: en-GB.ini 20196 2011-01-09 02:40:25Z ian $
Joomla 1.6.5; $Id: en-GB.ini 20990 2011-03-18 16:42:30Z infograf768 $
Joomla 1.7.1; $Id: en-GB.ini 20990 2011-03-18 16:42:30Z infograf768 $
Joomla 1.7.3; $Id: en-GB.ini 22183 2011-09-30 09:04:32Z infograf768 $
Joomla 1.7.5; $Id: en-GB.ini 22183 2011-09-30 09:04:32Z infograf768 $
from Joomla 2.5.0 to Joomla 2.5.4<version>2.5.0</version>
will display in language/en-GB/en-GB.xml file.
Joomla 2.5.5 Joomla 2.5.6<version>2.5.5</version>
will display in language/en-GB/en-GB.xml file.
Check out next article: HOW TO upgrade Joomla!
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