Hello.
Please indulge what my seem like a clueless question.
I have never been entirely comfortable with the upgrade process, even though I have done it numerous times.
Maybe it's because I don't fully understand FTP "merge."
Anyway.

Step 4 in the upgrade documentation is where I get concerned:
"Download the latest version and upload it to your server."

After I have downloaded and unzipped a new ZenPhoto version to my local computer, I generally do NOT upload the (empty) directories (albums, uploaded and cache), because I don't want to risk overwriting existing content with these empty directories.
I upload (choosing "merge") the directories: cache_html, plugins and themes
I overwrite the old index.php with the new.
(I have my file transfer protocol set up as SFTP if that matters.)

Then I navigate to the gallery and go through the setup.

Is that the right process? I try to stay current, so I'm not upgrading from some ancient version.
I don't have any modifications to Themes or Plugins.
I read somewhere on the Forum a suggestion to delete the zp-core first. Is that a "best practice?" Any other tips I should be aware of to safely update an installation?

Thanks for any clarification.

Steve

Generally the files/folders to replace are the

• root index.php
• the 5 standard themes within /themes
• /zp-core

It is recommended to delete the zp-core folder as that is cleaner in case some outdated files will remain. Setup will tell about that though, too.

Here is detailed listed what each folder/file in the package is about:
http://www.zenphoto.org/news/installation-and-upgrading#4

You don't need to upload the cache folders on upgrade.
I have updated the upgrade article a little.

Thank you SO much for that clarification. And for updating the documentation. I'm grateful for your time and your help.
Steve