Did you know you can save your WordPress content very easily? No need for complicated backup plugins or migration plugins or anything else.
After speaking with a few people this past week, I’ve realized many novice (and even some fairly experienced) WordPress users have no idea to save their content or move it from one site to another.
WordPress comes with a built-in export and import feature. This tool allows you to export any content you want from your WordPress site and either save it in case of emergency or to move it to another website.
You can also use the file to import content to some other services that accept the XML file type – which is what the import/export tool saves things as.
So, let’s see how to do this, shall we?
First, we’ll go to the Tools menu in the admin sidebar of the website where we want to export content and choose Export. If you have not already installed the WordPress Import/Export plugin, it’ll prompt you to do so.
Exporting Site Content
On the Export page, we’ll choose what content we want to export and click the Download Export File button. Here, you can choose All Content or any number of other options, as shown below.
I like to export each type of content in its own file. I find importing goes much more smoothly when I do.
Your file will have a default filename consisting of the date and the site name. I usually append that with the file type so I can find them easier when I import.
And that’s all you have to do to export. Now, depending on how large the file is, it could take a little time before the Save window on your computer pops up to save the file.
Importing Site Content
The process for importing to another site is similar – just choose Import from the Tools menu on the site you want to move the content to. You may be prompted to install the WordPress import tool. Go ahead and do that (it’s the very bottom one on the Import screen. You’ll only have to do it once).
Then choose Run Importer and upload the file. Repeat for each file you saved on the export tool.
That’s it! You can safely move content from one site to another this way.
Now, there are times when migrating a site is necessary. This option is when you ONLY want to move the content. It does NOT allow you to move design or plugins or themes or anything like that. ONLY content.
You will need a backup or migration plugin if you want to move anything other than content.
By the way – we can help with that! Head over to the Techie Bits page for more info and to get a quote if you need help.
