WordPress Importer: how to import a website to WordPress
Do you imagine that you can easily copy or move content from one WordPress blog to another in a few steps? The WordPress Importer comes in handy when it comes to transferring content from one WordPress blog to another.
What Is a WordPress Importer and Exporter?
WordPress Importer is a feature in WordPress CMS (content management system) that allows for the import of content from another publishing system or CMS blog.
Importing can be done using WordPress’s tools. These tools enable you to import content as XML files.
Exporting files from WordPress is possible through either an embedded tool or an installed plugin in XML, or CVS files.
This tool is extremely helpful when it comes to moving our WordPress website from one hosting provider to another.
You can move website copy from a local host to an online server using the WordPress Importer tool.
Using an exporting tool, you can create a WordPress website copy on your local host or online server.
You can use it to Import content from multiple sources to your WordPress CMS from Blogger, LiveJournal, RSS, TypePad blog, and Tumblr.
it is also helpful to convert existing categories to tags or tags to categories, selectively.
You can also move content between the live and development sites in case of website maintenance.
How to Use a WordPress Importer and Exporter
It is very simple to use WordPress Importer. In this tutorial, you will learn step-by-step how to move data from one site to another website.
To move a WordPress website from one hosting to another or to make a copy of the website at the local host we have to export data from the running WordPress website.
First, we explain how to download content from the website, and in the second stage, we will teach how to upload content to the website.
Exporting data from WordPress website
You can export content together or export individual content types.
To export data follow the steps below.
1 First Go to the left pan of the WordPress dashboard and select Tools.
2 Click the Export option in the list.
3 Select All content if you want to export all content in a single file.
4 If you want to export Posts, Pages, Stories, Posts, Page Templates, and Media files individually, Select the radio button one by one after exporting one file.
5 Now click the Download Export File.
This operation will save exported XML files on your local computer for future use.
If you want to individual file you have to select further options. Here we will discuss an example of post-content exporting.
1 Select the radio button Posts.
2 You can select posts of all categories or posts of a single category to export by selecting from the Categories Drop-down.
3 You can also choose an Author name to export posts of an individual Author from the Authors Drop-down.
4 if you want to export posts from a specific time period you can select from the Start date and End date
5 you can also select the status of exporting posts as published, scheduled, draft, pending, or private from the Status Dropdown.
6 Now click Download Export File.
After clicking Download Export File, your XML file will be saved on a local computer.
Importing Data to WordPress Website
To move a WordPress website from one hosting to another or to make a copy of the website at the local host we have to import data to the WordPress website.
To import data into the WordPress website follow the steps below.
1 First Go to the left pan of the WordPress dashboard and select Tools.
2 Click the Import option in the list.
3 To import a XML file in WordPress, you need to install WordPress Importer plugin for importing the content file. If you have not installed plugin, you will see the button Install Now, click it.
4 After installation this button will convert to Run Importer, click it to import the file.
5 Now click Browse to find the file on your local computer.
6 After selecting the upload file the Upload file and import button will be highlighted. Click it.
After clicking the button Upload file and import you will see the next screen to select options.
7 If you want to create a new Author if Author does not exist in WordPress authors.
8 You can select the Author name from WordPress if it is already in the authors list.
9 If you want to download and import file attachments.
10 Click Submit at last to import the file.
After the completion of the process, you will see the next screen.
This method only works for blog content like pages, posts, and comments, for importing data in another format like CVS, you need third-party tools.
Use of WordPress Importer Plugins and Exporter Plugins
From time to time, we must import and export content in another file format, such as CSV.
You may need to install plugins for various purposes.
The purpose of this section is to teach you how to install these plugins.
WP CSV Exporter
Using WP CSV Exporter, you can export posts in CSV format for each post type. This plugin is compatible with posts’ custom fields and custom taxonomies.
Import any XML or CSV File to WordPress
Import any XML or CSV File to WordPress is a powerful plugin that imports any XML or CSV file to WordPress. WP All Import makes it easy to import files.
Import All Pages, Post types, Products, Orders, and Users as XML & CSV
Import All Pages, Post types, Products, Orders, and Users as XML & CSV is WP Ultimate CSV/XML Importer plugin. It is used to import data into your WordPress.
Import and export all types of content from XML and CSV files quickly and conveniently with the all-in-one ultimate import/export bundle for WordPress. With this plugin, you can save time and effort while still guaranteeing accuracy and precision. This plugin offers a perfect solution for both experienced developers and novice users.
Import and export users and customers
Import and export users and customers plugin can import and export custom user and customer metadata and roles. It can Integrate with many other plugins.
It is a very helpful plugin for e-commerce websites.
Widget Importer & Exporter
Widget Importer & Exporter is useful for moving widgets from one WordPress site to another. It can be used for backing up widgets.
It uses JSON format to export files instead of XML.
Conclusion
Understanding how to export and import content from a WordPress website is a crucial task.
By learning it you can do tasks like back up your content, create a website clone on the local computer, Move the WordPress website to an online server, or transfer a website from one server to another server.
You can also download data in CVS files.
In this article, you have learned how to import and export data on a WordPress website in easy steps.
We hope this helps you secure your website and content.
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