Migrating content from one WordPress site to another is a challenging task. Especially if you are a beginner, you probably don’t have any clue about how to do it. If you want to do it manually, you have to copy the content from the database and this requires a significant level of expertise in MySQL.
Assuming you don’t have that level of expertise, there’s a solution. WordPress has an official importer plugin. Even if you have expert level MySQL skills, it is still recommended to use the plugin. This will allow you to perform the task in a simpler and more convenient way.
By using the WordPress importer plugin, you can import posts, pages, custom post types, custom fields, tags, categories, comments, authors, etc. as an XML file.
Exporting Content
However, in order to import the content, you need to export it first. To do that, log in to the dashboard of the website from where you want to export the content. Go to Tools > Export. You will be taken to a page like this:
By default, ‘All content’ will be selected. However, it is also possible to export only the posts or pages. If you select posts or pages, you will be provided with some additional options:
By using these options, you will be able to export only selected posts or pages. Once you have made the necessary changes, click the ‘Download Export File’. This will download an XML file to your computer.
Installing WordPress Importer
Now that you have the export content available, you are ready to start the importing process. To do that, go to the website where you want to import the content. Log in to the dashboard and go to Tools > Import.
In this page, you will find eight different options to import your content from another website. To use any of these options, you need to install separate plugins. WordPress does not come with any of these plugins in order to keep the core package lightweight and simple.
However, we will select the WordPress method for our purpose. Click ‘WordPress’ from the list, which should be the last option. Clicking this will open a new pop-up window, which is actually the window for installing the ‘WordPress Importer’ plugin.
Click ‘Install Now’, and the click ‘Activate Plugin & Run Importer’ from the next page.
Importing Content
At this point, you should be in the page where you can import content from other websites. Click the ‘Choose File’ button, select the XML file you created a while back and then, click ‘Upload file and import’.
Now you will be asked to assign authors. If the same author exists in both sites, then you can select the author from the users list. Alternatively, you can create a new user or assign the posts to another user.
If you check the ‘Download and import file attachments’ box, WordPress will try to import the images and other attachments too. Once you have made the changes, click ‘Submit’.
WordPress will begin the importing process automatically. Once the process is finished, you will be provided with a success message like the following:
If you reload your website now, you should be able to view all of your imported contents in place.
Final Words
That was not very complicated, right? I hope I was able to make the whole process clear for you. However, if you are still confused about anything, please let me know by leaving a comment below. And if you find the tutorial useful, feel free to share it with your friends too.