There are several reasons to export a WordPress site, including moving to a new host, saving as a backup, transferring content to a different WordPress site, creating a staging site, or reducing site development time.
Whatever your reason, follow this guide to learn how to export a WordPress site without any problems.
Table of Contents
Reasons to Export a WordPress Site
People export sites for several reasons, from simply backing up the site locally to migrating a site from one host to another. Let’s look at some scenarios where you might want to export your WordPress site.
Creating Backups for Security
It is important to always keep backups of your WordPress site. Backups are usually saved copies of your site in its last working condition. You should always have at least two recent site backups. When anything happens to your live site, such as security issues, data loss, or server failure, you can quickly remedy the situation by using a backup to restore the site to its last working condition.
Migrating to a New Host or Domain
When you want to move your site from one host to another or a new domain name, the first step is to export it. You must create a copy of your site at the old location and transfer it to the new destination.
Duplicating a Site for Development or Testing
Suppose you need a clone of your site to start a new project faster or to push it to a staging environment for testing changes. In that case, you must export a copy of the WordPress site from production to the development or staging environment.
Transferring Content to Another WordPress Site
If you have some content in your old site that you would like to move to a new site on a different domain permanently, you can easily achieve this by exporting the content. It might be some pages, blog posts, etc. You can export the content and their attachment from the old site to the new site. You must delete them from the old site and set up permanent 301 redirects from the old site to the new site to avoid SEO penalties for duplicate and plagiarized content.
Tools for Exporting WordPress Sites
Exporting a WordPress site is one of the most straightforward tasks in WordPress because several tools exist for exporting WordPress sites. Each tool is tailored to export WordPress sites based on different needs. So, the reason behind exporting your site will determine the tool best suited for you.
WordPress Built-in Export Tool
Understanding the need to export your WordPress site, the WordPress team deemed it fit to include a built-in export tool in the CMS. The WordPress export option allows you to export all or part of your site content into an XML format. You can import it into another WordPress site, and the content will be added to the site, retaining details such as the date posted, featured images, attachments, categories, tags, etc. This tool, however, is limited as it only allows you to export content. You can’t export the entire website or building blocks of a WordPress site, including themes, plugins, databases, settings, etc.
Export Plugins
WordPress export plugins are third-party tools explicitly developed to copy and export live WordPress sites. Export plugins win where the default WordPress export tool fails. They can export the entire site, including themes, databases, plugins, configurations, customizations, etc. While there are several WordPress export plugins, the following are the best plugins for exporting WordPress sites:
InstaWP Connect
InstaWP Connect is a free WordPress staging and migration plugin that allows you to export your live WordPress site to a staging site and use the migration option to transfer the site from the staging environment to your existing site, new domain, or new host. InstaWP’s one-click export option and user-friendly interface make it one of the easiest and fastest ways to export WordPress sites. You can use InstaWP to clone and export your site without any technical knowledge.
Duplicator
Duplicator is another popular WordPress plugin that clones WordPress sites for backup and migration. Duplicator allows you to set scheduled backups and supports remote and cloud backups. With Duplicator, you can move WordPress sites from your old host to a new host, create full site backups, and create replica staging sites for testing. The plugin can convert your WordPress site to a downloader package with an installer that you can upload elsewhere and use the installer to install the cloned WordPress site from the package.
All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration is one of WordPress’s most popular migration and backup plugins. It allows you to migrate your WordPress site without technical knowledge. It can migrate custom uploads, plugins, themes, etc.
UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is a backup and restore WordPress plugin that allows you to create backups of your site database and folders to a folder on your WordPress host and local and remote storage. You can automate backups weekly or monthly and determine how many copies of backup files should be saved at a time.
Customizer Import/Export
The Customizer Import/Export plugin is a specialized plugin that allows you to export your theme’s customization settings from the customizer interface and import it into another WordPress site with the same theme. This improves your development workflow by saving you time when customizing the theme from scratch.
Using InstaWP for Quick Export and Migration
You can quickly export your WordPress site with InstaWP Connect to the staging environment. InstaWP allows you various but straightforward customization options for exporting your WordPress site to staging, including:
- Quick Staging: This option allows you to export your WordPress site without media files.
- Custom Staging: This option allows you to customize your export option. When cloning your site, you can select which items to include and which to skip.
- Full Staging: This option clones the entire site into the staging environment.
InstaWP offers a free migration tool. With it, you can move your exported site from staging to another location by providing the new site’s URL.
Ways to Export a WordPress Site
Let’s examine the practicality of exporting a WordPress site. We will examine key scenarios and determine which approach best suits each.
Exporting Content via the WordPress Dashboard
To use the default WordPress export tool, navigate to Tools > Export. You can export all content, posts, pages, media, contact forms, etc. You can also perform custom export based on author, date, etc.
Exporting with Plugins for Comprehensive Site Data
The WordPress plugins discussed here can be used for more comprehensive backups, from full site backups to custom backups. When installing and activating any exporting plugins, click the Export or Backup option. Select what to include in the export/backup, and proceed.
For instance, to export a site with Updraftplus, go to UpdraftPlus > Backup / Restore and click Backup Now.
Select what to include in the backup and click Backup Now.
Using InstaWP Connect for Instant Export and Import
Let’s walk you through utilizing InstaWP to export and import your WordPress site.
To export your WordPress site with InstaWP Connect, navigate to Tools > Staging and click the Create Staging Site button.
Select whether you wish to perform quick, full, or custom staging. Then, proceed with the remaining steps.
The tool will create a duplicate staging site on your InstaWP dashboard. After creating a staging site with InstaWP, you can use the InstaWP migration tool to migrate it to a new hosting provider or domain name or export it to your computer.
InstaWP also has an in-built Export As option, which allows you to create an archived copy of the staging site and download it to your computer for offline storage.
Select the more options next to the staging site, and go to Export As > LocalWP.
Then, from the popup, click Export.
InstaWP also allows you to import site backups from WP Playground, UpdraftPlus, and Duplicator to create staging sites for testing or migration elsewhere.
To import a site from a backup into InstaWP, go to Staging > Import Site. Select the source, upload the backup file, and click Next to continue.
Handling Export Challenges in WordPress
Sometimes, you may encounter some challenges when exporting a WordPress site. Some of these common challenges include:
Exporting Large Database
You might encounter issues exporting large databases and media files. The export tool might crash, stopping the process halfway. To resolve this, you should identify and exclude
unnecessary database tables to reduce the size before exporting. You can use plugins like Advanced Database Cleaner to remove unnecessary data from your WordPress database, such as post revisions, auto drafts, trashed items, spam comments, etc.
Managing Large Files
If you encounter challenges exporting large media files, you can use media compression plugins like Smush to reduce the sizes of large images. You can archive large video files to reduce their sizes with plugins like File Manager or exclude them from the export and upload them manually after the export.
If you are using UpdraftPlus, you can install and activate the Exclude Thumbnails from UpdraftPlus Backup plugin to exclude thumbnails from the export and use the Thumbnail Regenerate plugin to regenerate them on the new site.
Ensuring Compatibility with the Target Server
Suppose you are experiencing more technical issues, such as incorrect database configuration, insufficient server resources, or incompatibility with the new host. In that case, you should seek assistance from your hosting provider’s support team or a professional.
Exporting Custom Database Tables or Settings
You might have to use the phpmyAdmin export option to export custom database tables. To do this, log into your hosting account, go to your cPanel, and open phpmyAdmin. Select the database and click the Export tab.
Then, select the custom export option to display all possible options, including your custom database tables or settings. Finally, click the Export button to download the database to your computer.
FAQs
How can I export my WordPress site?
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools > Export. Select the file you want to export and click Download Export File.
Which export plugin is best for WordPress?
InstaWP Connect is the best export plugin for WordPress sites. It allows you to export to another domain, a new host, WP local, or your computer.
Can I Export a Multisite WordPress Network?
Yes. To export a multisite WordPress network, you can use backup plugins like InstaWP Connect, UpdraftPlus, and Duplicator Pro. To use InstaWP Connect, log into the multisite and go to Tools > InstaWP > Create Staging.
How Do I Export WooCommerce Data?
To export WooCommerce data, go to Tools > Export and select the data you want to export, such as orders, products, variations, orders, coupons, etc.
Will WordPress Export delete my website?
No, exporting your site will not affect it in any way. You only download site copy, so that will be fine.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to export a WordPress site, you should create backups of your entire site’s content or create staging sites for testing and development. InstaWP is flexible and easy to use in all scenarios, so you should consider using it.