- \n
- Before You Start<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Exporting Content from the Old Site<\/a><\/li>\n
- Creating a New Site in Your Network<\/a><\/li>\n
- Installing and Activating Plugins and Themes<\/a><\/li>\n
- Importing Content to Your New Site<\/a><\/li>\n
- Migrating Widgets<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tidying Up<\/a><\/li>\n
- Migrating Into a Network Is Easier Than You Think<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Choosing a Migration Method<\/h2>\n
In this post, I will\u00a0show you the easy way to migrate your site using two plugins. This has the advantage of being quick and easy, and for most sites it will migrate almost everything you need.<\/p>\n
But if you’ve made a lot of customizations to your site using the Customizer, or you’ve spent a lot of time setting up your plugins, this method won’t migrate all of that. You can either take the time tweaking everything again (see the final part of this post), or you can manually migrate the site by copying the relevant database tables.<\/p>\n
Migrating the database tables involves using phpMyAdmin to download database tables, editing the resulting SQL file, and re-uploading that using phpMyAdmin again. It saves you having to do any tidying up at the end but can be somewhat\u00a0daunting. I’ll cover that in a separate post – if you don’t feel up to that, just follow the instructions here.<\/p>\n
So let’s get started!<\/p>\n
Before You Start<\/h3>\n
But wait. Before you start, there’s a very important thing you need to do.\u00a0Back up your sites. Make a backup of the site you want to move AND your network. Just in case. Use your favorite backup plugin<\/a>\u00a0(it’s Snapshot Pro<\/a>, right?).<\/p>\n
Ready? Now you can get started.<\/p>\n
Exporting Content from the Old Site<\/h2>\n
WordPress provides a tool you can use to import and export your content easily. Let’s start with that. Open up your starting site. Here’s mine:<\/p>\n
![\"Starting](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/starting-site.png\")
<\/p>\nIn the admin screens, go to Tools > Export<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/export-screen.png\")
<\/p>\nUnless you just want to export certain post types, keep the All content<\/strong>\u00a0option\u00a0selected and click the Download Export File<\/strong> button. WordPress will create a XML\u00a0file and download it to your computer.<\/p>\n
Creating a New Site in Your Network<\/h2>\n
Now open the network into which you want to import your site. Start by creating a new site<\/a> in the normal way.<\/p>\n
Installing and Activating Plugins and Themes<\/h2>\n
Before you import content, install the same theme you were using in the old site on your network and activate it for your new site. Do the same for any plugins.<\/p>\n
If you’re not sure how to\u00a0install and activate themes and plugins on your network, see our guide to\u00a0configuring Multisite<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Importing Content to Your New Site<\/h2>\n
Now, before you import the content from your old site, go into the Posts and Pages listings in the admin screens and delete any dummy content. These are the posts and pages that get created automatically when you set up the site. Delete any widgets too. You should aim to have an empty site.<\/p>\n
Before you can import the content from your old site, you must\u00a0install the WordPress Importer<\/a> plugin. Go to your Plugins<\/strong> screen in the network admin and install that (search for WordPress Importer<\/strong>).<\/p>\n
Now in your new site’s admin screens, go to Tools > Import<\/strong> and scroll down to\u00a0WordPress<\/strong> at the bottom of\u00a0the list. Click the Run Importer<\/strong> link.<\/p>\n
WordPress will ask you to select a file to upload:<\/p>\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/import-file.png\")
<\/p>\nClick the Choose File<\/strong> button and then select the file from your machine (it will be in your downloads folder unless you’ve moved it). Remember, you’re looking for a XML\u00a0file. Once you’ve done that, click the Upload file and import<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n
The importer now wants to know if you want to assign content to existing authors on your network, or import the old authors too:<\/p>\n
![\"Importing](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/import-authors.png\")
<\/p>\nSelect whichever option applies to you. I’m assigning my posts to my existing username, but if you’re running a multi-author site, you may need to import authors.<\/p>\n
Finally, select\u00a0the Download and import file attachments<\/strong> option to copy media files from\u00a0your old site and insert them in the correct place in your new one. This is one of the most useful features of the Importer. I’ve never yet come across a site where I didn’t check that box!<\/p>\n
Click Submit<\/strong> and the importer will work its magic.<\/p>\n
Eventually you’ll see the All done!<\/strong> message. Look at\u00a0your Posts<\/strong>\u00a0admin screen to see the imported posts: you’ll find pages too.<\/p>\n
So that’s your content imported. Next, let’s import widgets. You can do this with another\u00a0plugin.<\/p>\n
Migrating Widgets<\/h2>\n
- Exporting Content from the Old Site<\/a><\/li>\n
![\"Widget](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/widget-importer-exporter.png\")
![\"Widget](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/widget-import-copy-paste.png\")
![\"Widget](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/widgets-imported.png\")
![\"final-site\"](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/final-site.png\")
<\/p>\n