In a current publish, I demonstrated the easy way to move a WordPress site into a Multisite network, utilizing plugins. For many websites, this methodology works completely superb. But what in case your web site’s settings are a bit extra advanced?
If you progress your web site utilizing plugins, you’ll have the ability to transfer two issues: your content material (posts, pages, customized publish varieties, menus – all your content material) and widgets. But what it doesn’t allow you to transfer is the settings in your web site. If you’ve received some heavy plugins put in (like an e-commerce plugin) otherwise you’ve made numerous tweaks to your web site’s settings, you;’ll then have to go into the admin screens in your new web site and set these up manually, copying what you probably did in your previous web site.
This will be a ache. It takes time and it’s not completely dependable. What for those who miss one thing necessary? If your web site has a lot of settings, it’s not straightforward to ensure you’ve caught all the pieces.
So on this publish, I’m going to present you a extra thorough and dependable method to transfer your web site into your Multisite community.
Moving Your Site Manually – an Overview
This entails 6 steps, many of that are the identical as for those who’d simply used plugins:
- Create the brand new (empty) web site in your community.
- Create a copy of your previous web site’s wp_options database desk and edit it.
- Create a copy of your previous web site’s themes and plugins and add them to your community’s wp-content listing.
- Run an export and import of your content material and customers.
- Import the database desk you’ve edited to your new web site.
- Run an export of your previous web site’s widget settings and import them to your new web site.
That’s fairly a lot of steps, and it’s not one thing it’s best to undertake frivolously. It requires being snug importing recordsdata and database tables manually.
Note: If you’re used to shifting a single web site from one place to one other manually, you may suppose that this course of could be very lengthy winded. That’s due to the best way Multisite shops consumer information. With a single web site, we might merely copy all the content material and database tables from the one web site and import them into the second web site. But with Multisite the customers are saved as soon as for your entire community, not individually for every web site. This signifies that in order for you to import your customers out of your previous web site to the brand new one and assign the proper content material to them, you’ll want to use the importer software.
What You’ll Need
To comply with together with this publish you’ll want these instruments:.
- An FTP consumer comparable to FileZilla or a code editor with FTP inbuilt, comparable to Coda.
- Access to your websites’ databases by way of phpMyAdmin, a software which your internet hosting supplier ought to offer you entry to.
So let’s get began!
Before You Start – Back Up
Before you do something, make a backup of your Multisite community. Don’t skip this step – if something goes fallacious, you’ll want a backup to reinstate. I like to recommend utilizing our Snapshot Pro plugin to do that.
Creating a New Site in Your Network
Create a new web site in your Multisite community within the regular method. Once you’ve accomplished this make a be aware of its ID: Multisite provides every web site in a community a distinctive numerical ID. You can discover this by going to the Sites display screen in your community admin screens, discovering the brand new web site and clicking Edit.
This will open the enhancing display screen in your new web site:
In your browser examine the URL for this display screen. The web site’s ID would be the closing two digits on the finish of the URL. Make a be aware of that.
Copying Your Themes and Plugins
The first step is to make a copy of your previous web site’s themes and plugins in addition to the wp_options desk from the database. Let’s begin with the themes, plugins and uploads.
Here’s my beginning web site:
Downloading Themes and Plugins
Open your FTP program or code editor, and navigate to the wp-content listing within the web site you need to transfer (which I’ll refer to as your previous web site). Download a copy of those folders:
Save these to your native machine someplace you will discover them simply – I all the time arrange a devoted folder once I’m doing this.
Uploading Themes and Plugins to the Network
Now you want to add the themes and plugins you copied out of your previous web site to your community.
Find the wp-content listing in your community and open every of the themes and plugins folders in flip.
Upload the file or folder for every theme and plugin to the proper listing. If any of the plugins or theme out of your previous web site are already put in within the community, you don’t want to add them once more.
Note: If you’d slightly not do that manually, you’ll be able to simply set up the related themes and plugins in your community. I want to do it manually because it’s faster. If you do take this route, you don’t want to activate the themes and plugins – that may occur robotically when you’ve imported the database desk.
Copying and Editing the wp_options Table
My most well-liked method to export the database desk is by utilizing phpMyAdmin. You’ll want to use this for importing the desk to the brand new web site anyway so it’s possible you’ll as nicely begin now.
Exporting the Table
In your internet hosting supplier’s admin screens in your previous web site, go to phpMyAdmin and discover the database that’s working your previous web site.
Note: If you’ve received multiple database working, you will discover out which one is behind the positioning you need to migrate by checking that web site’s wp-config.php file.
Find the wp_options desk and choose it:
Now scroll down and discover the With chosen: drop-down record. Select Export. When prompted click on the Go button.
This will obtain an SQL file to your native machine. Copy that to the folder you’ve created to preserve your recordsdata.
Editing the SQL File
Open the SQL file that you simply’ve downloaded. Using your FTP editor, choose the Find & Replace choice (in lots of editors it’s Ctrl-F or Cmd-F).
In the Find area kind wp_, and within the exchange area kind wp_XX_, the place XX is the 2 digit ID of your new web site within the community. (in my case it’s wp_71_, I’ve received a lot of web sites in my community!)
Click the All button in case your code editor has one, or Replace all if that’s what your program provides you. Wait for this system to run the exchange.
Now repeat this step in your web site’s URL. In the Find area, kind the URL in your previous web site and within the Replace area kind the URL in your new web site. Make positive that any backslashes are constant. I want to miss out any http:// or www and simply use the foundation URL, e.g rachelmccollin.com.
Note: If you’ll be redirecting your previous area identify to your new web site utilizing area mapping, don’t fear about this but. You’ll arrange area mapping when you’ve migrated your web site. For now use the URL generated by your community.
Save the file and shut it.
Exporting and Importing Content
The subsequent step is to use the WordPress importer software to export the content material out of your previous web site and import it to your new one.
Exporting Content from the Old Site
In the admin screens in your previous web site, go to Tools > Export:
Unless you simply need to export sure publish varieties, preserve the All content material choice chosen and click on the Download Export File button. WordPress will create an XML file and obtain it to your pc. Save it within the folder you’ve created in your working recordsdata.
Importing Content to the New Site
Before you import the content material out of your previous web site, delete any dummy content material that’s been created for you once you created the positioning.
Before you’ll be able to import the content material out of your previous web site, you’ll want to set up the WordPress Importer plugin. Go to your Plugins display screen within the community admin and set up that (you’ll want to seek for WordPress Importer).
Now in your new web site’s admin screens, go to Tools > Import and scroll down to WordPress on the backside of the record. Click the Run Importer hyperlink.
WordPress will ask you to choose a file to add:
Click the Choose File button after which choose the file out of your machine (it will likely be in your downloads folder until you’ve moved it). Remember you’re in search of an XML file. Once you’ve accomplished that, click on the Upload file and import button.
Next, you’ll be prompted to assign content material to current authors in your community, or import authors. Select whichever choice applies to you. I’m assigning my posts to my current username, however it’s possible you’ll want to import authors.
Finally, choose the Download and import file attachments choice to copy media recordsdata from your previous web site and insert them within the right place in your new one.
Click Submit and the importer will import the content material, after which you’ll see the All accomplished! message.
Note: this solely imports these customers who’ve content material assigned to them. If you’ve different customers in your web site, comparable to subscribers, you’ll want to import them individually. You can use the Cimy User Manager plugin to do that.
Importing the Table to your Network’s Database
Now you want to import the wp_options desk in your web site into the database in your community. It’s necessary that you simply do that after importing themes and plugins as many of those settings will relate to these themes and plugins.
Open phpMyAdmin in your community. Find the wp_options desk in your new web site (in my case it’s wp_71_options) and choose it:
Scroll down and choose Drop within the With chosen drop-down record. When prompted, click on the Yes button.
Now click on the Import tab on the high of the phpMyAdmin display screen to view the import display screen:
Click the Choose file button and choose the SQL file that you simply’ve edited. Then click on the Go button.
The import will run and also you’ll see a display screen telling you it’s been profitable:
The final thing to import out of your previous web site is your widget settings.
To full this step, simply follow our tutorial from this article.
That’s it! Your content material, authors, and widgets are all imported, in addition to your settings.
Moving Your Site In This Way Takes Longer however is More Thorough
You’ve now moved all the pieces throughout. You’ve adopted a truthful few steps and used a mixture of plugins and handbook imports and uploads, however you’ll now discover that you simply don’t want to make any tweaks to your web site’s settings. Here’s my new web site:
If your web site has numerous put in plugins, customizations and settings configured, you’ll discover this methodology is extra dependable and in the long term saves you time. Just ensure you take that backup initially (simply in case) and that you simply comply with every step within the right order.
Tags:
