WordPress export posts is an essential tool for managing your website effectively. This functionality allows you to download and save your product information, ensuring its security and portability. Whether you're switching themes, migrating to a new hosting provider, or simply creating a backup, understanding how to export WooCommerce posts is crucial.
In this article, we are going to discuss:
- How to export blog posts from WordPress
- How to export WordPress posts with images
- What can you do afte the export
- Best plugins to export WordPress blog posts
- Troubleshooting common errors
Let's begin!
How to Export Blog Posts from WordPress
Here are 04 simple steps to perform WordPress export posts:
- Step 1. From your Admin Dashboard, go to “Tools” > “Export”.
- Step 2. Tick on the “Posts” option under the “Choose what to export” section.
- Step 3. Sort what you want to export from the drop-down list.
- Step 4. Click “Download Export File” button when everything's done.
Step 1. From your Admin dashboard, navigate to “Tools” > “Export” in the settings bar.
Step 2. Tick the “Posts” option under “Choose what to export” option.
Step 3. Sort what posts you'd like to export from the drop-down list.
- Categories: Export all posts from a specific category
- Authors: Export all posts written by a specific author
- Start date – End date: Export WordPress posts in a period of time
- Status: Export posts based on their status (Draft, Published, Scheduled, or Trashed)
Step 4. When finished, choose the “Download Export File” and wait for your data to be downloaded. And that's how to export posts from WordPress!
Please note that your export file will be saved under an XML format. To read this file, you can use any text editor program (like Notepad, Eclipse, Xmplify,…) or web browser (like Edge or Safari).
How to Export WordPress Posts with Images
Unfortunately, the built-in WordPress export posts tool cannot export media of all kinds. If you want to export WordPress posts with images, you'll need to download the WP-Content/Uploads folder. To get access to this file, please go to the File Manager provided by your hosting service or use an FTP account.
- Step 1. Go to Files > File Manager.
- Step 2. Then, navigate to public_html > wp-content in your root folder.
- Step 3. Locate the “uploads” folder, choose the format you want to download, and click “Download”.
What Can You Do After The Export
Once you've completed the WordPress export process, your XML file can be used in several ways. Depending on your goals, you can import your content into another WordPress website, move it to a self-hosted environment for greater flexibility, or transfer your posts to other platforms that support XML imports:
Import posts to another WordPress site
One of the most common uses of a WordPress export file is transferring content between WordPress websites. For example, you may want to move blog posts from a staging site to a live site, merge content from multiple websites, or migrate posts to a newly created WordPress project.
To do this, simply go to Tools > Import on the destination WordPress site and upload the XML file you exported earlier. WordPress will then import your posts, categories, tags, authors, and other associated content. This method is straightforward and requires no coding knowledge, which makes it suitable for beginners and experienced users alike.
Import posts to a self-hosted WordPress website
If you're currently using a managed WordPress solution and want more control over your website, exporting your posts is an important first step toward moving to a self-hosted WordPress installation.
Specifically, after setting up WordPress with your preferred hosting provider, you can import the XML file into the new website using the built-in WordPress Import tool. This approach is quite common as it allows you to preserve your blog content, all the while still gaining access to advanced customization options, a wider range of plugins, and complete control over your site's performance and hosting environment.
Note: For sites that aren't hosted by WordPress, you can use third-party plugins during the import process. For instance, you can check out how to migrate WordPress blog to Shopify here.
Transfer content to other platforms
Lastly, the process to download WordPress export blog posts can also be practical if you're moving away from WordPress altogether. Many content management systems, website builders, and migration tools can read or convert WordPress XML files, which allows you to transfer blog content to another platform.
The exact migration process will vary depending on the destination platform. Some platforms provide built-in WordPress import tools, while others may require a third-party migration service or conversion tool. Hence, before starting the migration, it's a good idea to check whether your target platform supports WordPress XML imports and what content types can be transferred successfully. Check out our WordPress migration checklist for more information.
Note:
Though some platforms do support WordPress XML imports, the migration process isn't always simple. Depending on your destination platform, you may encounter numerous challenges, such as formatting issues, missing images, incomplete data transfers, and more. Manually mapping content fields also tends to take lots of time.
Hence, for those looking for a more seamless approach, LitExtension All-in-One can save considerable time and effort.
You don't need to worry at all about the technical side of the migration: simply tell the team where you're migrating from and to, and dedicated experts will handle the entire process on your behalf. Not to mention, iIn addition to blog posts, LitExtension can also migrate a wide range of other data types (products, customers, orders, and more), which further helps you migrate your website more effectively.
Want to Migrate to a New Platform?
LitExtension provides a well-optimized All-in-One migration service for your data transfer!
Best Plugins to Export WordPress Blog Posts
All-in-One WP Migration
All-in-One WP Migration is a comprehensive WordPress plugin specializing in website migrations and WordPress backups. The plugin provides a user-friendly interface for creating complete website backups, including all files, databases, and settings. This makes it an ideal solution for exporting WordPress blog posts and transferring your content to a new host, creating backups for safekeeping, or deploying copies to staging environments.
Highlight features:
- Drag-and-drop functionality: Easily migrate your website with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
- Unlimited export: Export WordPress blog posts as many times as needed, without restrictions.
- Large website support: The plugin efficiently handles large websites and databases, ensuring smooth exports and migrations.
- Find & replace functionality: Easily update URLs and other site details after migration.
- No technical skills required: The plugin's intuitive design makes it accessible to users of all technical levels.
Pricing: Free to install but might cost extra for upgrades
Export Media with Selected Content
The Export Media with Selected Content plugin is an invaluable tool for WordPress users who need precise control over media files during WordPress export posts. Unlike standard WordPress export functions that often handle media separately, this type of plugin streamlines the process by intelligently bundling media files directly with chosen content. This eliminates the hassle of manually transferring images, videos, and other media, ensuring a complete and error-free export package.
Highlight features:
- Content-specific media selection: Automatically include only the media files used within selected posts, pages, or custom post types during export.
- Organized file structure: Maintain a structured organization of media files within the export package, mirroring their arrangement on the original site.
- Customizable export options: Select specific file formats, sizes, or image resolutions for inclusion in the WordPress export posts.
- Compatibility with various export formats: Ensure seamless media inclusion when exporting content in different formats, such as XML or HTML.
- Simplified media management: The plugin streamlines the often tedious task of managing media files associated with specific content, particularly when exporting content archives or transferring select portions of a website.
Pricing: Free to install
Duplicator
Duplicator is a popular WordPress plugin designed for website migrations, backups, and cloning. The plugin simplifies the often complex process of moving a WordPress website between hosts or servers. Duplicator bundles all website files and data into manageable packages, enabling easy transfer and redeployment. This eliminates the need for manual file transfers and database configurations, making it a valuable tool for both beginners and experienced developers.
Highlight features:
- Simple WordPress export posts process: Effortlessly export your content to a new host or domain name without technical headaches.
- Reliable backups: Create complete backups of your website for safekeeping and disaster recovery.
- Website cloning: Generate identical copies of your website for development, testing, or staging environments.
- Scheduled export for backup: Automate regular backups at defined intervals to ensure your data remains secure.
- Cloud storage integration: Store your backup files securely in popular cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3.
Pricing: Free to install
Troubleshooting Common Errors with WordPress Export Posts
In most cases, the built-in WordPress export tool works well without any issues. Nevertheless, if your website contains a large amount of content or has been running for years, you may occasionally encounter some common errors during the export process:
Export process times out or fails to complete
This common issue occurs when WordPress attempts to export a large number of posts at once. In short, if your website contains thousands of blog posts, comments, categories, or media references, the server may run out of resources before the export can finish.
To resolve this issue, we suggest you export smaller portions of your content instead of selecting all posts. You can use the built-in filters to export posts WordPress by category, author, or date range and then repeat the process for the remaining content. That way, it will reduce the workload on your server and often prevent timeout errors.
Images don’t appear after downloading the export file
One common misconception is that the default WordPress export tool downloads your images along with your posts. However, in reality, the exported XML file primarily contains your post content, metadata, and references to media files rather than the image files themselves. As a result, you may notice that images are missing after importing the file into another website.
If this happens, make sure the destination website can access and import media files from the original site during the import process. If not, you'll need to manually transfer the wp-content/uploads folder or use a dedicated migration plugin that includes media files in the migration.
Export completes but some content appears missing
Lastly, if the export finishes successfully but certain posts seem to be missing from the XML file, the issue is often related to the export filters selected during the process. For example, exporting only a specific category, author, status, or date range may unintentionally exclude some content.
That’s why you need to review the export settings carefully and verify that the correct filters were applied. If you're unsure, run another export using the “All Content” option or perform additional exports for specific categories and date ranges to ensure that all desired posts are included in the final export package.
WordPress Export Posts – FAQs
How do I export posts on WordPress?
Here are 4 simple steps to export posts on WordPress:
- Step 1. Go to "Tools" > "Export"
- Step 2. Choose "Post" option
- Step 3. Select what you want to export
- Step 4. Click "Download Export File" button
Can you export a list of blog posts from WordPress?
Yes, you can! You can export a list of blog posts from a specific category, by a specific author, published on a period of time, or based on its status (Draft, Published, Trashed, Scheduled).
How do I export a WordPress spreadsheet of posts?
While WordPress doesn't directly export to spreadsheets, you can export your posts as an XML file and then import that file into a spreadsheet program. Most spreadsheet programs offer easy import options for XML files, allowing you to view and edit your post data in a familiar spreadsheet format.
Final Words
And that's brings us to the end of our guide on how to perform WordPress export posts. We hope that you'll find this article helpful in case you need to back up your data or transfer all blog posts to other platforms.
If you like this article, don't forget to check out other articles about WooCommerce and WordPress on our website.
