Managing/editing a self-hosted WordPress site from WordPress.com
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I’ve been told this is possible – use the tools at wordpress.com to manage / administer / edit my existing wordpress site that is hosted elsewhere. I can’t see how to do this. I also have a free wordpress.com account with a sample site I’m practicing with.
When I go to ‘Add a new site’ from my WordPress site, there’s an option for ‘already own a domain?’ but when I choose that, and enter my domain, there’s an option ‘Keep your domain with your current provider and point it to WordPress.com’.
Now, I know that I can also keep a domain registration with my current domain provider, but does this option allow me to keep all my content and databases at the current host?
WP.com: Yes
Jetpack: No
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)
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I went ahead and signed up for a ‘starter’ plan so I could gain access to this feature. I then added my existing wordpress site as a second site. Now I have TWO sites in my account. But the second site – is a new site, with no content! It just created a new site based on the existing site name.
Eg – my free wordpress.com site is ABC.wordpress.com (with minimal test content)
I added my existing wordpress site – XYZ.myhost.com as the second site.
But now, the two sites shown are:
- ABC.wordpress.com (still shows as a free site, not a ‘starter’ site).
- XYZmyhost.wordpress.com – with no content.
I simply want to use my wordpress.com account / site to manage content of the XYZ.myhost.com site, but it looks like XYZmyhost.wordpress.com is now a second wordpress.com site.
I assumed the $4 starter fee would be applied to the ‘wordpress’ site (ABC.wordpress.com), and that would allow me to add the second site (XYZ.myhost.com) as a site I could manage from the wordpress account.
Please help!
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Hey there!
Let’s go back a few steps to try to understand this. You already have a WordPress site hosted elsewhere, so it seems like what you’d like to do is manage it from the WordPress.com dashboard instead. Is that right?
If yes, a WordPress.com plan wouldn’t be needed as you are already hosting the site elsewhere. But if you prefer to access and manage the site from WordPress.com, you’ll need to do is ensure that the Jetpack plugin is installed, active, and connected to your WordPress.com account in your current host. From what I see, you already did this for your self-hosted site.
This page explains the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org in more detail:
WordPress powers millions of websites, from bloggers and small businesses to massive news sites and companies. This guide will help you to understand the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org, and which might be the best fit for your website. Overview of Differences The same WordPress software powers both WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites. One of the main differences is hoIs there a particular reason why you’d like to manage the site with us while keeping it hosted elsewhere? Also, would you mind sharing some of your goals with the site? I’m asking because I’d like to check if it might be better to have the site hosted here instead or if I can at least offer more specific recommendations.
In the meantime, I can confirm that a Starter plan won’t be needed to manage your self-hosted site. In this case, you can go ahead and cancel the plan and get a refund using the guide below:
WordPress.com allows you to manage your subscriptions and other purchases directly through your dashboard. In this guide you will learn how to cancel or remove a purchase from your WordPress.com site. For domain cancellations, see Cancel & Refund a Domain. Cancel a Subscription To cancel your website’s WordPress.com plan, email, add-on, domain connection, or other purchase and (if eligibleLooking forward to your reply. :)
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Thanks for responding.
I have since learned that yes, what I needed was jetpack. I installed jetpack into my self-hosted site, and connected it to my wordpress.com account, and now, I can ‘see’ my self-hosted site from wordpress.com.
I need to keep the site self-hosted for numerous reasons; I want some basic plugins and I can’t use those without paying for a higher level of site (business, at $25/mo). I’m currently using this site mainly for ‘learning’ purposes, plus personal use so don’t want to pay that much.
The reason I’m pursuing the ‘access self-hosted site from wordpress.com’ is that by doing so, I gain access to the ‘jetpack’ feature to pull images from google photos; this is not available in the self-hosted installation.
What I STILL can’t figure out is – having installed Jetpack, and having tied it to my wordpress.com account, I can now ‘see’ the self-hosted site from wordpress.com. BUT – if I click on the site in that list, it simply takes me to the site – it’s just a navigation link. But what I want is, to use the wordpress.com (jetpack) tools ‘on’ my self-hosted site. I finally GUESSED, by looking at screen shots from other forums, that I can do this by typing in this URL: “wordpress.com/media/<MySelfHostedSite.com>” or this url: “wordpress.com/posts/<MySelfHostedSite.com>”, etc. But what I don’t know is – starting from wordpress.com, having signed in, how do I make that connection without typing in (by hand) these urls? Where do I “go” in wordpress.com to cause such a url to be created through navigation? Hope that makes sense!
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A few more discoveries that may help explain what I’m seeing and what I’m wanting …
See this screenshot for the sites page:
Note how, when I hover over the ‘stats’ area, the url in the status area below shows wordpress.com/stats/day/<mySelfHostedSite.com>? That’s perfect – exactly what I want! When I click it, I’m taken to a wordpress.com page that lets me view my admin panel – ore more to the point, view wordpress’s admin panel showing my site:
Here, you can see I’m editing My Site from wordpress.com – perfect! But how can I do that for media, posts, etc – what navigation do I follow to get there?
I also stumbled across this page:
I type in the url ‘wordpress.com/media’, and I’m shown all my wordpress sites, and can click on any one to ‘manage’ the media – including my self-hosted site.
(I didn’t realize I could paste directly into the editor, so the first two images are imgur links, the last is a direct paste!).
So I’m able to do what I want, but currently I have to either choose ‘statistics’ first, then access the other areas, or, I type in the url wordpress.com/media . Surely there is a more direct / obvious way to get there!
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Hello @chris3f1316d242
I’d like to better understand which tools you’d like to access on your site? When you have a Jetpack-connected, self-hosted WordPress.org site (in other words, a WordPress site not hosted on WordPress.com), the additional features are provided through Jetpack.
There is a range of tools and features that are either built into Jetpack or available as paid Jetpack products. These products and features generally mirror what WordPress.com customers have through their plans because Jetpack powers many WordPress.com features too.
So when you talk about how you’d like to access WordPress.com/Jetpack tools for your site, what do you have in mind, specifically? Are you perhaps referring to options you have available through Jetpack > Settings in your site’s regular dashboard?
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Hi again,
Here, you can see I’m editing My Site from wordpress.com – perfect! But how can I do that for media, posts, etc – what navigation do I follow to get there?
I wanted to address this question directly, as I think I understand what the issue is here.
From this screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/Vry1lVs, can you please try clicking on the actual name of the site (
Photoblogin this case).The URL below it links directly to the site itself, but if you hover over just the Blog name, it should take you to the WordPress admin panel, where you can access your media library and other tools.
You should also be able to get there via the site Icon (just a
Pin your case).Does that accomplish what you are trying to accomplish? Please let us know how that goes!
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Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, NO – when I hover over the large letter P, nothing shows up in the status line at the bottom, but a ‘tool-tip’ type pop-up says ‘View Site Details’ and clicking it takes me to the native site dashboard. Similarly, hovering over the Blog name does the same – pop-up says ‘view site details’ and I’m taken to the admin panel (native).
(I just renamed the Title of the site, so it’s now a ‘T’ not a ‘P’! ) . You have to hover and wait a second for the ‘tool tip’ to pop up.
If I hover over Last published, it shows a date, and I don’t see any other ‘hover’ actions on the wordpress.com/sites page. But when I hover over the ‘stats’ area – the mini-chart display – it shows something more helpful – wordpress.com/stats/day/<myHostedSite> – and takes me to the ‘wordpress.com’ dashboard for my site, landing on the ‘Stats’ item – and from there, I can easily click on Media.
It just seems totally illogical that you wouldn’t provide a more direct navigation to the dashboard.
And like I said – I CAN get more directly to the Media tab, by visiting the url wordpress.com/Media – that invokes a small selection interface that shows me the test sites I’ve been playing with –
And when I choose (eg) Travel Time, I’m taken to the wordpress.com dashboard for my site, with media selected.
So I’m now able to do what I want, it just seems very odd that I had to ‘guess’ at the URL to make it happen (or guess that ‘stats’ would be the magic link) – surely there must be a more direct navigation method available!
Thanks again.
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Hi @chris3f1316d242, thank you for sharing this feedback about the navigation in the WordPress.com dashboard. We’ll share this with the relevant team, but we have no ETA for any changes to it.
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