Problem importing XML file from another WordPress blog

  • Unknown's avatar
    spvrts · Member ·

    I tried to upload a XML file from another WordPress blog and received the following error message: ‘There don’t appear to be any authors in your import file.’ Is it possible to manually add the author to the XML file (all posts were made by myself) or is there any other way to overcome this problem?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • staff-doublebassd · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Are you migrating from another WordPress.com blog or from a self-hosted WordPress.org blog? If the latter, what version of WordPress were you using at the time of the export? Does the file name for the file you’re importing end in .xml, .zip, or something else?

    Let me know and I will look further into this for you.

    Thanks!

  • Unknown's avatar
    spvrts · Member ·

    Hello,

    sorry for a late reply. I am migrating from a hosted WordPress blog. The export file name ends with an extension .xml. I am not sure what version of WordPress it is, but it hasn’t changed since the beginning of the blog in 2009, so it is probably a version from that time – in the export XML it says “generator=”WordPress/2.9.1”

    Thanks!

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Is the source site still online? If so, you should be able to see the version if you go to URL/wp-admin.

    If you’re still on WordPress 2.9, then the export is likely no longer compatible with the importer used in the newest versions of WordPress. In that case you’ll need to update your site to a recent version of WordPress first, before creating a new export.

    For advice on the best process to upgrade your WordPress installation from such an old version, please ask in https://wordpress.org/support/forums/

  • Unknown's avatar
    spvrts · Member ·

    Hi there,
    Thank you for your reply. The blog is still online; however it is continuously unavailable, because the service provider stopped maintaining the website where the blog is hosted. Therefore, the blog is available only sporadically.
    I cannot update the site to a newer/recent version of WordPress, because this option is not provided in the user dashboard – I believe that the service provider has limited the options regarding the customisation of the blog, for example the choice of available themes is limited to around 10. However, the service provider informed me that the XML export file should be compatible with the newer versions of WordPress.
    Is there any way to check the exported XML file to see where the problem/incompatibility could be and then to modify it so that it will be compatible with the current versions of WordPress?

  • Unknown's avatar
    gemmacevans · Member ·

    Hi duhresnice,

    The WordPress.com importer doesn’t provide the option to check compatibility I’m afraid. With that in mind, I recommend following @kokkieh’s suggestion of contacting your current provider to see whether they can help with upgrading the site to a newer version of WordPress.

    If they can, a new export file can be generated and you can try importing that to WordPress.com. The error message you mentioned points to the export file no longer being compatible with the importer so fingers crossed that does the trick.

    It’s also worth noting the existing site will been to be available so the images import correctly.

  • Unknown's avatar
    spvrts · Member ·

    Hi,

    I was in contact with the current service provider and at the moment the upgrade is not in plan / will currently not be possible.

    Having this in mind, do you maybe know:
    1. Is there any other way to use the exported XML file from an older WordPress version for the import into a recent one? Maybe by manually modifying the XML file? Or something similar?
    2. Could the problem with importing the XML file be correlated with the fact that the blog was not available at the time of the import?
    3. If I start posting on the WordPress blog now and import the older posts (from the old blog) later on, will this in any way affect the already published posts (the ones which will not be in the import file)?

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    @duhresnice you can try manually modifying the file if you’d like. Our best recommendation there is to create a site here with a couple of posts and pages (just with filler text and an image or two, etc) then export that so you’ll have a template.

    You could also install a very old copy of WordPress, import the file, then work through upgrades before exporting again.

    Note too, if you used a plugin to build the site (such as Advanced Custom Fields) the import from that into regular WordPress can be tricky too, but not impossible.

  • Unknown's avatar
    spvrts · Member ·

    Hello supernovia,

    thanks – I will try modifying the fie manually and/or installing an old copy of WordPress and see how it goes.

    What about if I start publishing on the new blog now and import the XML file later on? Could the new posts be deleted/overwritten during the import?

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