URL Location Of Images
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The categories menu is there in the sidebar. It points to pages on the real site. On the test site the categories menu points to the blog feed.
I just tried deleting the category menu in the sidebar and recreating it in the customizer. It still links to the blog feed instead of the pages, as it does on the real site. Suggestions on fixing this?
On https://nuke-ban.org/ you have a custom menu set up. This theme displays the custom menu in the sidebar.
On https://testnuke.home.blog/ you have no custom menu set up – that will go in the darker box at the top of the sidebar that’s currently empty. The categories you see are being added via a category widget. That’s not a menu, just a list of all categories on your site.
https://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/categories-widget/
To create a menu on the test site you need to follow the process at https://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/ – that is something completely separate from widgets.
I’m curious, do you understand why widgets and themes are not transferable? It seems like the export/import process is pretty close to being perfect, and it’s a shame that as it stands they can’t really claim the process is automated.
Because that’s not how it’s designed to work. Widgets and themes are platform-specific – if you wanted to move your site to Blogger or Wix, or even a stand-alone WordPress installation, our themes and widgets are not compatible with those other platforms, and any attempt to import those would cause the import to fail.
The export file contains only site content, so that it is possible to migrate it to any platform, not just to another WordPress.com site.
Nowhere do we claim to offer a full-site migration or a full-site backup feature on WordPress.com. Our export feature is just a full export of all content, i.e. posts, pages and comments, on a site.
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The export file contains only site content, so that it is possible to migrate it to any platform, not just to another WordPress.com site.
Ok, but what this means in reality is that 95% of folks trying to move their WP site are going to run in to these kind of difficulties. And the burden for this failure falls on the user, and of course you, the support person. The place to fix this weakness is instead with the coders.
You know how there is one download file for text content, and another for media? There could perhaps be a third OPTIONAL download file for themes and widgets. And then the transfer process could be labeled fully automated in the majority of cases when a user is trying to move their WP site to another WP host.
Nowhere do we claim to offer a full-site migration or a full-site backup feature on WordPress.com.
Um, both in this thread, and at another host where I asked these questions, it was claimed that the WP transfer process is fully automated so there’s nothing to worry about. As you can see, that’s not accurate. But perhaps it could be.
To create a menu on the test site you need to follow the process at https://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/ – that is something completely separate from widgets.
Thanks, but I have no idea what this is all about, and neither will the vast majority of folks trying to move their site. I have no memory of setting up any menus, or any idea how doing so fixes this problem.
You’re trying to defend the status quo. It would be more useful to your employer to admit the status quo has not yet reached it’s goals, and use your influence to urge the coders to finish the job.
You’re the expert on WP, so I’m happy to learn from you. I’ve been in this business since before you were born, so there’s an opportunity for you to learn from me too if you want to.
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So I started this experiment to educate myself about WP transfers.
I’ve learned that moving a WP site from one host to another is going to involve mysterious hassle. Ok, that’s useful information.
And I’ve come up with a solution. Should I ever wish to transfer a WP site I’ll just tell the new host that they need to complete the transfer 100%, or I’m not interested in their service. I’ll tell them that at the moment they start saying things like “I need to do this or that” that they should just close my account.
Seriously, this is useful. I’ve learned that the way to do WP transfers is to not accept any of the responsibility for them. Very simple and efficient. I’m happy now, issue resolved, thread closed.
Thanks for your help, appreciate it.
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You know how there is one download file for text content, and another for media?
Just to provide some backstory: the media export is for our convenience and was a really long-standing request from WPcom users since not everyone has their site’s original media files on their current computer (or has access to it when your early files are stored on old, dearly departed computers and inaccessible ZIP drives, like me *kof*).
If you want to test export/import on a non-WPcom site to see what happens with your image URLs, you can set up a test WP install using localhost (the place for support on that is from the forums that Liz linked to previously).
This was a very educational thread, so thanks for asking.
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Just to provide some backstory: the media export is for our convenience and was a really long-standing request from WPcom users since not everyone has their site’s original media files on their current computer
My vote is a solid thumbs up for the transfer of text and media. In my experience at least, that process was very simple and easy. I can’t envision how it could be easier. Perhaps it would be more complicated if I was moving to a different host, don’t know, but so far so good.
If you want to test export/import on a non-WPcom site to see what happens with your image URLs, you can set up a test WP install using localhost
Thank you for this suggestion.
However, with thanks to the patience of staff above, I think I’ve found the solution that works best for me. Shift the entire burden of transfer on to whatever host is seeking my business. If they can’t or won’t accept that burden, that tells me what I need to know about that host.
Ideally I would have come to this somewhat obvious solution without taking up everyone’s time above, but, um, well, I didn’t. :-) Sorry bout that…
Anyway, this is all just education and theory. I’m happy with my account on WP.com for now, and am just learning what would be involved if I decided to move.
Feel free to further educate me, but here’s what I see so far.
The Premium account I currently have here on WP.com seems a very reasonable deal. I philosophically object to the “we want all the money upfront” scheme that so many hosts want these days, but at only $100/yr I can be flexible about that.
If I wanted to upgrade for more features, regular hosting accounts seem a better deal for that. Not only are they typically a bit cheaper than what is available here, but more importantly I could install anybody’s software (including my own) in a regular hosting account.
However, none of the above really matters until I get a lot more traffic, as there’s not much point in installing lots of features for 2 visitors a day. :-) There’s a pretty good chance I’ll never have enough traffic to make upgrading a sensible decision.
Again, thanks to all for your patient responsiveness in helping me stumble my way to the answer I was looking for.
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Aha, so I remembered I have an old cheapo $5 hosting account that I never use anymore, so I thought it would make a good testing ground for learning how to transfer WP from one host to another.
The WP installer worked great, very easy. Importing the XML file also very easy.
Images don’t import to the test site. They appear on the page on the test site, but only because they are still linked back to your servers.
I realize now that when I tested moving my Premium account here on WP.com to a free test account also on WP.com, that only worked because I was still at the same host.
It appears what was said above in the thread about how image transfers are easy and automated etc is misinformed. In researching this I see a number of other folks having the same issue.
This isn’t a question as it’s not your job to teach me anything about other hosts. I’m just updating the thread to let you know that image transfers don’t appear to be a simple matter. Downloading images for backups works great, moving them to another host does not.
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Were the images in question attached to the posts/pages, as in they were uploaded while writing/editing a specific page, or were they uploaded separately via the Media library?
Images do transfer automatically on export/import, but only if they’re attached to posts/pages.
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Hi Mac,
Thanks for your question. If I understand correctly…
I always upload images in the block editor as I’m creating a page. This uploads the images in to the media library.
Best I can tell, here are the roadblocks.
1) I see no way in the Dashboard to upload the images. The import process seems to make no mention of images.
2) Some process is going to have to rewrite all the image URLs in the HTML to point to where ever the images are stored on the new host. The HTML uploads fine from the XML file, but the image URLs still point to the old host.
I asked about this on the WP.org forum and was told this:
“There are find/replace plugins that can help you replace the old URL of images being used in posts and pages. ”
This advice seems to suggest that the WP importer doesn’t edit the image URLs. Don’t know if that’s true or not.
I’m converting to WP after 25 years of making sites other ways. I figured part of that transition should include me learning how to move a WP site from one host to another. Thanks for your assistance with that.
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1) I see no way in the Dashboard to upload the images. The import process seems to make no mention of images.
Images downloaded from another site cannot be imported, no. You can upload them to the media library, but then they’ll get new file URLs, and won’t appear correctly in the posts where they are embedded.
But it shouldn’t be necessary to import images separately:
When you import content from another site via the XML file, the importer fetches those images directly from the media library of the source site, as long as they are referenced in and attached to the posts contained in the export file. The source site still has to be online during the import for this process to work.
Sometimes this process fails, in which case you need to manually fetch the images from the other site’s server. On WordPress.com we have a tool that allows staff to help with this if needed. On a stand-alone WordPress site you’d need to do it via a command line request to the other server, or there might be a plugin to do this.
2) Some process is going to have to rewrite all the image URLs in the HTML to point to where ever the images are stored on the new host. The HTML uploads fine from the XML file, but the image URLs still point to the old host.
The importer also does this automatically.
Sometimes this process fails, and in that case we might be able to fix it manually after the fact. On WordPress.com we again have a tool that staff can use to help with this, and on a stand-alone WordPress site you’d need to use a find and replace plugin to do that instead.
But in most cases, as long as the export file is properly encoded and the importer on your site doesn’t encounter a time-out or other error during the import, this should happen automatically.
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Thanks for the reply.
When you import content from another site via the XML file, the importer fetches those images directly from the media library of the source site, as long as they are referenced in and attached to the posts contained in the export file.
Ok, that makes sense. It doesn’t work, but now at least I understand how it’s supposed to work.
The source site still has to be online during the import for this process to work.
It seems there should be an option to upload images from one’s computer, just as one does with the XML file.
Sometimes this process fails, in which case you need to manually fetch the images from the other site’s server.
Downloading the images from the old server is easy, it’s uploading them to a different server that’s the problem.
and on a stand-alone WordPress site you’d need to use a find and replace plugin to do that instead.
Ok, I see now I need to learn this, thank you.
It seems I also need to learn where images are stored within a WP account so that I can upload them to that location via FTP. Can you advise me on this?
But in most cases, as long as the export file is properly encoded and the importer on your site doesn’t encounter a time-out or other error during the import, this should happen automatically.
I can’t comment on what percent of time it works. I can only say it was very easy to find threads where folks report it’s not working for them.
Trying to offer constructive feedback here. The export process works great, very simple and reliable in my experience. The import process is no where near up to the quality standard found in the rest of WP. So a suggestion…
Instead of support having to answer such questions over and over again for years, why not use your influence to contact the coding team and ask them to raise their game on this particular feature?
WP sites are just data. It shouldn’t be that hard to dump an entire site (XML, images, widgets, theme, everything) in to a single folder on the user’s computer, and then upload that single folder to the new server, placing each item where it belongs, and rewriting the image URL’s in XML to reflect the new domain.
The user already has to download the XML file to their computer and then re-upload to new server, right? Doing the same with a folder wouldn’t be any harder.
Thanks again for your responses. When I finally get how to do a transfer maybe we could write a How-To together to make it easier for staff to answer this question in the future.
Have a good one!
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It doesn’t work
To what site did you import where the images didn’t import as well? If the site is hosted with us on WordPress.com, we might be able to import those images after the fact for you, as I mentioned above.
It seems there should be an option to upload images from one’s computer, just as one does with the XML file.
That would only be possible if the images themselves were contained in the XML file (which is not possible), else there’s no possible way for the site to know which image should go with which post. It’s not as simple as just uploading files to a server.
It seems I also need to learn where images are stored within a WP account so that I can upload them to that location via FTP. Can you advise me on this?
On a standard WordPress installation, media files are stored in
/wp-content/uploads, but simply uploading image files there will only make them appear in your media library. It will not cause the images to appear correctly in the different post or pages where they have been used, as the files will not have the same media URLs or media attachment ids that they had on the original site.On WordPress.com, SFTP access is included in our Business and eCommerce plans only.
WP sites are just data. It shouldn’t be that hard to dump an entire site (XML, images, widgets, theme, everything) in to a single folder on the user’s computer, and then upload that single folder to the new server, placing each item where it belongs, and rewriting the image URL’s in XML to reflect the new domain.
On stand-alone WordPress installations you can get a download like this with a full-site backup or a SQL database dump. You can then upload that to another server manually, but unless you use the same domain for the new site, you’ll still need to manually update the media file URLs via find and replace to the new domain, else the images won’t appear in the posts.
On WordPress.com it’s not possible to get either such a database dump, nor to upload it directly to our servers, because we use a modified version of the WordPress software here that doesn’t work exactly like the stand-alone version.
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Hi again Kok,
To what site did you import where the images didn’t import as well? If the site is hosted with us on WordPress.com, we might be able to import those images after the fact for you, as I mentioned above.
The host is A Small Orange. A formerly good host bought by a big dog and then ruined. You know, the usual routine…
I appreciate your offer, but I’m not trying to actually move anywhere right now, I’m just trying to learn how to move. My goal is to learn how to do a transfer myself. I’ve been building sites by other means for 25 years. Now that I’m becoming a WP guy, I’m trying to learn how to do the things I’ve always done in this new environment.
That would only be possible if the images themselves were contained in the XML file (which is not possible), else there’s no possible way for the site to know which image should go with which post. It’s not as simple as just uploading files to a server.
It would work like this.
Step 1: Upload image folder from computer to whatever folder on the new server WP uses for images.
Step 2: Find and replace image URLs in XML to reflect the new location of images.
Step 3: Process XML file
but simply uploading image files there will only make them appear in your media library. It will not cause the images to appear correctly in the different post or pages where they have been used
Right, agreed, the XML file would have to be edited to reflect the new location of the images.
Find: OldHost.com/wp-content/uploads
Replace With: NewHost.com/wp-content/uploadsOn WordPress.com it’s not possible to get either such a database dump, nor to upload it directly to our servers, because we use a modified version of the WordPress software here that doesn’t work exactly like the stand-alone version.
Thank you for the further explanation.
I hope somebody on your end might be hearing what’s being said here. 95% of WP earns an A+. The transfer process earns a D.
Consider the existing process for backing up one’s content to one’s own computer. Very simple, very easy, very reliable. Right? Half of the transfer process already earns an A+. All that’s left is applying that same standard of excellence to the other side of the transfer process, user’s computer to new host.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
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Thank you for your feedback on this, we really appreciate that.
Right now, however, the export process works as we explained in the previous replies. -
Yes, the export process works great as it is, as agreed already in my previous posts above. Export process isn’t the problem.
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I uploaded all images to the test host via FTP. I did a find and replace on the XML file in a text editor to update the image URLs to point to the test host. I ran the importer on the edited XML file from the WP Dashboard. Ok, that’s not going to fix this. Images still linked to WP.com.
I was going to download all the html and do a find and replace on that, and then re-upload. But I don’t see any html on the server. So all pages are served on the fly out of a database? If yes, then I need to learn how to edit the database?
When the WP importer repeatedly fails, how does one hack one’s away around that failure?
If some document already explains this, happy to receive the link.
If no such document exists, why don’t we make one?
Thanks again.
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The following page makes clear that hacking the WP import process is a common enough need that tools have been developed to help with the hacking. I can’t yet report whether any of the suggestions at the following page do actually work.
One user of the hacking software opines…
It’s not been updated for a while but works just fine with WordPress 5.2.2. Life saver!! Why this level of functionality is not in core I really do not know.
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My initial testing suggests that the advice offered on the following linked page may succeed in hacking a failed import process.
If interested, scroll about 25% down that page to the section which starts with the headline “Why images don’t get imported”. That’s the advice I’m following and it’s worked on the first few pages.
A better solution to this whole issue of image transfers might be for WP.com to allow paying customers to have their images in their own domain. In 25 years of web building I’ve not seen it any other way.
Or failing that, fix the importer so that it can do what other software such as the above referenced plug-in can do.
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So I’ve been further testing the WP importer on the test site. I’ve reinstalled WP from scratch five times to repeatedly test the importer from a fresh start.
In none of the cases has the importer completed it’s job. I think the text import works. Some small percent of images are transferred, I can see that via FTP. The image URLs are not edited to reflect the new domain. The read out at the end of the import process doesn’t really tell me where I stand. As example, it doesn’t list pages that are fully working, and what pages remain to be done. In short, the importer is basically worthless, except that it does seem to import the XML file.
I’ve tested with the plug-in referenced in the post above this one. A random sampling of the test site suggests it is working at transferring the images and editing the image URLs. I’ve done most of the pages in batches of 20 at a time but am unable to finish as I’m now blocked from further processing by Internal Server Errors.
Two of the obstacles I see so far are:
1) WP.com has put my images in your domain, which requires me to find a reliable method of editing all those URLs should I ever want to move.
2) The attempt to transfer images from one host to another via web browsers seems problematic, as time outs seem to be an issue I’ve seen discussed repeatedly here and elsewhere, including by staff above.
Thus, I’m wondering if it would be possible to FTP images and XML from the personal computer to a receiving web host server, and then run some script on those files to add them to the database and whatever else needs doing.
So far I’ve found no reliable method of transferring a WP site from one host to another. Until that changes this means that I would have to manually check every page, and every image on every page, to ensure the process works, or find where it didn’t. Right now I have 175 pages so I guess such a manual checking would be doable. But that’s pretty much the limit of what is acceptable.
Thus, I can’t keep building my site until I find a reliable method of transfer.
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