Using one of my old site addresses?
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Is it possible for me to change my blog’s site address back to the one I changed it from? I’ve realised I’ve made a horrible mistake with my new url and thought it’d be simple to use the old address since I still ‘own’ it…but it doesn’t appear to be. Whenever I try to change it a notice comes up saying ‘Sorry, that site has already been used!’ even though I’m the one who used it. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi @gardenh3ad,
Did you delete your previous blog? Or did you just change the blog address? More information on both below. Let me know which one you did, and we’ll figure this out.
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Hey thanks for the help! I just changed the old address of my blog and didn’t delete it, because I figured this would happen and I’d end up wanting to go back to it. Based on the links you’ve sent, would I be best permanently deleting the old site and them trying to use it’s address, or is that not possible?
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You’re welcome =)
No, you should not delete your site! If you delete it, you’ll never be able to re-use that site address.
If you just changed the blog address, you might be able to get it back, but I’m not quite sure to be honest. In the support article for changing the blog address, it states that you can choose to discard of your old address. Do you remember if you did this? Or did you leave it unchecked?
You could try following the directions in the link below. But don’t go all the way. We just want to chekc if you’re able to use your old address. Follow the directions only until you reach a screen that looks like this:
https://cloudup.com/cEHVUu5VWB6Here’s the link with the instructions:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/changing-blog-address/Don’t go any further. Just let me know if you get an error message like I did (see how I got an error message saying my old URL was reserved?). If you do go further, you risk not being able to change back to the domain you’re currently on, so please don’t do this if you don’t want that to happen.
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Thanks again for looking so much into this for me! I’ve followed those steps and looked at your screenshot and I don’t get that warning at all, I only get the “Sorry, that site has already been used!” warning after I’ve clicked submit. I definitely didn’t tick the “Yes, please permanently disable” box so I’m blagged as to what’s going on.
Maybe I should just think of a better url, or be more careful next time haha..
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I see. It probably means that you cannot go back to your original site address, even though you opted not to discard it. Notice the yellow line at the top of my screenshot, stating:
This will change your site’s address (currently justaboutok.wordpress.com). This process cannot be reversed.
The-cannot-be-reversed sentence doesn’t go in our favor I suppose. But this sentence from point #7 in the Changing Blog Address support article, do go in our favour:
7-The final option on this screen allows you to discard your current address. This option will permanently disable the address and you will not be able to reuse it. Only select this option if you are sure you will not use the address again. If you want to redirect traffic to the new blog, you can keep the address and purchase the Site Redirect upgrade. Note: if you do not select this option, you will see your original address under My Sites.
Thing is, I can’t find my original address under My Sites. Can you?
Anyway, I’ve tagged this thread for staff attention, so hopefully they can clarify if you can change back to your old url since you didn’t discard it.
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So so confusing! I can definitely see my original address in My Sites, so I foolishly thought I’d just be able to reclaim it and have all of my posts transferred back to it painlessly. Nightmare. Hopefully the staff might be able to shed some light on this for us.
Thanks for the third time :)
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They’re usually very good at it, so I’m looking forward to their reply. And you’re welcome =)
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Hi there,
An address change cannot be reversed, so if you want to go back to using the old address you’ll need to manually move everything back.
Your posts and pages you can export from the new site, and import back into the old site:
Your theme, settings, widgets, menus, etc, you’ll need to set up again on the old site the way you had it. Easiest is to open the new site’s customizer in one browser window and the old site’s customizer in another browser window, position them side by side on your screen, and just copy everything over.
Once you’ve set up your theme and migrated your content back to the old address, let me know and I can move your followers and your stats back as well. Likes cannot be transferred back.
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Thanks for the clarification @kokkieh.
@gardenh3ad: the reason I couldn’t find my my original address under My Sites, is because I ticked the Yes, please permanently disable yoursite.wordpress.com. Since you didn’t, you can follow kokkieh’s instructions to start using your old site again.
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