WordPress XML importing not successful despite repeated attempts
-
Hi all, really hope you can help me out!
I’ve been trying to migrate my site but I can’t successfully import my old content. The import file is a 40.6MB XML which uploads, but just hangs. I tried breaking the XML file down with a splitter called “wordpress-xml-splitter.py” but only the first fragment imports successfully (around 140 posts) and the rest fail, resulting in a “no author information” prompt.
This is rather time-consuming as there are around 30 authors on the previous site, and each time I import I need to reassign each author to their new user accounts.
Please help me, I just subscribed to WordPress two days ago so I can restore my old site. My current site is thedailyseni.com, and the content is from dailyseni.com which is no longer accessible.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
Hi there,
It’s not possible to import a 40MB file on WordPress.com.
Our importer has a maximum file size limit of 15MB, and works best with files under 10MB big.
I’ve reset the stuck import on your site again.
But it sounds like the XML splitter you’re using isn’t adding the correct headers to the split XML files, so you might want to try a different splitter instead. I’m afraid I’m not able to recommend anything specific, though.
The best solution would be if you can somehow get the original site online again. Then you can do an incremental export instead. That way you’ll be certain every file is both small enough, and properly formed. So try contacting your previous host to ask if there’s any way the can temporarily reactivate the site for you so you can do this.
Also note that if the original site is offline, media files included in your posts won’t import, as those aren’t in the export files. The export files only contain links to the media files in your site’s media library, and the actual files are only migrated once you import that file on a new site.
-
Thanks for your reply Kokkieh. I wish I knew these things before subscribing. :( I’m now stuck with trying to split the XML file, which I also tried to do manually. My manual split resulted in 4 volumes under 15MBs, but my second upload still fails. I’ve been diligently ensuring the opening codes are left intact.
I am unable to access the previous site because all the back-end handling of the site was outsourced to another company which has gone inactive. I lost my password and tried requesting for a password reset multiple times, but never got the password reset email so I’m ruling out that option.
Are you able help me figure out how to manually split XML files for WordPress importing, or share me an example of how a WordPress-split XML file looks like so I can tailor mine to suit it? There is a dearth of resources online at least, and some of the information are incorrect (such as advocating users to download a WXR Splitter for XML files when XML files aren’t even selectable in the program).
Any help much appreciated!
-
I’m afraid I don’t know myself how to split these manually :)
But I did a bit of searching online and found a couple options that might work for you:
http://www.rangerpretzel.com/content/view/20/1/ is mentioned in several tutorials, so you can give that one a try.
Another option is http://qxmledit.org/. That’s a dedicated XML editor, and has a built-in function to also split XML files.
-
Thank you for trying. I tried the first one (WXR Splitter) prior to posting here but it failed as the splitter does not seem to recognise XML files. I’ve just tried QXMLedit too but there’s no way of setting the size of the export file, and the chunks return an error when uploaded to WordPress.
Is there anybody else from WordPress who has the expertise to help me out? I’ve seen multiple examples of people with similar problems getting direct help from staff in terms of uploading their .xml files.
Could someone else please help me out here? :( I’ve already lost 5 days of my subscription trying to figure this out. If this works out I’ll be able to upgrade to a business plan and proceed with plugins and a website launch, but if it doesn’t, it’ll be a waste of my subscription.
-
Please upload your original export file at https://www.dropbox.com/request/nbGPZP2h9CZMKe4Zut7g and I can see if there’s anything else I can do.
If this works out I’ll be able to upgrade to a business plan and proceed with plugins and a website launch
If you’re planning to upgrade to Business, that might actually be the solution here – I don’t think the importer on Business Plan sites using plugins is subject to the 15MB file size limit, but I’m happy to test that for you first.
-
Thank you so much for the kind offer to help test this out! I’ve uploaded the file to the link above. Fingers-crossed!
-
I’ve received the file, thanks.
I’ll see what I can figure out with it, and let you know by tomorrow at the latest.
-
Okay, I was able to split your file using the WXR splitter for Windows from the first link I gave above.
I tested the resulting export files on a test site, and successfully imported around 1700 posts. Does that sound like everything?
I’ll send you the broken up export file via email shortly with more details.
-
Oh my god, yes! :’) Thank you so much, I am rather impressed that it works and that you tried it out!
Darn the iOS, the WXR Splitter wasn’t friendly at all on my Macbook. 1,700 odd posts sounds about right! I am utterly thrilled to hear this and I am extremely grateful for your kind help.
Thank you once again!
-
- The topic ‘WordPress XML importing not successful despite repeated attempts’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 