Menu Backup & Restore + Import/Export

Menu Backup & Restore protects every WordPress menu, both classic nav_menu menus and block-theme wp_navigation posts edited in the Site Editor, with automatic backups, one-click restoration, and powerful import/export capabilities. Transfer menus between sites seamlessly with intelligent per-item mapping that rewrites page, post, and category references for the target site.

Key Features

• Automatic backup of menus when they are updated
• Works with both classic menus (nav_menu) and block-theme menus (wp_navigation posts edited in the Site Editor)
• Site Editor inspector panel — back up, restore, rename, or apply a backup from another menu without leaving the editor, with a Navigation block selected
• In-place restore replaces the existing menu directly, no duplicate menus, theme locations stay assigned
• Import and export menus as JSON files for portability or locally saved backups
• Multi-menu export and import — select multiple menus or backups to export in a single file
• Transfer menus between sites with intelligent object mapping, can be used to update menus from development to production sites without full site migration
• Manual mapping interface to override automatic matches and map menu items to specific pages, posts, or taxonomies during import
• Preserves complete menu structure: hierarchy, theme locations, CSS classes, and third-party plugin data (post_meta) icons etc…
• Bulk actions — select multiple backups to export or delete at once
• Rename backups inline with a click
• Configurable maximum number of backups to keep
• See who saved and created the backup
• Tab-based interface for better organisation
• Simple and intuitive user interface
• No database modifications required
• Lightweight and fast

How It Works

1. The plugin automatically creates a backup whenever you update a menu
2. Backups are stored in the WordPress options table with complete menu structure (hierarchy, locations, CSS classes, custom post_meta)
3. Manage backups from the legacy Menus page (classic themes), the Appearance > Menu Backups page (block themes), or inline from the Site Editor inspector when editing a Navigation block — rename, export, delete, restore, or bulk-select
4. Restore any previous version with a single click, the existing menu is updated in-place, keeping theme locations intact
5. Export one or multiple menus as a single JSON file for portability or import to other sites
6. Configure the maximum number of backups to keep in the settings

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0 or higher
• PHP 7.2 or higher

What Users Have to Say on Reddit

"That’s a super useful idea! Menus are so easy to wipe out by accident, and restoring from a full backup always feels like overkill. Nice work!"

"Really appreciate it, This will come in handy alot!"

"Oh man, I’ve done this before too. Lost a big menu while trying to rearrange items and it was gone in a click. Ended up re-building from scratch. This plugin sounds like a lifesaver — surprised WordPress hasn’t built something like this in by default."

"Kind of an automatic backup vs having to schedule one."

"that’s a killer quality of life plugin wp’s missing so many of those “one click undo” features for common mistakes"

"Great idea! I do this more often than I care to admit. This needs to be in Core!"

"Dude I literally do this all the time and actually did it less than an hour ago. I hate how the WordPress menu isn’t stored normally. Thanks for this!"