How to Move a WordPress Installation
When moving your WordPress installation from one domain to another, most steps are automated using the WordPress export feature and import plugins. Photos on the new website will remain intact, linked to the old website, but you will need to move the images one at a time if you are deleting your old WordPress installation. For this reason, you should plan your move well in advance. Don't forget to add a blog post on the old website advising your visitors of the impeding move so they can change their bookmarks.
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Instructions
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Exporting From the Current Site
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1
Go to your current WordPress website. Log in with your administrator username and password. Go to the WordPress Dashboard.
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Click "Themes" under the "Appearance" section of the Dashboard. The Manage Themes page opens. Make a note of the name of your "Current Theme" located at the top of the page.
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Click "Export" under the "Tools" section of the Dashboard. The Export page opens with a list of filters including start date, end date, authors, categories, tags, content types and statuses.
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Select "All" from the menu beside each category to move all pages and blog posts. Limiting any of these menus, by selecting only one author or one category, for example, will exclude all other pages and blog posts from the export file.
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Click "Download Export File." Wait several seconds if you have a great deal of content on your website. Click "Save" when the download window opens. The file name will include the date it is downloaded in the format "wordpress.YYYY-MM-DD.xml."
Moving to the New Site
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Log in to your account for your new website using the username and password supplied by your Web host. Some Web hosts have one-click installation of popular software like WordPress. Others may require you to install WordPress from scratch by uploading the WordPress software using an FTP client.
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Activate your WordPress installation, create an administrator account and password as requested during the installation process.
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Log in to your new WordPress website. Click "Themes" in the "Appearance" section of the dashboard. Type the name of your theme in the "Search" field. Select "Search" and click on the appropriate theme. Press "Install." Choose "Manage Themes," locate the theme and click "Activate."
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Click "Import" in the "Tools" section of the dashboard. The Import page opens. Select "WordPress," then click "Install Now" to install the WordPress Importer plugin. Click "Activate and Run Importer" when it has finished uploading to your website. Press the "Browse" button and locate the ".xls" export file on your hard drive. Select the "Upload File and Import" button.
Moving Blogroll Links and Photos
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Click "Import" on the dashboard again to import your links from the old website. Click "Blogroll." Install the OPML Importer and activate it.
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Type your website address followed by "/wp-links-opml.php" in the "OPML URL" text field. Click "Import OPML." The blogroll from your old site is now in the new site.
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Move images one at a time by going to each blog post and page on the new website and locating photos. These are active on the new website, but they are still stored on the old website. Download the photos to your computer. Click the "Edit" menu and delete the photo link. Upload each photo to your new website by inserting it as a new image.
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Announce your move by posting a blog about it on the old website. Send emails to everyone you can find who has linked to your old blog so they can change their links.
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