Use the Export Tool to Back Up Your WordPress Website in Just 3 Steps

Part 4 of the 5-Part Series:  4 Ways to Back Up Your WordPress Website for Free

This is, well, a backup plan for your backup plans.

The WordPress “Export” tool copies all of your website’s content (posts, pages, comments, custom fields, navigation menus, categories, and tags).

However, it doesn’t back up all of your Home Directory files or your My SQL Database (for example plugins, media gallery, theme settings, and SEO settings).

Its purpose is to help you easily export your content to another server or another WordPress site (where you would retrieve the files with the “Import” tool).  But you are also exporting your content to a “safe place” on your hard drive.  You can never have too many backup plans.  It’s a simple way to protect and archive all your hard work.

Your content is saved in an XML file for you to download to your computer and therefore also save on a memory stick (flash drive), and/or disc.  If you use a remote backup system such as Carbonite (which I recommend), the backup on your computer’s hard drive will automatically be saved there as well.

Step 1:  Click on “Tools” in your WordPress Dashboard

In the left sidebar (column) of your WordPress website’s Dashboard, click on the category “Tools.”  You’ll see a drop-down list.  Click on the “Export” link.

Depending upon which WordPress version you have, you’ll see one of two things on the right (the “Export” page).  First I’ll take you through the steps if you see the screen below, and then I’ll show you how to use the other one.

The catch is that you don’t want to update your WordPress version until your website is fully backed up, just to be on the safe side! So do your backups discussed in this 5-part series, and then update your WordPress version.

Tools-Export Screenshot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2:  Choose What to Export

If you see the above “Choose what to export” screen, you probably want to select “All Content.”  However, if you have a LOT of blog posts or pages, you might want to split it up into two or more downloads.   Or, having done an earlier “Export” download, you might only want to export the last two months of posts or pages.

For example, if you select “Posts,” you’ll see a list of fine-tuning options (filters).  If you click on the drop-down list under “Categories,” you’ll see a list of all the categories you’ve been using, so you could choose to just back up one category at a time.  Or you can narrow down the “Date Range” to maybe just the last two months, or two years.  Or you can simply have “All” posts backed up.

Choose What to Export screenshot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have similar options if you only want pages “exported” (downloaded) to your computer’s hard drive.

If, however, you see a screen that has a “Filters” heading on the “Export” page, everything I’ve said in Step 2 is still accurate.  Just notice that the “Content Types” drop-down list is where you can choose “All Content” or “Posts” or “Pages.”  The biggest difference is that you can choose a “date range” (Start and End dates) for the entire content as opposed to just pages or posts as in the above screen.

Export Filters Option screeenshot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3:  Download It

Once you have selected which content you want to download, and what filters (if any), click on the “Download Export File” button at the bottom.

Click “Save” on the “Downloading file” window that opens.

Downloading Window screenshot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then navigate to where you want to download the file on your computer.  If you’re not sure, then just select “Desktop.”  You can always move it to another location later if you choose to.

Be sure to make a note of the file name and what it means (for example, “export backup”) so you don’t get confused later if you need to retrieve (“import”) it!

In the last post of this 5-part series, I will show you how to back up your WordPress website using MS Word (or the word-processing software of your choice).

Don’t miss any of the other blog posts in this 5-part series. (Part 1) 4 Ways to Back Up Your WordPress Site for Free; (Part 2) Back Up Your WordPress Website Using cPanel in 6 Easy Steps; (Part 3) How to Use the BackUpWordPress Plugin to Back Up Your WordPress Website; and (Part 5) How to Back Up Your WordPress Website Using MS Word.

 

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