Scope: Prime Mover Free / Pro version

IMPORTANT : If you are using Prime Mover Pro for the first-time , please read this get started guide first.

This tutorial applies for both Prime Mover Free and Pro Version. This teach you how to migrate your WordPress single-site installation to another single-site installation. The target site installation could reside in a different server or your localhost.

Exporting a package

  • Activate Prime Mover Plugin
  • Optionally opt-in to Freemius notifcations.
  • Go to Migration Tools.
  • Click “Export“, export options dialog will show.
  • Select appropriate export options. In this tutorial , we select the complete export mode (export database + media + plugins/themes).
  • Click Export Now.
  • Wait until this process is completed, this can take time for very big sites.
  • When the export process is completed, the package will be downloaded to your Downloads directory.

Importing/Restoring a Package

  • Now go to the target single-site where you want to migrate the package. Make sure you install exactly the same version of Prime Mover used to generate the export.

Tip: It is recommended to clean the target site uploads directory or database before restoring another site with Prime Mover. But this is a not a requirement. Cleaning before restoration will keep your site size under manageable levels as it does not contain any files or data that will not belong to the current site.

To clean a site, you need to do two things: reset the WordPress database and delete all files in uploads directory.

Warning! If you are using PRO version, use the custom backup directory path feature to move your backup directory away from default WordPress default uploads directory BEFORE cleaning your uploads directory. Otherwise your backups will be deleted when you clear the uploads directory!

Once you have clean up your site and ready for restoration, here are the steps:

  • Activate Prime Mover version and opt-in to Freemius notifications.
  • Go to Migration Tools.
  • Click Import.
  • Browse to the uploaded package, select it.
  • A confirmation dialog will pop-up. Make sure to read the details and make sure its correct. Use this info to verify if you have the correct site to be imported and other details.
  • Wait until you see “Import done“.
  • Go to Settings – Permalinks.
  • Without changing any settings , just click “Save changes

Troubleshooting

  • Export/Import will not complete – if you think the process won’t complete, please read the following guide for solutions.
  1. I got “Export fails” or “Import Fails” Error – Can you try increasing web server timeout?
  2. Tips and Techniques in migrating large sites with Prime Mover Plugin
  3. Import / Restoration Hang or Freeze Issue Troubleshooting

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