Export Your WordPress Site
Export WordPress with Tools, Export, All content to get a WXR file of posts, pages, taxonomy and comments, then copy wp-content/uploads separately because the media files are not inside it. Note your permalink structure and your shortcodes before you leave; both matter when you import.
On this page
Moving a blog is three jobs: get the content out intact, get it in with the same addresses, and prove nothing was lost. This series does them in that order. Part one is the export, and it is the part most migrations get wrong by exporting too little.
What to export
WordPress Tools, Export, All content produces a WXR file: posts, pages, categories, tags, comments and the media library's metadata. It does not contain the media files themselves. Download wp-content/uploads separately by SFTP or your host's file manager, keeping the year/month folders.
What to check before you leave
- Permalink structure: note it, because the redirect map in part three depends on it.
- Featured images: the WXR references them by attachment id; keep the uploads folder complete.
- Shortcodes: Inkwell imports their text as written. List the ones you use so you can replace them.
- Drafts and private posts: included in the export; decide now which to keep.
Next
Part two, import into Inkwell and keep your URLs, walks the importer. Part three, verify before you switch DNS, is the checklist that stops traffic loss. Ghost users follow the same three parts; the exporter is in Ghost Labs.
