This documentation is was written to help new WordPress Move users start using the plugin faster and more efficiently. Even though the plugin is designed to be as straightforward as possible, it may still be confusing for new users. It is highly recommended that you read this documentation before using the plugin. You can find the list of topics covered in this documentation below.
Installing WordPress Move is no different than other plugins. You can either download the plugin from WordPress Plugin Directory and install it manually or use the search feature on the Install Plugin page.
There are actually two different types of manual installations. For both of them, first you need to download the plugin in .zip format from WordPress Plugin Directory. Then you can follow one of the manual installation methods explained below.
The first way is using the Upload tab on the Install Plugin page. To begin, please navigate to Administration Panel → Plugins → Add New → Upload to upload the .zip file you have just downloaded. Once you select the file to upload from your computer and click the Install Now button, WordPress will automatically install the plugin for you.
The second way is uploading the contents of the .zip file you have just downloaded to /wp-content/plugins/ directory using your FTP client. Do not forget that you need to upload the directory inside the .zip file not the .zip file itself. For further instructions on uploading files using your FTP client, please refer to the documentation of your FTP client.
The easiest way to install the plugin, however, is using the Search feature on the Install Plugin page. To begin, please navigate to Administration Panel → Plugins → Add New where you can search for the plugin by typing WordPress Move to the textbox and clicking the Search Plugins button. Then, on the search results page, please click the Install Now link displayed under the name of the plugin to begin installing the plugin.
After following one of these three methods, please navigate to Administration Panel → Plugins → Installed Plugins page and activate the plugin using the Activate link display right under the name of the plugin. Once you see the Plugin activated. notification at the top, you are ready to start using the plugin.
Once you activated WordPress Move, it added 3 pages to your Administration Panel: Migration Assistant, Backup Manager and WordPress Move. First two are located under the Tools menu while the last one is located under the Settings menu. To configure the plugin, you need to navigate to WordPress Move page under the Settings menu. Before diving into configuring the plugin, please note that configuration is only necessary if you are planning to use the plugin to migrate to another server. In other words, you do not need any configuration if you are only going to use the plugin to change the domain name of your existing installation. or complete the migration started from another server. Also, if you are planning to use the plugin to migrate your existing installation to another server, first you need to install WordPress and WordPress Move on the remote server as well before continuing.
If you have successfully completed installing WordPress and WordPress Move on the remote server, please navigate to WordPress Move Settings page, where you will see eight settings under three titles.
/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-move/backup/. The reason why this is not automatically appended by the plugin is to give power users the ability to change the backup directory with two small alterations (the other is changing the WPMOVE_BACKUP_DIR constant on wordpress-move.php file). The last setting in this set is the Passive Mode setting. If you do not know what to set, please leave it as is and toggle if you experience issues with connecting to the remote server.Now you are ready to start the migration by going to the Migration Assistant page under the Tools menu.
Using the plugin is fairly simple. If you want to change your domain name, start migrating to another server or complete the migration you have already started from another server, you need to navigate to Migration Assistant page under the tools menu. However, if you want to manage the backup files under the backup directory, you need to navigate to Backup Manager page under the tools menu.
Migration Assistant welcomes you with three different actions you may want to perform: Change Domain Name, Start Migration and Complete Migration. If you wish to only change the domain name of your current installation, you should click the Change Domain Name link. If you wish to migrate to another server, you should click the Start Migration link. Once again, do not forget that you need to configure the plugin by going to WordPress Move page under the Settings menu before starting the migration. And finally, if you wish to complete the migration process started from another server, click the Complete Migration link.
Changing the domain name that your current installation operates on is quite easy. Just type in the new domain name you want to use instead of the current domain name and click the Change button. Plugin will immediately change all instances of your old domain name in the database with your new domain name. WordPress Move also backups your database before starting the operation so if something goes wrong, it rolls back all the changes made. Of course, rolling back may also fail under some circumstances so creating a backup of your database manually beforehand is always a good idea. WordPress Move actually saves the backup file it creates beforehand to the old backup directory in case something goes wrong either during the domain name changing procedure or afterwards. Note that database backup files WordPress Move creates are not like normal database backup files, so you will need a working instance of WordPress Move on that server to be able to restore using those backup files. Still, creating a backup file yourself is highly encouraged. Do not forget that WordPress Move only replaces instances of your old domain name in the database with your new domain name and does not make any further configurations needed to make your domain work on your host. Please refer to the question in the FAQ section for some additional information about this.
Start Migration page provides two different types of migration: Simple Migration and Advanced Migration.
Both of these methods creates backup files in chunks if you set a Chunk Size on the settings page of the plugin and also provides you the option to change the domain name that will be used on your new server. When starting the migration succeeds, you can run WordPress Move on the remote server in Complete Migration mode to complete the migration process.
Complete Migration basically imports database backups and extracts filesystem backups, created and uploaded by WordPress Move on the server you want to migrate from. When you navigate to Complete Migration page, it lists all the backup files that are going to be imported or extracted once you click the Complete Migration button. To select which files to import or extract, please navigate to Backup Manager page under the Tools menu. Do not forget that this process does not create a backup of your existing installation so if something goes wrong, it will not be possible to rollback the changes. It is your responsibility to backup your files and the database before clicking the Complete Migration button. If there are no files listed on the Complete Migration page, please make sure you started the migration successfully using WordPress Move on the server you want to migrate from.
Backup Manager is the place to organize the backup files either created by the plugin on the same server, or uploaded by the server you want to migrate from. If this is the server you want to migrate from, you can delete backup files after the Migration Assistant completes uploading them to the remote server. If you do not want to delete them, you can Archive them which basically means moving them to a sub-directory called old. You can always Unarchive the files you Archived using the Backup Manager. Files listed under Current Backups are the files that will be used by the Complete Migration mode so you can either delete or achive the files you do not want Complete Migration to use. Files listed under the Old Backups section are not used for anything so you can safely Archive the backup files you do not want to use but also do not want to delete.
Project sponsored by Google, developed by Mert Yazicioglu and mentored by Pete Mall and Brian Layman.