Moving a Blog

Contents

• Moving Between WordPress.com Blogs
• Moving from WordPress.org
• Moving to WordPress.org
• Transferring Your Blog to Another User or Account

Related

• Export
• Import
• On Your Mobile
• Turbo

Moving Between WordPress.com Blogs

Although you cannot change your current blog URL, you can simply register another WordPress.com blog under your existing user account and then transfer your content.

First, register the new blog. To create a new blog, simply visit http://wordpress.com/signup while logged into your WordPress.com account.

Once the new blog is registered, follow these steps to complete the transfer:

1) In the old blog, go to Tools -> Export and download the XML file to your computer.

2) In the new blog, go to Tools -> Import and upload the XML file you downloaded in step 1.

Note: To make sure your photos and other attachments are imported, be sure to tick the ‘Download and import file attachments’ box in the 2nd step of the import process.

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Moving from WordPress.org

If you are moving from a self-hosted blog using the WordPress.org software, you can move your blog to our WordPress.com service with the following steps:

1) Register a WordPress.com account and blog at http://wordpress.com/signup

2) In the old blog, go to Tools -> Export and download the XML file to your computer.

3) In the new blog (on WordPress.com), go to Tools -> Import and upload the XML file you downloaded in step 2.

Note: To make sure your photos and other attachments are imported, be sure to tick the ‘Download and import file attachments’ box in the 2nd step of the import process.

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Moving to WordPress.org

If you are moving to a privately-hosted server using the WordPress.org software, you first need to obtain appropriate web hosting and have your WordPress.org blog/site up and running before transferring your content. Suitable hosts can be found here – many of the hosts listed offer a one-click, automatic installation of the software. If you are using a host that does not offer automatic installtion of WordPress, you can review the official installation guide.

The content transfer process is similar to that described above (between WordPress.com blogs):

1) In the old blog, go to Tools -> Export and download the XML file to your computer.

2) In the new blog, go to Tools -> Import and upload the XML file you downloaded in step 1. Make sure that you choose the option to Download & import  file attachments.

Note that the above assumes that you are using the latest version of the WordPress software. If you are having troubles getting your WordPress.org installation up and running, please refer to the appropriate forums.

If you registered a domain through WordPress.com, and wish to transfer that, as well, please review this document. Note that you can only transfer a domain after 60 days from its initial registration. If it has not yet been 60 days, you can still update your nameservers and point them to your new host.

Videos uploaded to WordPress.com cannot be moved through the import process.  However, you can continue to use the existing videos through VideoPress plugin, which provides an easy way to manage and embed videos hosted on the WordPress.com service.

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Transferring Your Blog to Another User or Account

To transfer a blog go to My Blogs in your dashboard and move your mouse over the address of the blog you wish to transfer. You will see that a Transfer Blog option appears:

Note that you will only see this for blogs where you are the owner.

If you are certain you want to transfer a blog then click the transfer blog option. A screen will appear with a warning:

After you have read and confirmed this warning you can enter the username or email address of the user you wish to transfer the blog to:

Upon entering a valid user you will be sent a confirmation email to your registered WordPress.com email address. Your blog transfer will not take place until you read this email and follow the link contained within it.

Note that if you wish to transfer a blog to a user who does NOT yet have an account, please have them register first at http://wordpress.com/signup/.

Note also that a blog with domain upgrades will be processed manually by a member of WordPress.com support. All other upgrades will be transferred with the blog. Please be aware of this before you transfer your blog.

Last modified: December 24, 2009