# Trying to import old Local website not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [August 8, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085 "2024-08-08T17:11:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![philg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@philg](https://community.localwp.com/u/philg)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/1 "2024-08-08T17:11:58Z")
I did some modifications on my my pc (changed the root and home directory in order to have more space) but doing so deleted Local. However, the site files were still intact (that is; the project folders created within Local Sites in the old home directory What files within my old folder do i need to zip in order to be able to import the site? Because if i just zip the whole folder, it doesnt work. Any help would be appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Nick-B](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/nick-b/32/16140_2.png) [@Nick-B](https://community.localwp.com/u/Nick-B)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/2 "2024-08-08T17:14:42Z")
Hi @philg Local really just needs the WP-Content and SQL bundled up to get the import working. We have some details here, and there is a workaround. If nothing else, you can create a new, blank site and then manually import the media and DB. > **[Import/Export a WordPress Site](https://localwp.com/help-docs/getting-started/how-to-import-a-wordpress-site-into-local/)** > > This help document will walk you through how to import and export a site to and from Local. It will also go over how to restore from only Local site files. Table of Contents: Local is pretty flexible… ---
**Author:** ![philg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@philg](https://community.localwp.com/u/philg)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/3 "2024-08-08T17:38:00Z")
Hi Nick! Thanks for answering so quickly I tried finding the sql file to no avail Do you happen to know where it’s located within the project folder? ---
**Author:** ![Nick-B](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/nick-b/32/16140_2.png) [@Nick-B](https://community.localwp.com/u/Nick-B)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/4 "2024-08-08T17:53:44Z")
For a regular Local site it should be located in the App folder ---
**Author:** ![philg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@philg](https://community.localwp.com/u/philg)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/5 "2024-08-08T18:32:31Z")
Yeah seems like that file is missing… So I’m guessing im at a loss here? ---
**Author:** ![Nick-B](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/nick-b/32/16140_2.png) [@Nick-B](https://community.localwp.com/u/Nick-B)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/6 "2024-08-08T18:39:17Z")
Yes it’s possible that certain things got deleted here. Whatever content you do have you could try to import into a blank site to start anew. The only other option would be something like a Time Machine back of your computer if you had that set up where you could go back to before you made the changes and back up your Local sites. For future work, we recommend saving copies of your sites using our Cloud Backups add on. Or you can always export copies of your sites to save on external or cloud storage. > **[Cloud Backups](https://localwp.com/help-docs/local-features/cloud-backups/)** > > Cloud Backups Add-on for Local makes it easy to connect to your Cloud Provider (Google Drive or Dropbox) and quickly backup any Local site to the cloud. Incremental backups are used… > **[Backup a Local Site](https://localwp.com/help-docs/getting-started/how-to-backup-a-local-site/)** > > Learn how to back up your Local Sites to avoid data loss and protect your hard work. ---
**Author:** ![philg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@philg](https://community.localwp.com/u/philg)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/7 "2024-08-08T18:42:21Z")
Thanks for your help! I guess we all eventually learn to back up our work one way or another… I just chose the worst path to learn it lol Thanks again Just out of curiosity: Have you guys ever considered auto back ups? ---
**Author:** ![Nick-B](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/nick-b/32/16140_2.png) [@Nick-B](https://community.localwp.com/u/Nick-B)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/8 "2024-08-08T18:47:43Z")
It’s something we have talked about @philg! It gets tricky because, obviously, with the nature of Local being installed on your machine, it’s always going to require some manual setup. Where do you want the backups to go? How often do you want them to run? Do they run for all sites automatically? For example, if we just had an auto backup feature that was saving them to your desktop, you’d run out of disk space very quickly. Some of our users have dozens or even one hundred sites in Local sometimes. We’ve considered adding some reminders or prompts for certain actions as well, like if you’re going to use Local Connect to push or pull, maybe urging the user to make sure their work is backed up first. We’ve had users unintentionally overwrite sites when doing this for example. All good things to keep in mind! If you ever have other questions, comments, concerns or requests you know where to find us 💚 ---
**Author:** ![NdnaJnz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/ndnajnz/32/4435_2.png) [@NdnaJnz](https://community.localwp.com/u/NdnaJnz)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:16am UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/9 "2024-08-09T06:16:14Z")
Why not use a script on _your_ local machine to automatically backup the wp-content folder and .sql files? Like AppleScript/Automator? (I’ve been away from Windows for so long, I forgot how to accomplish the same there, plus it’s likely different now anyway.) Linux: easy peasy. A simple AppleScript works great on MacOS. ---
**Author:** ![Nick-B](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/nick-b/32/16140_2.png) [@Nick-B](https://community.localwp.com/u/Nick-B)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/10 "2024-08-09T13:20:33Z")
Thanks for the tips @NdnaJnz! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.localwp.com/system/32/1_2.png) [@system](https://community.localwp.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://community.localwp.com/t/trying-to-import-old-local-website-not-working/44085/11 "2024-08-11T01:20:51Z")
This topic was automatically closed 36 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.