XML or Zip which is it for export/import?

Support
1

I’m confused.
When Exporting the tool says “When you click the button below WordPress will create an XML file for you to save to your computer.” BUT
When trying to import the help page says drag and drop a ZIP file?

I don’t understand!!!

What steps can be taken to replicate the issue? Feel free to include screenshots, videos, etc

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  • Operating System (OS) and OS version:

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2

Hey @Provost1 –

This is definitely a little confusing! Basically, those are exporting the site in two, slightly different ways.

The XML route is specific to WordPress. When you export the site from within the WP Admin, this generates an XML file of the content – so the text, media, categories and tags of the site. This isn’t a full backup of everything on the site like the theme, plugins and actual database dump.

You would likely use the XML export if you are wanting to transfer the content of one site to be imported and merged into another site. If you want to import this content into a site within Local, you would log into the WP admin for the site and use WordPress’ import functionality.

More information about WordPress’ XML export can be found:

As for the zip option – this is more Local-specific and is closer to a whole site backup. Within Local, if you right-click on the site in the site-list and select “Export” this will generate a zip that can be used to drag-and-drop the zip onto Local to import it.

I’d recommend this option for general backups of a Local site since this includes everything – plugins, themes, database, and some settings to allow Local to know what version of PHP/MySQL was used for the site.

More info about Local’s importing/exporting feature can be found in this help doc:

3

Many thanks for this.

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