This thread only applies if you’re using SiteOrigin’s Page Builder plugin to manage your content, either in a SiteOrigin theme or a third-party theme. If you make use of Appearance > Home Page in a SiteOrigin theme then you are using Page Builder.)
Due to limitations within Page Builder it’s not currently possible to move Page Builder content from one server to another via database export and import. Below are two methods that you can use to migrate your Page Builder content.
(If you are moving content from one folder to another on the same server then this article doesn’t apply. Please see: http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#On_Your_Existing_Server)
Method One:
Although regular database export/import isn’t able to move Page Builder content, the Duplicator plugin is.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/
Duplicator is the easiest option for moving your website running Page Builder content.
Method Two:
Use Tools > Export to create an XML file of your content. Be sure to first install and activate all of the same plugins on your new server before heading to Tools > Import to import your content. Image urls don’t get updated during the process so you’ll need to manually update those. This process only moves your page and post content, everything else has to be manually re-created. This includes:
Appearance > Theme Settings
Appearance > Customizer
Appearance > Widgets
Appearance > Menus
The XML export method does not move custom home page content. This is a feature of SiteOrigin themes and can be found under Appearance. To move your with the XML export, convert your custom home page into a regular page before running the export process. Here is how:
https://siteorigin.com/thread/can-convert-themes-custom-home-page-regular-page/
If you have any questions about moving Page Builder content, please feel free to post below.
The Page Builder help page for this topic can be found here: https://siteorigin.com/page-builder/exporting-content/
Hi, thanks, both domains are located in the same server with different IP address for each domain, should I apply “Moving Directories On Your Existing Server” from http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#On_Your_Existing_Server ?
Thank you!
Hi Laura
Even for this same server move it’ll be worth first giving it a go with Duplicator. This seems to handle Page Builder’s content the best.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/
Duplicator has a decent set of documentation which you can find here:
http://lifeinthegrid.com/support/knowledgebase.php?article=3
Hi Andrew I tried to do it with Duplicator but it didn’t work, which other method do you suggest me to avoid build all the site again? Thanks in advance!
Laura
Hi Andrew, i did the transfer with WP Export/Import, it took me much time but i got it. However, it would be very useful if you offer other alternatives to transfer Page Builder content. Page builder is a solution for people like me who don’t have technical knowledge. The good point is that I have learned a lot doing that.
Question:
How can I move a little the navigator menu to the right side? thanks.
I copy http://www.oficing.esy.es to http://www.spotcontenidos.com
Really glad to hear you made progress here. Thanks for the update and understanding. We’ll definitely try resolve this transfer issues moving forward.
Try the following under Appearance > Custom CSS to right align the main menu.
/* Vantage right align the main menu */ .main-navigation ul { font-size: 0; text-align: right; } .main-navigation ul li { display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 13px; } .main-navigation ul ul li { text-align: left; }Hi Mr Andrew.
First sorry for my english.
I’m using Vantage free (with page builder) in my test site located in root/wordpress folder, I want to move it from /wordpress folder to /root in the same server.
I don’t know if I understood it correctly: this article doesn’t apply to my case and I have to follow the steps related in http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#On_Your_Existing_Server
is it so?
Do I need more preventive measures related with vantage theme free?
Thanks
Hi @ppsalama
It’s always worth making a backup before attempting a move. But to our knowledge, there shouldn’t be any problems with regards to Page Builder when moving your site on the same server from a folder to the root.
Hope that helps.
Thank you very much.
I’ll try it this afternoon as http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#On_Your_Existing_Server
I’ll tell you what happened
Thanks again.
Super. All the best with the move. Let us know how it goes.
Hi Andrew.
Everything has gone perfect.
After half an hour doing a whole back up and more, :) in 30 seconds I moved the web to root with no breakings. Only a few links to pictures that I had to delete a piece of slug manually.
Thank you very much.
Fantastic, really glad to hear you move went well.
(Yes, unfortunately you do need to manually update media links in this case.)
All the best :)
I encountered the issue described in this thread today. Ultimately, my team was able to come up with a solution that *included* a standard MySQL dump and was fairly painless to migrate. Here are the steps from migrating from a development site (e.g. dev.example.com) to a live/production site (e.g. example.com).
1) Perform a standard MySQL dump of the dev database.
2) Load the database dump into the live database.
3) Execute a search/replace on the wp_options table; find “dev.example.com” and replace with “example.com”.
4) Access the WordPress back-end on the live URL (example.com/wp-admin) and install the “Better Search Replace” plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-replace/), which supports serialization.
5) Using the plugin, search for the dev URL (dev.example.com) and replace with the live URL (example.com) on all tables except for wp_options.
I think the key thing here is that Better Search Replace supports serialization. If you were to try to replace the URL strings in MySQL directly, the serialized objects in wp_postmeta will almost surely break (unless on the off chance that your dev URL has exactly the same number of characters as the live URL).
Hope this helps others.
Hi Roger
This is great feedback.
Thanks so much for taking the time to report your process and insight as to where the issue might be occurring for others.
All the best with your projects moving forward.
I realy don’t know if this problem is still there but as a previous joomla user I have used joomla’s best back up and migrate tool “akeeba back up’s worpress version” on my first wp site and it has migrated pagebuilder pages with no problems at all. All settings were also migrated using akeeba backup for wordpress free version and paid version has even more features.
Hi Erol
Thanks for reaching out.
I did a quick test last week on my localhost. I changed folders using these regular WP moving steps:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#Moving_Directories_On_Your_Existing_Server
All went well, all Page Builder content migrated without issue. That said, we’ve still had isolated cases where a regular move hasn’t gone well. We’re monitoring these cases as they arise.
I haven’t used Akeeba Backup for WordPress before. That’s great to hear you move went as expected. We appreciate the feedback :)
Hi,
I have moved sites with Pagebuild SiteOrigin succesfully using BackupBuddy and All in one migration plugin.
Hope this helps?
Annie
Hi Annie
Thanks for your update.
I’ve also heard of positive results with BackupBuddy but hadn’t had any feedback from users regarding All-in-One WP Migration, that’s great know.
All the best :)
Can confirm, All-in-One WP Migration helped with PageBuilder.
Hi Toomas
Super :) Thanks for letting us know, I appreciate the info.
All the best with your site.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, in my tests with website + pagebuilder content, moved with All-in-One WP Migration, all was migrated perfectly.
Have great day!
Annie
Super :) That’s great to hear, thanks for confirming.
Hi Andrew,
I just used Duplicator to move my site from my local server to a live site.
Everything worked, except the homepage and projects pages. Both the ‘contact me’ page, and the ‘galleries’ page are fine, but in the Dashboard/Pages for the ‘home’ and various ‘projects’ pages the content windows are empty – in text, visual and pagebuilder tabs. So the homepage and projects are a mess – no images or page formatting.
This is the second time I have tried migrating this site with Duplicator, with the same results.
I’ve run better-search-and-replace plugin to catch any old URLs in the database, but everything is fine.
Short of re-building all of these pages, I’m not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Lindsay
my apologies, the link to the site:
http://lindsaysimmonds.com/
http://lindsaysimmonds.com/gallery/
http://lindsaysimmonds.com/project/my-fresh-food-saver-app/
Hi Lindsay,
Have you tried migrating with All in one migration plugin
In my experience this method works fine with SiteOrigin pagebuilder!
Just install this plugin on your local server, take a backup with it and export it to your computer.
Install this plugin also on the live site ( that for now is messed up ).
After installing it on the live site, go to its import feature and import the backup you made from your local computer.
Follow the instructions ( save permalinks twice after migration ) and all should be fine after that.
Tutoirial: https://youtu.be/BpWxCeUWBOk
Good luck!
Annie
Hi Lindsay
Sorry to hear about the hassle. Can you perhaps upload the Duplicator package and installer.php file to a site like Dropbox and send us the link so we can take a look?
Hi Andrew. Thanks for your reply. Please email your contacts and I’ll send you the link.
Thanks Annie. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks :) You can reach me on [email protected].
Hi LindsayS,
Just tried the duplicated site. I was able to use it without issue which is odd – here’s a reference shot of my local install. To clarify, did you use Better Search and Replace after the migration or before? If it’s after that’s possibly the reason.
I do however see that certain Sliders are missing. Did you make any special adjustments to your duplicator settings? For example, did you filter anything?
Hi Alex. Yes, odd.
I used Better Search and Replace after, but for troubleshooting – just to look for any old URLs that Duplicator didn’t find (fixed two in rev slider). I didn’t make any special adjustments – no added filters, just used the default settings.
Hi LindsayS,
As much as I hate to suggest this, does doing a migration without using Better Search and Replace resolve the issue with your home?
Consider manually exporting your rev sliders, or maybe try to replace only the rev slider tables – they all have rev in the name (reference screenshot).
Also, if you would prefer not to try another migration, you could manually move over your home page by importing / exporting the page. To do this open up the page, click the layouts button in the page builder toolbar, and then select Import/Export in the sidebar. Click the download layout button, then repeat the process on your other site but this time upload the layout.
Hi Alex.
Better Search and Replace didn’t make any significant changes to my site, the problem isn’t with this plugin. My understanding is that Duplicator changes the URLs in the database at install, and I haven’t been able to fix anything since the install.
I’ll try the exporting the page – thanks!
Hi LindsayS,
Understandable, however that and the server are the only differences between my install and yours. Duplicator does replace the URLs why is why you shouldn’t have to use Better Search and Replace after migration.
Agree.
I just tried the page export, but “layouts” isn’t in the pagebuilder toolbar. Instead (?) there’s “pre-built”, and in the sidebar “import/export” I can only import.
I’m seriously considering just re-building all the pages at this point.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help.
Hi LindsayS,
Very sorry for the delay!
OH. Sorry, you’re using a fork (a version based on our code but not actively developed by us) of SiteOrigin Page Builder and it looks to be based on a version prior to the relabel. Please open the prebuilt menu, which is actually short for prebuilt labels. I got it renamed due to it being more than just a layout directory.
Hi Lindsay,
Have you tried setting your page to text instead of pagebuilder, grabbing all the code, copy it and then paste it in the new migrated site/page?
That has worked for me in the past when nothing else worked…
If you hesitate to do another migration with for example All in one migration plugin ( because you are afraid that might even mess things up further ) you might want to create a test subfolder and migrate there to see if that works well?
Hi LogoLogics,
That might work but you need to be careful doing that. Complicated widgets will not be able to be moved like that and all of your page builder structure will be lost as the revert button… well, it basically removes the PB structure and tries to move everything into the base editor.
Hi Alex.
I agree, that is why I suggested to try it first in a test folder.
Personally I think migrating it with the All in one migration plugin should work and restore everything.
Even with Backup Buddy or duplicator I often discovered not well migrated links or missing images, as where this little free plugin did the job flawlessly to my suprise I must say.
Ofcourse I am no expert, just trying to think along :-)
Hi Alex,
Just tried it and seems it erases all your pagebuilder content as soon as you try to revert back go the text editor.
So I must be mistaken, this worked with the Visual Composer not pagebuilder from SiteOrigin!
Sorry about that!
Unfortunately, yes, that’s the way Page Builder currently operates. There is a popup warning before reverting to the regular Visual/Text editor.
Thanks to you both Andrew and Alex for your help.
In the end I ended up re-building my pages on the live site. I was able to copy/paste my text and links from my local installation, so it didn’t take too much time.
Sorry to hear that. We’re glad to hear you’re up and running now though. All the best with your site :)