Moves content to another install, or back into this one (a backup you can restore), as one zip file. There are three tabs: Import, Export and History.
What it covers, and what it does not
It covers pages, blog posts (with their categories, tags and authors), products (with categories, tags, attributes and their values, shipping classes and tax classes) and the media files those use.
It does not carry site settings, theme, branding, navigation, forms, orders, customers, users, bookings, or anything else that is not in the list above.
Export
Choose what to export; you get one zip with the records and the media they use, streamed straight to you and not kept on the server. Limits: up to 5,000 selected items, 6 exports a minute, one at a time. You need View on Site Settings plus the read permission of each kind you export.
Import
Upload the zip (up to 180 MB, 10 uploads a minute), choose a mode, press Preview, then Import.
- Preview writes nothing. It shows what would happen, up to 200 records per kind.
- Add brings in what is new and skips anything whose id already exists.
- Restore overwrites existing items with the file's versions, trash included. It asks you to confirm and first saves a safety copy you can download.
- Copy gives everything new ids and imports it as drafts.
- Options: import as drafts (Add only) and convert links to the source host, which turns absolute links into relative ones and ticks itself when the file came from a local machine.
The mode defaults to Restore only when the file came from this same install; otherwise it defaults to Add.
The import runs in the background and carries on if you leave the page. Only one import can run at a time. It is all-or-nothing: a failure rolls everything back. Small problems with media are listed as notes.
Importing needs the Manage permission, and the write permission of each kind in the file. Without Manage you see a message that you cannot import.
History
Jobs are listed and can be removed. They expire after 24 hours and safety copies after 7 days, so download a safety copy you want to keep. Only a superuser sees other people's jobs.
A file is refused when
It is not a zip, is over 180 MB, or fails its checksum or manifest check.