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Backstage at the Blog: X is for .xml

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X © A Scenic RouteXML stands for Extensible Markup Language, and is the default format for many office productivity tools.

What does that have to do with WordPress, and my blog?

.xml is the extension for the backups of my blog. When I export all the hard work I’ve done here at the blog I am making a complete backup of everything I’ve created: my posts, the comments, the image galleries, all the components I need to set up my blog just like it is now on another host. Isn’t that reassuring?

In fact, I think I’m going to go make a backup right now. Wanna join me? Click on the Tools menu and highlight Export.

Export MenuFrom there clicking the Free Export option takes me to the screen with my Export options:WordPress Export Screen

Usually I want All Content. Then I click the blue Download Export File button. A few seconds later my export is finished and I have a complete backup of everything I’ve created here.

Do you back up your blog? Have you ever moved from one blog host to another?

(Here’s your link back to the A to Z Challenge Sign Up list.)

A-Z Challenge Back up WordPress Export WordPress Blog The Letter X XML
April 28, 2014 Kirsten

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Backstage at the Blog: Y is for YouTube → ← Backstage at the Blog: W is for Widget

27 thoughts on “Backstage at the Blog: X is for .xml”

  1. Kristina Stanley says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:42 am

    You have so many good tips. I love to learn something new and there you are sharing your knowledge. Thanks.

  2. Kristina Stanley says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:44 am

    Forgot to mention, I use MarEdit to write my blog and then upload it to wordpress. That way my back up is built in and I have a copy on my computer before it’s uploaded. I started with MarsEdit because I have such intermittent access to the internet, that I had to write offline and post when I could.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:13 pm

      Your way sounds quite useful for someone who might not have Internet access. I’m also still not sure how to expand the .xml file into something I can manipulate, other than online.
      I’m glad you like the tips! 🙂

  3. Amanda Martin (writermummy) says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:52 am

    Thanks for the reminder, I hadn’t backed up in ages…

  4. Amanda Martin (writermummy) says:
    April 28, 2014 at 6:54 am

    As a P.S. do you know a way of converting the xml file into something resembling text? I write a lot of my posts directly in WordPress and I’d like to dump them all in a word doc.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:16 pm

      I was kinda hoping I could nudge a few people into making their backups. 🙂
      I haven’t been able to turn the .xml into text yet, but I just do a copy/paste from the WordPress screen if I need to edit it in Word or Scrivener.

      1. Amanda Martin (writermummy) says:
        April 29, 2014 at 2:17 am

        Hehe it worked! My problem is I wrote all of my daily blog in WordPress last year and I’d love to collate all my posts into a book (just for me) but the thought of copying and pasting 538 posts fills me with horror!

        1. Kirsten says:
          April 29, 2014 at 7:46 pm

          That’s great to hear! I will have to give that a try sometime.

  5. Alex J. Cavanaugh (@AlexJCavanaugh) says:
    April 28, 2014 at 8:12 am

    I export my blog often. Hate to lose everything.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:17 pm

      I know, I can’t imagine how frustrating that would be!

  6. melinda says:
    April 28, 2014 at 10:09 am

    I think I love you.

    I write each of my posts offline in a word doc and then cut and paste the published posts into the same document, so each one contains both a first-draft version of the post and the final published version. I saved it all on a flash drive.

    Unfortunately, the flash drive crapped out on me earlier this week (as you know), and I didn’t have it backed up anywhere. Poof. Gone forever.

    I’d never thought of backing up my whole blog, and if I had, I would never have suspected that doing it could be such a simple process. I’m going to go do that right now.

    Thank you for a really timely and helpful post!

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:21 pm

      You are so welcome, Melinda!
      I was thinking of you as I polished this post up. The best part is that the media and comments and the all the rest are backed up as well.
      I know there are even some writers who use WordPress in Private mode to write drafts and/or journals, which makes a backup especially vital.

      1. melinda says:
        April 28, 2014 at 7:57 pm

        Hmm. Private mode, you say. I’ll have to try to figure out how to do that. In my flash drive crash, I lost everything I’d written in my journal since May of 2012. All my HTTS stuff, too, and the current HTWAS, which I’ve now given up on without even starting. Oh, it hurts, it hurts . . .

      2. Kirsten says:
        April 28, 2014 at 8:27 pm

        OH NO!!! That IS devastating, Melinda. 🙁
        You could also try journaling at 750 words.com (in my sidebar under links) I think it’s gone back to free, (I used it for a long time, until they decided to start charging a nominal fee.)
        But I checked back there recently and they still have all my stuff from 2012, password protected, of course.

        And, you know, I’m just starting to realize, that I’ve got lots of stuff like this to share! A to Z might be just the beginning of some fun blog posts for me. 🙂 I just need a catchy name for it …

  7. Sammy D. says:
    April 28, 2014 at 10:16 am

    You should be getting a blogging instruction award for your posts. These are SO valuable and simply stated. I had no idea how to do a backup, praying nothing would happen. Thank you so much for this and all your posts. Can you puh-leeze come be my livein geek fir a week or two? I can pay you with a shitload of Useless Stuff or Vintage Bracelets – your choice:-)

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:24 pm

      Thank you so much, Sammy! 🙂
      I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in my little tidbits, but I’m so happy to share the tricks I’ve picked up in my blogging adventures.
      Vintage Bracelets would be wonderful! I just wish I knew enough to classify myself as a true geek. 😉

      1. Sammy D. says:
        April 28, 2014 at 8:04 pm

        Well if you don’t live up to geek billing, I’ll pay you off in Useless Stuff 🙂

  8. melinda says:
    April 28, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    (Uh, where is the Tools menu? I can’t find it. *insert red face here*)

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:28 pm

      Try the upper right hand corner of the black bar, hover over your name, and a menu will appear. At the bottom of that menu you will see the name of your blog (melinda hagenson). Take your cursor over the name of the blog, and you’ll see the dashboard option. Scooch over that and open the dashboard. 🙂
      All the way to the left is the wide black bar, and almost at the bottom is where you’ll find the Tools menu.

      1. melinda says:
        April 28, 2014 at 7:50 pm

        Ah, thanks! Got it! I think I’ll wait until after I post my Z post to do it, though.

  9. susan says:
    April 28, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    I didn’t know that! I write my posts in word then copy and paste to wp. Then I save the blog on one file on my desktop and the url in another file on my desktop. Then both those files get backed up.

    It sounds clumsy but some of my work is on servers that no longer exist so the url is suseless and then I do have the url for more current ones. It works and easy to find old ones when I need them.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 28, 2014 at 7:31 pm

      I write my longer posts in Scrivener as well, and paste them in later. I do a lot of editing though, so often the final version looks a lot different than the original did.
      I’m a big fan of whatever works best, and it sounds like you’ve got yourself a system. 🙂

  10. Felicia Fredlund says:
    April 29, 2014 at 8:27 am

    I backup my blog with VaultPress, it automatically backups my site once a day. However, I’m thinking it is a little overkill for my small site, but my website and computer can crash on the same day and I’ll still have a backup to my website I suppose.

    1. Kirsten says:
      April 29, 2014 at 7:43 pm

      That’s really cool actually, Felicia. I have Carbonite for my computer, but I only back up this blog once in a while. VaultPress might be something to think about for the future …when I’m actually famous. 😉

  11. Loni Townsend says:
    April 29, 2014 at 10:36 am

    I don’t backup my site nearly often enough…

    1. Loni Townsend says:
      April 29, 2014 at 10:38 am

      Oh, but I was going to say, I have moved hosts. It wasn’t too terrible. I ran into a few hiccups, but all my data transferred okay. 🙂

      1. Kirsten says:
        April 29, 2014 at 7:44 pm

        That’s good to know, Loni! I’ve heard some stories …

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