Problem

You want to import a collection of entries from another system.

Solution

Click the Import/Export button on the Weblog Toolbar and fill out the form on the Import Entries tab.

Discussion

Movable Type allows you to import entries from another MT system or another weblogging system or service such as Blogger or WordPress.

This can be useful when you wish to start using Movable Type but already have much of your content in another system. To do this, you will need to export your content from the other system. Consult the Import Format specification and the Movable Type Knowledge Base for more specific instructions regarding the creation of export templates in tools such as Blogger and WordPress.

Importing data into Movable Type

To import entries and comments into a weblog:

• 1. Transfer your export file to a directory called import in the MT application directory. If this is your first time performing an import in the system, you may have to create the directory.
• 2. Sign into Movable Type and select the weblog into which you wish to import the entries. Click the Import/Export button on the Weblog Toolbar.
• 3. Set the import form options found on the Import Entries tab. For more information on particular options, see the following articles:
  • "Import Entries As Me"
  • "Default New Author Password"
  • Default category for entries
  • Default post status for entries
  • HTML Title Start and End
• 4. Click the Import Entries button

  After specifying the import options, press Import Entries. That's it!

  You will need to rebuild all of your files in order to generate your archives for the new imported entries.

You should now remove all of the files that you imported from the import directory, so that if or when you run the import process again at some later date, the entries you just imported will not be re-imported.

If you imported them from a system without categories, after importing your entries you may need to assign categories to each. A fast way to do this is to use Movable Type's Power-Editing Mode which allows you to edit multiple entries at once. This feature is covered in Making bulk modifications.

Import/export limitations

Unfortunately, at this time, the Movable Type import/export format is considered a "lossy" format, meaning that if you perform and export, delete all of your entries/comments/TrackBacks and reimport, certain data will be lost.

The data not handled by the import/export format relates to features introduced in and since Movable Type 3.0. These are:

• Entry basename
• Comment/TrackBack moderation status
• Authenticated commenter data (e.g. TypeKey username) and status.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will be addressing these shortcomings in a future version of Movable Type. In the meantime, the best way to achieve a lossless transfer is to use your database's export functionality. See the "backup/restore" topics in the Installation and Upgrade chapter of this documentation for details.