Migrating from Wordpress to Joomla

The title of this post could be misleading. Tech Pedia is not moving to Joomla. However, I am pondering upon moving another blog of mine from Wordpress to Joomla. The main deterrent is the database tables and the syncing of structures. I checked the web and there is no easy one click script to get the job done.

After an exhausted search through several forums, I ran into one on the Joomla forum and the poster claimed to have successfully transferred posts but not comments. Here’s a brief of the operation:

I tried various way to import Wordpress through Joomblog, but kept getting the message “no installation of Wordpress could be found.” But once I installed JD-Wordpress, imported a backup of my Wordpress database, and categorized each post, Joomlblog imported correctly!

Here are the steps:

1. Backup everything in your Wordpress site (Manage -> Backup) and save it on your computer. (If you haven’t backed anything up before, you may need to activate the plugin in Wordpress.)
2. Install Joomblog in Joomla! (1 com, 1 bot, and 2 mods)
*** If you’ve been using JD-Wordpress in Joomla!, then skip to step 6. ***
3. Install JD-Wordpress in Joomla!
4. In phpMyAdmin, import the Wordpress backup (from step 1) into the database that Joomla! is using.
5. Under Components -> JD-Wordpress, go to Manage -> Categories, and make sure they’re in a category. If it says “Uncategorized” but is not linked to a category called Uncategorized, then it’s not categorized. If this is the case, Manage -> Categories and make sure you have categories created. Then, Edit each post, select a category, and Save. There’s probably a script that could be written for phpMyadmin, but I’m not that savvy.
6. Under Components -> Joomblog, select Import, and click on Import Wordpress. *
7. Once this is complete, look in Content By Section -> Wordpress_Joomblog and you should find your articles.

8. Now is the fun time of placing the imported content in the right Joomla category and editing each one to clean up any mess the switch left behind.

* Joomblog won’t duplicate your posts if you try this process more than once.

I plan on performing these activities on a blog of mine this weekend. I will post updates and hopefully, will try to find a way to import comments as well.

If you have a better approach, do share it with us.

Related posts:

1. Self Hosted Wordpress Blogs Under Attack
2. Troubleshooting the Wordpress Blank Page
3. Of Wordpress Upgrades and Plugin Compatibility – you do not have sufficient permissions to access this page
4. WordPress : 10+ life saving SQL queries
5. Do Not Upgrade to WP 2.6 Unless You Have Tons of Time to Fix It

Filed Under: Blogging • Wordpress